INTERVIEW | Marc Antolin, The Magician's Elephant

For the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, live theatre will be returning with an exciting new musical, The Magician's Elephant, opening this month. For those of you who are new to the amazing work that happens in that theatre, The RSC have worked on some brilliant new musicals in the past including The Boy in the Dress and of course, Matilda! I managed to catch up with Marc Antolin, who was in fact in the original cast of Matilda at The RSC as he returns to this theatre to be a part of this exciting new show that will no doubt be a huge hit this festive season. 

Based on the book by author Kate DiCamillo, The Magician’s Elephant is one of her most famous novels for children. “It’s set in a fictional town called Baltese which is recovering from a war that took place so everyone is grieving the loss of something or someone,” explained Marc. “A magician from the town conjures up an elephant which sets off a series of events. Everyone in the town gets affected by this and it follows Peter on a quest to find his sister, it’s how that separates and brings the town of Baltese together”. 

Marc Antolin as Leo Matienne and Jack Wolfe as Peter Duchene. Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Marc discussed how this children’s book would be adapted for the stage and said how “many of the amazing children’s stories out there are aimed at children and do attack very strong adult themes, without going too deep into them”.  

Audiences will really enjoy the design of this show by Colin Richmond is “a spectacle in itself. As soon as you walk into the theatre you are hit with this massive set and there’s so many surprises with lighting, video design, puppetry and costume. That’s without the music, text and choreography. It is an absolute visual feast”. 

In this production, Marc Antolin plays Leo Matienne. “Leo is the neighbour of Peter Duchene, they live below them in their flats. He is a policeman and he’s a very optimistic and hopeful character” Marc Antolin says. “Him and his wife are struggling to conceive a child and the arrival of the elephant really excites Leo and allows them to remain hopeful that something wonderful can happen. He sort of acts like an older brother figure to Peter and wishes he could have a child like him to be a father figure to!” 

The Magician’s Elephant is a brand new musical taking to the RSC stage this festive season so there will be new music and a new storyline to be completely transfixed by. Marc agrees with this excitement of a new show, “it’s so nice because you have nothing to compare it to. I think it makes the audience excited for what they’re going to see, they won’t have any preconceptions of the show whatsoever. I think it’s really clever what Marc Teitler has done with the music in that every character has their own identity musically  and it’s almost an opera in that sense. You will notice musical themes for each individual”. 

The Magician’s Elephant has been in development for over 5 years and “The RSC do take care of their productions. I would have never known the success with Matilda now when I was in the original show production 11 years ago.”

“This production will be like nothing else they’ve ever seen here and there is absolutely something for everyone to enjoy. Whether that’s in its message or visually!” 

The Magician’s Elephant is open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 1 Jan 2022, find out more and book tickets on their website.