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The most visceral of these statistics: One elephant is killed every 15 minutes.
Within ten minutes, we can tell howMlimas Taleis going to go.
Well watch the poacher pass off the tusks to the corrupt police chief.
Well see the police chiefs slick business associate pass the tusks off to his fence.
Well see the fence sneak them into an American ship captains Vietnam-bound cargo.
And so on down the line.
With every exchange, someones integrity dies.
With every encounter, greed and weakness and self-preservation win the day.
Meanwhile, the ominous spirit of Mlima stalks through each scene.
Its a nice visual effect, though it starts to lose its oomph in its predictability.
Theyll fall behind and stop listening.
But too many crumbs and theyll getaheadof you.
But the spareness works, and Bonney doesnt overburden the play with gestures.
She needs to keep it moving, and she does.
Unfortunately for Ngaujah, his soliloquies are the hardest part of Nottages play to bring to life.
That image told me all I needed to know.
Even as I balked at the tone of Mlimas monologues, I understand why Nottage gave him a voice.
And in the time it took me to see the play and write this, 15 elephants died.
