Photo Flash: Angela Griffin, Damian Lewis and More Celebrate THE ELEPHANTOM Opening at the New London Theatre

The National Theatre's hugely popular adaptation of Ross Collins' much loved children's picture book The Elephantom, about a little girl who is unexpectedly visited by a giant blue ghost-elephant, officially opened this weekend at the New London Theatre where it will run in the daytime until 6 September 2014. Scroll down for photos from the festivities!

The specially invited audience included: Angela Griffin, Kemi Majeks, Richard Ayoade, Robert Webb, Jason Flemyng, Thomasina Miers, Kerry Goldiman, Camilla Rutherford, Nitin Ganatra, Nihal Arthanayake, Romesh Ranganathan, David Gyasi, Katherine Ryan, Nick Hewer, John Sergeant, Indira Varma, Jade Parfitt, Newton Faulkner and Mark Watson.

Also attending the performance and signing copies of his picture book after the show - was the Glasgow based author and illustrator Ross Collins.

The cast for The Elephantom is: Laura Cubitt, Charlotte Dubery, David Emmings, Susan Harrison, Julia Innocenti, Tim Lewis and Avye Leventis. Music performed live by Adam Pleeth.

The Elephantom is being performed at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, in the daytime (see listings below for performance times), whilst the National Theatre's production of War Horse continues its regular performance schedule (which includes Thursday and Saturday matinees and evening performances Monday to Saturday).

Ross Collins' The Elephantom is adapted by Ben Power, and co-directed by Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié with design by Samuel Wyer, lighting design by Matt Daw, music by Adam Pleeth, sound design by Alma Kelliher and puppetry design by Toby Olié;Marianne Elliott is consultant director.

For children of 3+ and grown-ups of all ages, the story of one little girl and her larger-than-life friend is brought to life with puppetry, movement, dance, music and theatrical ingenuity. At first, the little girl is thrilled to have a ghost-elephant living in her house. He makes life so much more fun! But Elephantoms are a bit too big for houses and before long he's causing a lot of trouble.

It is particularly appropriate that The Elephantom is sharing the same stage as the West End production of War Horse: Finn Caldwell was associate director of puppetry for War Horse in the West End and Australia from 2010 until 2013; more recently he was puppetry director for The Light Princess. Toby Olié performed in War Horse at the NT and in the West End, where from 2011 he was an associate puppetry director; he has also created the puppets for The Light Princess and Hansel and Gretel.

Marianne Elliott co-directed War Horse (with Tom Morris, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play). Her other productions for the National include The Light Princess and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (winner of seven Olivier Awards including Best Director).

Ben Power is an Associate Director of the National Theatre, in charge of programming The Shed. His adaptations for the NT include Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in a version for young audiences.

The production runs at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, London WC2B 5PW, 30 June - 6 September 2014. Ticket prices: £13 - £20. Prices include a restoration levy. Box Office: National Theatre Box Office - No booking fee; Telephone 020 7452 3000; Online at www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. OR - New London Theatre Box Office -booking fee; Telephone 0844 811 0052; Online from www.seetickets.com. For more about the production, visit elephantomonstage.com.

Photo Credit: Dan Wooller

To post a comment, you must register and login.