So, you want to know about the famous Forty Elephants, the girl gang who terrorized West London? It’ll cost you a drink or two, friend, and you’re certainly not guaranteed to get the full truth. Margo MacDonald’s historical fiction solo show The Elephant Girls is back in Toronto for its 10^th Anniversary tour, and it’s a great addition to Toronto’s fall theatre season. Directed by Mary Ellis, The Elephant Girls is a gripping ride from start to finish, with stories of power, lust, violence, and adventure taking centre stage.

Maggie Hale, wearing a sharp suit, fedora hat, and sporting an ornate cane, has been stopped outside of her usual pub by a young scholar, wanting to learn more about Hale’s infamous gang, The Forty Elephants, or The Elephant Girls. Though reluctant at first, Hale begins to regale us with stories from her youth, through her life as a high-profile thief and enforcer, to her several stints in jail. The more drinks Hale consumes, the more intimate her stories become: how she took advantage of some of the younger girls in the gang, how she herself was assaulted as a young girl, and how the leader of The Elephants, Alice Diamond, blatantly played with Hale’s emotions as a means of control. Hale drops little hints as she tells her stories, stringing us along until the final big blowout brawl which ends The Forty Elephants as she knows it.

MacDonald’s choice to tell the story of Maggie Hale, the group’s enforcer and frequent getaway driver, is a very smart one; Hale is in tight with the gal in charge, but isn’t actually the leader, making her a great source of information and stories without being the real star of some of them. She’s been in the inner circle long enough to know her place, and to be able to observe both the gals under her and the leaders from a place of experience. As the enforcer, she’s also the one who’s had to get her hands dirty on occasion, giving her a frightening edge which she certainly uses to her advantage as she weaves her web. A story element which I really enjoyed was how Hale says that she doesn’t like going to the theatre because “I can’t stand being lied to” and yet she certainly toys with the notion of truth throughout the story. She’s not letting on how much of what she’s saying is true, and very purposefully so; one of the main rules of the gang is never telling anyone what you did. So how does someone who can’t stand being lied to lie so easily to others? Hale is a complex character who we feel like we get to know over the course of the eighty minutes, but do we really?

The Elephant Girls also covers a piece of London’s history which I wasn’t entirely familiar with. While we all know that gang activity was prevalent in such a large city, I didn’t know about this famous gang of women pillaging every fancy department store they could get their hands on. But also, some of the longer grifts were impressive like seducing married men and then making them pay up when the girl got “pregnant.” These women were intrepid, fearless, and fearsome in equal measure. Their story would make such a great TV show too; like “Peaky Blinders” but with some fierce female leads. I love walking out of a show feeling like I’ve learned something; not only have you been on a highly emotional journey with Maggie, but you’ve also learned about a really unique and underrepresented part of London’s history. It comes as no surprise to me that The Elephant Girls won so many awards in its initial runs!

MacDonald seems to wear Hale like she wears her perfectly tailored pinstripe suit; you can tell that there’s a sense of coming home with this character. Their accent is also spot on and gives that main character a unique voice compared to the other folks Hale imitates as she tells her story. MacDonald commands the space with their undeniable stage presence and conversational tone, you feel like you could stay and listen to these stories indefinitely.

The Elephant Girls is making a triumphant and well-deserved return to both Toronto and Ottawa, and it’s a show you certainly won’t want to miss. Full of daring damsels doing dirty deeds, The Elephant Girls is a damn good show.

The Elephant Girls runs at the Red Sandcastle Theatre until September 14. For more information, including the Ottawa dates, and tickets, visit: https://parryriposte.ca/

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Cover Photo: Margo MacDonald as Maggie Hale. Photo by Allan Mackey.

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