Jumbo

By Sean Dixon

In the early fall of 1885, P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth toured southwestern Ontario, playing to sold-out crowds. On the bill, along with the snake charmer, the tightrope walkers, the contortionist, and the bearded lady, were 28 elephants, led by the world-renowned Jumbo. Between their stops in Guelph and London, the circus played the bustling railroad town of St. Thomas to standing ovations. But on that fateful night, as circus crews were packing up, an unscheduled freight train came hurtling down the track and ended the life of the most famous pachyderm in the world. A cast of larger-than-life characters brings the last performance of the legendary Jumbo to life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scirocco Drama
• Release date: Jul 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781990737428

Sean Dixon

Sean Dixon is a full-time writer, occasional essayist, stage actor and banjoist. He gave up jobs as a shipper-receiver, a poster boy (of the putting up on billboards variety) and a prison driver to become a writer. His young adult novel, The Feathered Cloak, was published by Key Porter in Autumn 2007. He lives and plays banjo in Toronto and is currently working on his next novel for HarperCollins.

Book preview

Cover: Jumbo by Sean Dixon, published under Scirocco Drama, by J. Gordon Shillingford, shows a drawing of an elephant with one of it forelimbs lifted up and its trunk is in the air.

JUMBO

Sean Dixon

JUMBO

first published 2019 by Scirocco Drama

An imprint of J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing Inc.

© 2019 Sean Dixon

Scirocco Drama Editor: Glenda MacFarlane

Cover design by Doowah Design

Author photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

Production photos courtesy of Blyth Festival

Printed and bound in Canada on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Manitoba Arts Council and

The Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, for any reason, by any means, without the permission of the publisher. This play is fully protected under the copyright laws of Canada and all other countries of the Copyright Union and is subject to royalty. Changes to the text are expressly forbidden without written consent of the author. Rights to produce, film, record in whole or in part, in any medium or in any language, by any group, amateur or professional, are retained by the author.

Licensing Inquiries:

Please contact the playwright at: [e-mail]

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Jumbo / Sean Dixon.

Names: Dixon, Sean (Playwright), author.

Description: A play.

Identifiers: Canadiana 20190164867 | ISBN 9781927922521 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Jumbo (Elephant)—Drama.

Classification: LCC PS8557.I97 J86 2019 | DDC C812/.54—dc23

J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing

P.O. Box 86, RPO Corydon Avenue, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3M 3S3

This play is dedicated to Ava.

A black and white photograph of the author Sean Dixon, posing with his hands on hips as he smiles.

Sean Dixon

Sean Dixon is a novelist and playwright, co-founder of the seminal 90s Winnipeg physical theatre company PRIMUS. His novels include The Girls Who Saw Everything (published in the UK as The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal) and The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn. His recent plays include Theatrefront’s The Orange Dot (which the Toronto Star’s Karen Fricker called a finely nuanced observation of male-female interaction … that is part triumph, part tragedy of wronged, vengeful women), Blyth Festival’s The Wilberforce Hotel (published by Scirocco, about a short-lived African American settlement in 1830s Ontario) and Tarragon Theatre’s A God in Need of Help, based on the true story of four strong men who were forced to carry a painting over the Alps in the early 17th century (GG nominated for best new play). Upcoming is a play for the Tarragon (Orphan Song) about two different species of early humans involved in the elemental experience of adoption, and a children’s picture book about a kid making a family tree.

Production History

JUMBO was first produced by the Blyth Festival in June 2019, with the following cast of nine:

PT BARNUM: Gil Garratt/Layne Coleman

SHACK: Peter Bailey

HENRIETTA Ward: Tiffany Claire Martin

CLOWNS/ROUSTABOUTS: Peter Bailey,

Kurtis Leon Baker

Circus Performers: COMPANY

TOM THUMB: Kurtis Leon Baker

JUMBO: Various, including Peter Bailey/

Michael McManus/

Tiffany Claire Martin/

Kurtis Leon Baker/

Tony Munch

Matthew Scott (SCOTTY): Tony Munch

NALA Damajanti: Julie Tamiko Manning

PYTHON: Controlled by Julie Tamiko Manning

JUAN Caicedo:Mark Segal

ANNIE Jones: Lucy Meanwell

INSPECTOR VOICE: Peter Bailey

FARMER: Gil Garratt/Layne Coleman

Charles TRIPP: Michael McManus

Butcher’s BOY: Kurtis Leon Baker

LIZBET: Tiffany Claire Martin

DEBOUS the butcher: Mark Segal

STEVE PETERS: Tiffany Claire Martin

APOTHECARY: Julie Tamiko Manning

SINGER: Michael McManus

Director: Gil Garratt

Circus Master: Manon Beaudoin

Set & Costume Design: Eric Bunnell

Lighting Design: Leigh Ann Vardy

Sound Design (including the voice of Jumbo)

& Music Composition: Deanna H. Choi

Puppet Design & Construction:

Gemma James-Smith

Stage Manager: Heather Thompson

Assistant Stage Manager: Katerina Sokyrko

Special thanks to Peter Bailey for the barbering research, Gil Garratt for information regarding the problem of hanging laundry when trains are coming through, Colin Heath for the joke, and Don Nicholson for playing PT.

Photograph of an entire crew of Jumbo, posing during a premier. The following are seen posing in front of a model of an elephant: Tiffany Claire Martin, Lucy Meanwell, Gil Garratt, Julie Tamiko Manning, Tony Munch, Kurtis Leon Baker and Mark Segal.

JUMBO, by Sean Dixon, premiered at the Blyth Festival in its 2019 season. Pictured are (left to right): Tiffany Claire Martin, Lucy Meanwell, Gil Garratt, Julie Tamiko Manning, Tony Munch, Kurtis Leon Baker and Mark Segal.

Photograph of Matthew Scott cleaning the elephant with a long scrub brush, as Annie Jones juggles three pins in front of the elephant. Matthew Scott, played by Tony Munch, and Annie Jones, is played by Lucy Meanwell.