| Margo MacDonald – Playwright and Performer | ||
| Mary Ellis – Director | ||
| Laura Wheeler – Lighting Designer and Stage Manager | ||
| Titus Andor – Associate Producer | ||
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Playwright's Note
“Without doubt, they were the most notorious girl gang Britain’s ever seen.”
—Brian McDonald, The Gangs of London
I can barely believe this show is now ten years old! Thank you for being here to help us celebrate! Special thanks goes out to all the festivals, presenters, venues, crews, backers, funders, volunteers, fans and audiences we’ve had along the way that helped this show succeed and be seen far and wide. Extra big thanks and love to the original “Lemon Squeezy Gang” — Mary, Laura, Laurie, & Titus — who’ve been there from the start, through thick and thin. Couldn’t have done any of this without your talent and commitment.
The Elephant Girls is based on a true story. When I first stumbled upon a mention of the Forty Elephants gang ten years ago, I was immediately fascinated. As my research lead to more questions than I found answers to, I knew this was a story I must use theatre to tell. I’m so glad audiences have found the tale as compelling as I do.
To answer one question, Maggie Hale is both a conflation of several different historic gang members (the most notable being Maggie Hill/Hughes), and is also entirely fictional. Unlike many male gangsters of the period, none of these women wrote their memoirs and today any further information regarding the gang’s suit-wearing female “enforcers” is lost to time.
Many records of the gang and its activities are detailed by Brian McDonald in his books The Gangs of London (2010) and Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants (2015). Many others have done further research into the gang since and you can read some of those articles online, as I did. Thanks to all who openly shared their findings, making my research that much easier.
Of course it’s all fact; of course it’s all fiction. Look, just buy me a round and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.
—Margo
Song List
Musical selections from:
• Django Reinhardt
• The Original Prague Syncopated Orchestra
Meet the Company
Margo MacDonald
Margo is a five-time winner of the Prix Rideau Award (Ottawa) for Outstanding Performance, and received the Capital Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actor. In 2023, they were nominated for a Dora Award for "Dressed as People – a Triptych of Uncanny Abduction". As a playwright, Margo focuses her work on forgotten queer histories. Apart from "The Elephant Girls," they have written and performed "Shadows" (lesbian theatre maverick, Eva Le Gallienne), "Rap Once for Yes" (Radclyffe Hall and Noel Coward holding a séance), "Maupin" (17th century bisexual, swordfighter, and opera singer), and, with Geoff McBride, "The Persistent Stain" (an aging Canadian punk band). Other performance credits include: "The Penelopiad" (Citadel Theatre); "Heartlines," "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)," and "Fly Me to the Moon," (GCTC); and "Bright Half Life" (Persephone Theatre).
Mary Ellis
Mary has worked extensively as a director, actor and educator, and has been an active member of the Ottawa theatre community for almost four decades. She has worked at the National Arts Centre, Great Canadian Theatre Company, a Company of Fools, and the undercurrents festival, among many others. For Lemon Squeezy/Parry Riposte Productions, she directed the multi-award winning "The Elephant Girls," which has toured in the UK and Canada, and "Dressed as People". Recent directing credits include "The Wolves" for the University of Ottawa Drama Guild, and the radio drama podcast "Joys and Splendors". Mary has taught at Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and at St Lawrence College, and she is the Artistic Director of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Theatre Company, which is committed to supporting and developing artists in the Ottawa area. She is delighted to share "The Elephant Girls" once again, in recognition of our 10th anniversary.
Laura Wheeler
Laura is the Technical Director for the Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD) and has been a theatre technician, designer and stage manager since 2012. Her lighting designs appear across Ottawa within theatre, dance, drag, and rock n’ roll. She’s worked with various production companies including The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Pellegrini Opera, Eddie May Murder Mysteries, Skeleton Key Theatre, Parry Riposte Productions, Plosive Theatre, Black Sheep Theatre, SevenThirty Productions, Counterpoint Players, and many more. In conjunction with the National Arts Centre outreach program Laura created and taught a technical theatre course at Canterbury arts high school in 2024. Recent lighting design credits include "Living in Outer Space" (Compagnie ODD), "As You Like It" (The Great Canadian Theatre Company), "Echoes: Vibrations from Japan to Canada" (Takako Segawa). Laura has toured across Canada and overseas with the highly acclaimed "The Elephant Girls" (Lemon Squeezy Gang/Parry Riposte Production) as their technical director and lighting designer. She is delighted to be back with the team to bring you the 10th anniversary of this incredible piece.
Titus Andor
Titus (they/them) has been Associate Producer and house graphic designer for Parry Riposte Productions since 2015. They have worked on national and international tours of many of the company's plays including "The Elephant Girls," "Shadows," "Maupin," "The Persistent Stain," and "Much Ado About Feckin' Pirates!" They were videographer and video and sound editor for the filmed version of "Dressed as People" created for the 2021 Ottawa Fringe. As well as their behind the scenes work, Titus is also a drag king, a singer, an actor and a writer.
Photos
Elephant and Castle
Holloway Prison
Special Thanks
Eric Woolfe and Eldritch Theatre, Alice at The Only Café, Brooke Alviano, Christina van der Vink, Laurie “Pixie” Shannon, Rowan “Rumble” Reid West, Andrew Alexander, Vanessa Imeson, Glen Shackleton, Lawrence Aronovitch, Sarah Waisvisz, and all our fans and followers.
The story so far…
The Elephant Girls premiered at the Ottawa Fringe in 2015 and has been touring in Canada and overseas ever since. It’s won multiple awards (Outstanding Overall and Critics’ Pick, Ottawa Fringe; Outstanding New Work, Direction, and Performance, Les Prix Rideau Awards; Best Actor, Capital Critics’ Circle; Critics’ Choice, Hamilton Fringe; Best of Fest, OutFest, Halifax), sold out shows (including four 100% sold-out runs), and rave reviews. After a highly successful month-long run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in 2017 the show toured to Draper Hall in London and the Rialto Theatre in Brighton, England, the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Ireland, three runs in Winnipeg, Halifax, and many stops throughout Ontario. The show is up and touring again and if you have a venue we could play, be sure to let us know.
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