Heathcote WilliamsSacred Elephant ‘Nature’s great masterpiece, an Elephant...’ John Donne, Progress of the Soul XXIX In 1967 actor/writer Heathcote Williams spent three monthstouring in India. While he was in Rajasthan, he was able to observe, at closequarters, the local elephants and their trainers. At this time, he also had aclose association with a circus elephant called Rani, and was ableto watch her daily routine and behavior in captivity. Many years later, theseobservations were to prove useful in the writing of his first environmentalpoem, Sacred Elephant. It was in 1987 that the work first appeared. It had beenpublished by Williams himself, but in a rather unusual form. Three thousandcopies of a newspaper were printed on elephant-sized paper and with print‘large enough for elephants to read’. These newspapers were not sold in public,but given away by the author to friends and associates. In the same year,Heathcote Williams performed the poem in a radio production. This program drew thefirst of many favorable reviews including one from playwright Harold Pinter whodescribed it as ‘a marvelous poem.’ Before the book could be published, however, Williams hadalready started work on Whale Nation, the publication that eventually appearedbefore Sacred Elephant and set the pattern for the books to follow. SacredElephant was eventually released in 1989, published by Jonathan Cape but in aconsiderably revised form. Williams had earlier been working on a script for afilm version of the book Elephant Bill by J.H. Williams. This book, set inBurma, describes the life of J.H. Williams and his relationship with theelephants that worked on teak plantations. The observations and scenes in thisbook enabled Heathcote Williams to extend and improve his earlier version tobecome the work we know today. Indeed, the second part of Sacred Elephant, ‘Onthe Nature of Elephants’, contains many extracts from J.H. Williams’ book, aswell as various insightful and moving tributes to the elephant such as thisone, from Elephant Memories by Cynthia Moss: “Elephants are very special animals: intelligent,complicated, intense, tender, powerful and funny. I consider myself immenselyfortunate to have spent so much time with them. I have always said thatwatching elephants is like reading an engrossing, convoluted novel that Icannot put down but I also do not want to end”. After it was published, the book received many morefavorable notices including one from author and journalist Bernard Levin — ‘astrange and beautiful book.’ Despite its enormous success, however, Sacred Elephant hasnot received the same environmental publicity that greeted Whale Nation. Iasked Heathcote Williams why he thought this was. “The sea is the last great unexplored wilderness. Whalesseem much more mysterious to us as a species, less readily observable. Somehow,the desire to preserve the more ‘familiar’ elephant is less pure. As long asthe elephant encroaches on human land and impedes the development of housingand farming it will almost always seem more acceptable to destroy it.” The text of Sacred Elephant, often stark and uncompromising,is also hauntingly beautiful and highly emotive. To all those who are concernedwith the destruction of a species, Sacred Elephant is a fitting tribute to allthe animals that have been, and will be, sacrificed to satisfy man’s greed. Notes by Sarah Butcher About the Readers As poet, playwright and actor, Heathcote Williams has made asignificant contribution to many fields. He is best known for his extendedpoems on environmental subjects, Whale Nation (1988); Falling for a Dolphin(1988); Sacred Elephant (1989) and Autogeddon (1991). But his plays have alsowon acclaim, notably AC/DC produced at London’s Royal Court, and Hancock’s LastHalf Hour. As an actor he has been equally versatile — among his most memorableroles was Prospero in Derek Jarman’s film of The Tempest. Harry Burton is a highly versatile actor. A familiar figurein British theater, in London’s West End and the Fringe, he has become equallyknown for taking leading operatic roles including Mozart (Figaro and Leporello)and Rossini (Dandini) at the South Bank, the Vienna Festival and on TV. He isalso regularly seen on TV in programs as varied as SoldierSoldier and Pinter’s Party Time. Caroline Webster works extensively in UK television, radioand theater. She has appeared in no fewer than four Alan Ayckbourn plays —three of them directed by the playwright — both in Scarborough and the RoyalNational Theatre, London.