Jeremy Crutchley stars in Heathcote Williams' "Sacred Elephant"

Crutchley is directed by Hyland in this simple, startling and moving one-man show that passionately reveals the soul of the earth's largest land-living mammal. Sacred Elephant is a powerful alchemy of verse using fact and feeling to demolish the myths that keep us complacent about the fate of one of the most intelligent and profoundly skilled of all the world's creatures.

Geoffrey Hyland, associate professor at UCT Drama, kicks off his stimulating 2012 sabbatical with this production before heading to London where he will direct a Shakespeare production with postgraduate students at the Central School of Speech and Drama. From there he will give classes in New York and Los Angeles before directing at York University in Toronto.

Diverse roles in theatre and on film

Jeremy Crutchley is known for his diverse and unique roles in theatre as well as on film. He was most recently seen on stage in the internationally-acclaimed Pulitzer prize-winning "I Am My Own Wife", for which he won two Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards in 2010 for best actor and for best solo performance. He also won the Fleur for best actor for his role as Shylock in the 2009 production of "The Merchant of Venice". While continuing to appear in various film roles, "Sacred Elephant" is his latest theatrical challenge and he is delighted and inspired to be working again with Geoffrey Hyland for the first time since their collaboration on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at the 2006 Maynardville season.

Heathcote Williams, poet, playwright and actor, has made a significant contribution, especially for his extended poems on environmental subjects such as "Whale Nation", "Falling for a Dolphin", "Sacred Elephant" and "Autogeddon". His plays have also won acclaim, notably "AC/DC" and "Hancock's Last Half Hour".