These shows, performed by a mixed troupe of French and Lao artistes, used music, slapstick, dance and even fart gags to put across a serious message about the plight of Asian and African elephants and how man’s relationship to the natural world needs to be rebalanced. (‘When people are happy they will listen to you,’ said one of the performers, 27-year-old Thaksin Panthasen, who also works in elephant conservation. ‘It’s time to wake them up to what’s happening. What will I say to the next generation when they ask where all the elephants have gone?’)