"Elephant Man" by Bernard Pomerance
Nottingham Lace Market Theatre

"The Elephant Man" is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. A horribly deformed young man, who had been a freak attraction in traveling side shows, is found abandoned and helpless and is admitted for observation to a Whitechapel Hospital.

Under the care of a renowned young doctor, Frederick Treves, who takes him under his wing, Merrick changes from a sensational object of pity to a favourite of the aristocracy and literati. His belief that he can become a man like any other is a dream that does not come to fruition as he dies at the age of twenty-seven as a result of his disfigurement.

I saw the film, starring John Hurt, many years ago but did not have the same emotional connection as with this stage production, a stage production that is seen very rarely on both professional or amateur stages. There is a particularly sensitive and emotional close to the end of Act One which brings the loneliness that John must have been feeling to light.

David Field plays John Merrick and I can only imagine the difficulty an actor must have, at least at the start of rehearsals, to not use part of their body in the way that they are used to doing.

Merrick's right side of his body was seriously damaged with the disfigurement so to concentrate on just the left side of the body must have been weird, to say the least. David had the physicality side of it perfect, as well as the vocal impairment. What David also brought out was the intelligence and tender side of Merrick, showing the human qualities behind the deformity that everyone saw from the outside.

Jonathan Cleaver (Frederick Treves / Belgian Policeman) showed great feeling as the famous doctor, who obviously saw beyond the outer image that so repulsed the others. When Treves revealed that Merrick had a limited life span, this did quite come as a shock, even though we all knew the story, but I think seeing this revelation just feet away from you seemed to evoke the required reaction.

Kathryn Edwards (Pinhead 2 / Mrs Kendall / Countess) as Mrs Kendall, who is an actress, befriends Merrick and at least manages to make Merrick feel like any other man by treating him like a normal man and not a sideshow freak. This is also shown to be her downfall and she does not get to see Merrick again.

The remaining cast also take on several roles each and are also exceptional in bringing their characters to life before our eyes.

David Hawley (Carr Gomm / Conductor), Tom Rostron (Ross / Bishop Walsham How / Snork), Sarah Taylor (Pinhead 1 / Nurse Sandwich / Princess Alexandra / Duchess) and Richard Young (Pinhead Manager / English Policeman / Porter / Lord John).

Directed by Nik Hedges, you'll find that the stage play is different to the movie version, and a bit shorter as well, but no less engrossing. At the close of Act One, I for one could not wait for Act Two. With the play version being quite short, the play could have been performed as a one act play, as it has been performed in the past.

The set is designed by Colin Treliving. It's very simple and all of the action is split between the left and right side of the stage, the left housing the action for the hospital and Merrick's new home, while the right being the scenes for everything else. A simple but effective set design.

Lighting Design by Allan Green and again simplicity is the key with fade in and outs depicting the scene changes.

Sound Design by Jessica Rough with Jack Harris as Sound Assistant and this helped place us at the specific scenes and periods of Merrick's short but eventful young life.

The Projection Design is by Matthew Allcock. The screen at the back of the stage told us about the scenes we were to see and set the time line perfectly.

I loved the costumes, then again, I do love a good period drama, and there have been no corners cut for realism, we see this attention to detail in Mrs Kendall's full outfit. Very smart and extremely classy, which you could say sums up the play to be fair.

One thing that I was pleased to see that the Lace Market Theatre did not do was to try and build a prosthetic head for Merrick. Not only would it have been difficult to hear the words, but I would also imagine that it would be uncomfortable for David Field to wear and possibly hinder him.

Sometimes you do not need the whole picture physically in front of your eyes, especially when the script is this good. A picture can paint a thousand words but here, a thousand words painted just as vivid a picture.

It was pleasing to see the theatre almost full on opening night, and I hope that this trend continues throughout the week for this fascinating story of human kind, and the kindness of humans.

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Review: The Elephant Man. Lace Market Theatre. Nottingham.

Bernard Pomerance's 1977 play, The Elephant Man was possibly one of the rare times that the 20th Century general public and curious theatre goers had got to properly hear about the extra-ordinary historical tale of Joseph Carey Merrick, a man cruelly managed and mis-treated as a Victorian circus freak. His short-lived destiny saw him go from his childhood at 50 Lee Street in Leicester in the heart of the Wharf Street area on to the Leicester Union Workhouse. These twenty-two years of tough life struggles led to his abject degradation in the freak shows in London and Belgium to his rescue by surgeon Frederick Treves leading to him socially mixing with high society and royalty of the time. It is said that the more ‘normal' he became, the worse his heath deteriorated. He died at the age of twenty-seven.

It is about as moving a story as one could witness and this week The Elephant Man (as the deformed Merrick was known to the gawking and insensitive freak show public) graces The Lace Market Theatre stage 7-12 Feb. But first a little history, or should that be his-story?

Many readers will be aware of the award-winning 1980 black and white film of The Elephant Man directed by David Lynch, whose cast included John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft, Michael Elphick and Freddie Jones. John Hurt played Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film) and all his character's body malformities were created using artificial prosthetics. The film progresses and Merrick is taken in by surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), originally purely as a medical curiosity. Merrick's true personality is revealed through the largess of Mr Treves and his care and stay at the London Hospital is funded by thousands of well wishers. Joseph Merrick is eventually shown to be an erudite, intelligent and sensitive man of great inner beauty, not a monster.

In the play Merrick says one of its most beautiful and profound lines about his self-worth "Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is full of dreams."

Theatrical presentations both professional and amateur cannot reproduce such intricate prosthetic transformations on stage and instead have chosen to show reproduced photographic medical images of the original Joseph Merrick as were taken at the London Hospital alongside the partially clothed actor reproducing the contorted body shape. The rest is left to the skill of the actor to give us their Joseph Merrick through their twisted body and face. The actor chosen to play The Elephant Man is often deliberately cast as a good-looking young man. In the 1980 Broadway production the singer David Bowie gave his audiences a uniquely high-voiced Joseph Merrick whose speech patterns integrated some semi-strangulated throat clicks indicating muscular difficulty with the larynx.

Bowie said of his choice in acting in The Elephant Man at the 800 seater Booth Theatre on 45th Street, "I try to incorporate my daily feelings into the part. The original photographs define the role fairly concretely. It was a fact that his right arm was longer than his left… I am certainly intrigued by people who have put themselves on the line. In England the original role of Merrick was by the actor David Schofield in a definitive performance at the Hampstead Theatre to start and then the National. The theatrical rights won't let me perform The Elephant Man in the UK. It's complicated."

Pomerance specifies in his play script that the actor playing Merrick should not use prosthetics nor attempt to mimic his distorted speech and that doing one of both of these would be 'counter productive.'

Through a little theatrical research I have discovered that not all productions forgo some external impression of Merrick's gross deformities. In fact, an acclaimed 2019 French production at Le Théâtre Public, from a play script by Anne Sylvain, had French actor Othmane Moumen as Joseph Merrick and showed Merrick in full prosthetics demonstrating 'a fine panoply of distortion.' The deeply atmospheric staging was by Michel Kacenelenbogen. It is considered one of the world's best productions of The Elephant Man.

Similarly, Fourth Monkey's 2014 drama school production goes creatively part way towards adding layers of deformed body mass by obliquely suggesting the large growth deformities with shaped wire caging on the head and body of their Merrick actor, Daniel Christostomou. The student show was shown at the Brockley Jack Theatre in South London and the Edinburgh Fringe. Christostomou won much acclaim for his sensitive playing of the part. The much-admired production was nominated for an Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award.

So, after all that historical preamble we look at the current Lace Market Theatre's amateur production in its own right without feeling the urge to make unfair comparisons with the afore-mentioned film and shows. American writer Bernard Pomerance uses the name John Merrick to refer to his titular character as was the case in the film. Merrick's birth name, Joseph, is only referred to at the end of the play.

"Think on it before you judge too lightly." is the principle moral and thematic message that carries through in this fine play and most excellent production of The Elephant Man showing at The Lace Market Theatre this week; a production with such high qualities throughout including the impressive acting, the staging, the direction and the sound that it thoroughly deserves to be seen and will haunt you for days afterwards.

The three principal roles of John Merrick (David Field), Dr Frederick Treves (Johnathan Cleaver), Mrs Kendall (Kathryn Edwards), are excellently wrought. All are subtly thought through and it shows in the high level of acting onstage. Field's Merrick is heart-breakingly good in his quest to define Merrick as a man after spending much of his life as an outcast. As well as his expected interpretation of the deformed man, Field is especially gripping in the Frederick Treve's nightmare scene where the roles of medical analyst and the malformed being prodded and discussed are reversed.

Kathryn Edwards brings great stage clarity and luminescence as Madge Kendall and delivers her role with sympathy as the Victorian actress brought in to befriend John Merrick and allow him to enjoy the company of a cultured woman. Edwards handles the initial comic exchange borne out of muted shock and awkwardness between Field's Merrick and she conveys well Kendall's veneer of superficiality that melts into sympathy. Playing three roles Edwards is almost unrecognisable as one of the pair of microcephalic circus freaks – the pinheads and as the haughty Countess. Each of Merrick's new friends after Mrs Kendall's visit start to see aspects of themselves in him, as, I imagine, do this gripped audience tonight.

Dr Frederick Treves is no saint. Johnathan Cleaver's interpretation of him makes that clear through his initial interaction with John Merrick with whom Treve's only human to sub human consideration at the outset of the play is to show Merrick to an assembly of fellow surgeons at the Pathological Society in London as a crippled example of a very rare human skin and bone disorder. The Pathological Society lecture makes painful and uncomfortable viewing as we consider that the only benefit seems to be for the medical peers and not John Merrick. It is only further into their casual doctor/subject relationship that Treve's begins to realise the deep humanity and kindness within John Merrick and also the subject's intelligence and understanding of love despite his cruel upbringing. This is highlighted in a scene where one of the London Hospital staff is sacked for entering into Merrick's room to gawp and laugh. John Merrick demonstrates verbal concern for the sacked individual because he does not want him to be placed in the workhouse and suffer as he did. Cleaver's fine stage craft deftly brings all these nuances to the fore in a premier role of some complexity.

The remaining The Elephant Man cast are David Hawley (Carr Gomm/Conductor), Tom Rostron (Ross, Bishop Walsham How/Snork), Sarah Taylor (Pinhead/Nurse Sandwich/Princess Alexandra/Duchess), Richard Young (Pinhead manager/English Policeman/Porter/ Lord John). There is much to admire in these skilled actors in each of their multiple roles and the solid contribution they make to the play. They are extremely well rendered and perceptible. As for weak links – there are none.

It is very clear that a lot of creative thought and local talent has been utilised in this production and full credit must go to stage set designer Colin Treviling, lighting designer Allan Green, sound designer Jessica Rough and projection designer Matthew Allcock and all the invaluable people backstage and Front of House. The excellent costumes are courtesy of The Lace Market Theatre wardrobe department.

Director Nik Hedges has created a compelling and exciting stage library of Victorian atmospheres with his troupe of brave Lace Market Theatre actors. And, as the proverbial story book comes to life on the stage tonight we are surely given over in our minds to explore and question our own relationship to the norm, our own judgments and therefore our own "monstrosity", which of course, goes beyond the physical aspect alone. Indeed, who are we to judge? Treated with hatred or at the very least, disdain, by some people, this so called ‘monster' called Joseph Carey Merrick remained kind and humble in the face of ugliness.

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Theatre Review: The Elephant Man at The Lace Market Theatre

Running until Saturday 12 February, The Lace Market Theatre have created a quality retelling of Bernard Pomerance’s masterpiece...

The Elephant Man is a story that a lot of us know something about, possibly because we’ve seen the 1980 movie. We bring expectations with us into the theatre. The character, based on the real-life Joseph Merrick, has a real cultural resonance, particularly in a world where the idea of excluding and ridiculing someone due to a medical condition is now abhorrent. Bernard Pomerance’s 1979 play was Tony award-winning when first staged and actors who have played the title role have included David Bowie and Mark Hamill. All this is quite a legacy for an amateur company at the Lace Market Theatre to take on, but this production, directed by Nik Hedges, more than lives up to it.

The set design by Colin Treliving is simple, gothic enough to capture the dark side of Victorian London, where a man born with congenital deformities could be abandoned in a workhouse, exhibited as a 'freak' in a sideshow, and end up living in the basement of the London Hospital, at once the guest and the patient of well-meaning but conflicted doctor, Frederick Treves. It is the lighting design by Allan Green that creates an almost dystopian edge to the production, playing with shadows and spotlight, and the largely black and white costuming enhances this. The play feels almost dreamlike – or nightmarish, perhaps.  And so it should, bearing in mind the real life story of Merrick. The play is a retelling, based on reality but with some creative licence.

The whole company deliver excellent performances, all playing multiple characters, but the standouts are David Field as Merrick, Jonathan Cleaver as Treves and Kathryn Edwards as Mrs Kendal – a high society actress who befriends Merrick. Between these three there is a real chemistry, an intimacy that draws you in. These are the characters with real depth, and the power to move the audience.

As the play's conclusion draws closer, it is powerful and compelling, but ever darker. The play's theme is that all the people who interact with Merrick use him as a mirror for something they see in themselves: it is less as the showman who exhibits him describes, that people are thankful they are not in as bad a condition as Merrick; it is more that in making him a specimen, they are able to project their own weaknesses and fears onto him. In between their interpretations of him – medical or otherwise – we see glimpses of the man himself. He is creative, funny, sensitive, keen to learn all he can of the real world he is so removed from.

Field does not wear some kind of mask or prosthetic to play Merrick, and this is a relief. No prosthetic would allow the expression of real emotion he brings to the character, no mask would allow us to understand the man that Merrick is. We avoid any tacky representations of a medical condition, and we avoid the distancing that a mask would cause. Field's physical acting, of Merrick's gait, and stance, and of his difficult speech, are incredibly well - and sensitively - performed, in all his emotional states.

The play asks, 'Do you know what happens when dreams cannot get out?' The direct reference is to the size of Merrick's head – too large for him to sleep lying down without risk of suffocation – but also to the tragedy of him being unable to live his dreams. And the question applies to the other main characters too, as it does to each and every audience member. Yet, as we leave, we realise we are much like those people who visited Merrick in his hospital home: we bring our own meaning, our own dreams and emotions, and project them onto him, onto his story.

This is a play that stays with you on the journey home, and into the next day, leaving you with a sense of disquiet. The director, cast and crew should be proud of another excellent production at the Lace Market Theatre.

Read the original article here.