A Closer Look Excerpted and reprinted with permission of Prime Stage Theatre. Original material created by Christina Farrell for Prime Stage Theatre; vol. 3, issue 2, December 15, 2011. The Elephant Man: A Closer Look 1 THE Presented by the Elephant Commonweal Theatre Company May 19 - September 2, 2017 by BernardM Pomerancean Essentials The Plot Precis: Due to a rare, disfiguring genetic Liverpool Street Station, the police protect him disorder, John Merrick, known as The Ele- from a horrified mob. They find Treves’ card phant Man, takes a life journey from being in his coat pocket and contact the doctor. freak show attraction to medical wonder Treves arranges for temporary care for Mer- to society intellectual to spiritual inspiration. rick at the London Hospital. He interviews Outline: In 1884, Nurse Sandwich Dr. Treves is hired at as Merrick’s caretaker the London Hospi- but she, like many oth- tal as a new lecturer in ers nurses, is too anatomy by the admin- horrified by his appear- istrator, Carr Gomm. In ance to take the job. the next scene, Treves Bishop How, happens to see Ross however, feels it is promoting “The Ele- his Christian duty phant Man,” a freak to help Merrick by of nature. Treves views providing religious the man and pays Ross instruction. Funds in order to study his are raised to secure a anatomy for a day. permanent home for Treves delivers a lecture Merrick in the Lon- on the man, named don Hospital. Treves John Merrick, describ- invites an actress ing his deformities in named Mrs. Kendal to a clinical fashion to an visit Merrick, hoping assembly of physicians. that her acting train- After the lecture, ing will allow her to Merrick is returned to hide her repulsion. the freak show and She discusses Ro- Ross tries to pro- meo and Juliet with mote him on the continent, in Brussels. But him and finds Merrick to be an intellectual the police there stop the show for “public man capable of deep feeling. She shakes his indecency.” Ross now considers Merrick hand as she leaves; Merrick sobs because it a liability and sends him back to England, is the first time a woman has touched him. alone, after pocketing most of the money Merrick begins work on a paper model of a Merrick had earned. The police escort Mer- cathedral. He receives gifts and visits from rick away as he tries to explain that he had members of high society and the royal family, been “robbed.” As Merrick’s train arrives at each of whom sees traits of themselves within 2 The Elephant Man: A Closer Look Merrick. During one of Mrs. Kendal’s visits, Later, Treves has troubling dreams in which Merrick explains that he has never seen a he trades places with Merrick. Treves becomes woman’s body. She matter-of-factly reveals more and more troubled, until he breaks herself, but Treves interrupts and sends her down weeping, just as Merrick finishes his away with accusations of “indecency.” Ross model of the cathedral. One afternoon, Mer- visits Merrick, hoping to engage him in more rick goes to take his nap sitting upright, as exhibition work; Merrick rejects him. Hurt usual (to prevent the weight of his head from by the loss of his friend Mrs. Kendal, Merrick choking him), but then decides to attempt to questions Treves about morality and decency. sleep lying down. He does not rise again. The Playwright – Bernard Pomerance Bernard Pomerance was born in Brooklyn, Pomerance’s Foco Novo, Quantrill in Law- New York, in 1940. He was inspired to write rence, A Man’s Man (adaptation of Brecht’s after seeing a production of Eugene O’Neill’s play) and Melons. Many of Pomerance’s plays original production of A Long Day’s Journey take a politically-charged view of American Into Night. history. He studied at the University of Chi- The Elephant Man was performed at Lon- cago, then moved to London in the early don’s National Theatre and several times on 1970’s where he became involved with and off Broadway. The play won the Tony several small, innovative theater compa- Award for Best Play in 1979. The movie, nies. In 1972, he partnered with Director directed by David Lynch, was not an adapta- Roland Rees to create the Foco Novo the- tion of the play, as many people assumed, and atre group. Pomerance successfully sued the movie studio The purpose of Foco Novo was to pro- for creative infringement. mote works by new playwrights, particular- Pomerance is a very private man, ly those by black writers. Foco Novo pre- and therefore very little is know about his per- miered The Elephant Man in 1977, as well as sonal life or childhood. The Real Merrick Pomerance’s play is based on the true story of a man time his limbs named Joseph Merrick. While many of the details in enlarged tre- the play reflect real-life events, Pomerance took some mendously, with artistic license in creating his play. the exception of his left Joseph Carey Merrick was born on August 5, arm which 1862, in the working-class neighborhood of remained nor- Leicester. Although his mother, Mary Jane, mal. At some was reported to have a physical disability of point during her own, Joseph was born without any sign childhood his of abnormality. The Merricks had two other left hip was children, a son who died of scarlet fever injured in a fall, in 1866, and a daughter who was born with forcing him to physical disabilities in 1867, and died in walk with a 1891. stick from that Merrick began to display symptoms point on. of his disorder around age two. He de- Merrick’s veloped a lump on his lips, followed by a Joseph Carey Merrick, c. 1889. family, includ- bony lump on his forehead. By age five, ing Merrick himself, believed his condition to his skin turned thick and lumpy and began be the result of his mother being frightened to loosen from his frame in some places. Over and knocked down by an elephant during The Elephant Man: A Closer Look 3 close look at The Elephant Man. Although Norman was concerned that Merrick’s ap- pearance might be too horrifying for even the freak show audiences, the show was moder- ately successful and Merrick was even able to save some money of his own. Because the Whitechapel shop was across the street from the London Hospital, several medical professionals, including Dr. Frederick Treves, started to take an interest in Mer- rick’s condition. Treves asked for Norman’s permission to do a complete examination of Merrick. However, Merrick complained that he “felt like an animal in a cattle market” under the examination of the hospital staff. Merrick traveled around Europe with the freak show under a new manager, but was eventually abandoned in Brussels because he was deemed too horrifying. He returned pen- niless to London and the police sent him to Treves after discovering his card in Merrick’s Merrick’s deformities worsened over the entire course of his life. pocket. her pregnancy. During that time, it was a Merrick remained at the London Hospital common belief that the emotional experi- with donated support from the community ences of the mother could affect their un- at large. He and Treves became friends, al- born children. though there were many aspects of Merrick’s Despite his deformities, Merrick at- tended regular school and had a close relationship with his mother who was a devout Baptist and Sunday school teacher. Unfortunately, she died in 1873; his father remarried the next year. Merrick left school at age 13 to find work, which was common for boys during that time. But the increas- ing severity of his deformities made it more and more difficult for him to work. His fa- ther and stepmother accused him of being a fi- nancial burden and after being severely beaten by his father, he left home in 1877. The London Hospital, Whitechapel, near the turn of the last century. After several failed attempts at find- ing work, Merrick admitted himself to life that he chose not to share with the doctor. the Leicester Union Workhouse at age 17. Af- Treves eventually learned that Merrick was ter about four years, he decided that he might not intellectually impaired, as he had first be able to find work as an human novelty assumed. exhibition. He contacted a popular showman Merrick told Treves that he wished to named Sam Torr, who decided to present live in a home for the blind where he might him in a traveling show as “Half-a-Man and be able to meet a woman who could not Half-an-Elephant.” The show toured in and see his deformities. around London for a while and was finally Eventually, Treves introduced Merrick taken over by Tom Norman. Norman opened to Mrs. Leila Maturin, a young widow, who a permanent exhibition on Whitechapel Road stayed in contact with Merrick until the end in which onlookers could pay to have an up- of his life. A young actress named Madge 4 The Elephant Man: A Closer Look Kendal also took note of Merrick’s situation dead on April 11, 1890, at the age of 27. and although she never met him, she helped The cause of death was determined to be raise funds for his care. Several members a broken neck caused by lying down in his of royalty and high society came to visit Mer- bed. Throughout his life, Merrick had found rick or sent him gifts.