ELEPHANT MAN by Gary Motta
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ELEPHANT MAN by Gary Motta greenroompress.com Copyright Notice CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this Work is subject to a royalty. This Work is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations, whether through bilateral or multilateral treaties or otherwise, and including, but not limited to, all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention and the Berne Convention. RIGHTS RESERVED: All rights to this Work are strictly reserved, including professional and amateur stage performance rights. 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COPYING: Any unauthorized copying of this Work or excerpts from this Work is strictly forbidden by law. No part of this Work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means now known or yet to be invented, including photocopying or scanning, without prior permission from Green Room Press. Copyright © Green Room Press Printed in the United States of America All Rights Reserved ELEPHANT MAN by Gary Motta 2 ELEPHANT MAN ELEPHANT MAN by Gary Motta (This play is protected by the copyright laws. This material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. The only real protection for those who make speech material available for your use is the good faith in your integrity. Thank you. This selection may be used as Performance Theatre or Reader’s Theatre. Presentation adjustments should be made to conform with requirements) CAST OF CHARACTERS (36 total) Mrs. Wiesenbach (a counselor) Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6 Student 7 Student 8 Student 9 Student 10 Thomas Norman Joseph’s Mother Friend of Mother Joseph’s Father Joseph’s Step Mother Customer Bystander 1 Bystander 2 Joseph’s Uncle Charles Workhouse Man 1 Workhouse Man 2 This perusal script is for reading purposes only. No performance or photocopy rights are conveyed. GARY MOTTA 3 Workhouse Doctor Sam Torr (showman) Dr. Frederick Treves Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man) Dr. Carr Gomm (head of London Hospital) Joseph’s Manager (a showman) Policeman Nurse Mrs. Marturin Lady Dorothy Neville Royal Attendant Princess Alexandra Prince Edward Coroner WEISENBACH: Good morning class. Self esteem is a slippery thing, especially in the lives of young people. I’ve been counseling youth for many years and can say from experience that the percentage of students with a healthy self-esteem is small … very small. STUDENT 1: How can you tell if someone has bad self-esteem, Mrs. Weisenbach? WEISENBACH: By asking questions. If a student is honest with their answers, I can tell. ALL: Ask us! Try me! I’ll give you a straight answer! (etc.) WEISENBACH: All right. If you had the ability to change one of the seemingly unchangeable features of your life, what would it be? STUDENT 2: What kind of things do you mean? WEISENBACH: Appearance, for one. STUDENT 3: Yeh, somebody ought to change yours, Benson. STUDENT 2: Shut up! WEISENBACH: Your parents … STUDENT 4: I’ll be glad to trade mine in. WEISENBACH: Your siblings … STUDENT 3: What’s a sibling, Mrs. Weisenbach? WEISENBACH: A brother or sister. This perusal script is for reading purposes only. No performance or photocopy rights are conveyed. 4 ELEPHANT MAN STUDENT 3: You can have both my bratty sisters. WEISENBACH: They feel the same way, I’m sure. (class reacts) Imagine that you were able to change the unchangeable features of your life: appearance, parents, siblings, age, your race, your nationality, even your mental capacity and talent level. If you could change any of these … would you? Think for a moment. What would you change if you could? STUDENT 4: My folks are mean. I’d really like to dump all four of them. STUDENT 5: I hate my older brother. STUDENT 6: If I could change anything, I’d make my feet smaller. STUDENT 1: Hair darker. STUDENT 2: Nose shorter STUDENT 3: I’d be sexier STUDENT 7: I’d be a blond. STUDENT 8: I’d rather be an adult. STUDENT 9: I wish I was smarter. STUDENT 10: I wish I was dead. WEISENBACH: If something came to mind, believe me, those feelings are natural. Those thoughts can help us form goals. The unchangeable things you want to change about yourself are often the very things you must learn to accept. Today, I’m going to tell you the story of a man … who had every imaginable reason to despise himself and the way he was made. His name was Joseph Carrey Merrick, but he was better known as: The Elephant Man. (the following are dialogue lines from the story and are delivered in seemingly random fashion) MOTHER’S FRIEND: What’s wrong with the boy? MOTHER: As God as my witness, I don’t know FATHER: Your mother is dead. She is your mother now. This perusal script is for reading purposes only. No performance or photocopy rights are conveyed. GARY MOTTA 5 STEP-MOTHER: Here’s your gruel, and even this is more than you’ve earned! CUSTOMER: Buy a handkerchief from a freak? I should think not! STEP-MOTHER: Where’s the rest? There’s nearly a shilling missing. FATHER: Steal from your own father? I’ll beat you bloody! WORKHOUSE MAN 1: This is a workhouse. Why did ya come to a workhouse if you’re not able to work? WORKHOUSE DOCTOR: Surgery! Immediately! TORR: You’re a freak, all right. And quire a freak at that. JOSEPH’S MANAGER: What’re you to do with 50 pounds? That money is mine! BYSTANDER 1: What are you hiding under that mask? BYSTANDER 2: Whatever it is it sure does stink. GOMM: The London Hospital does not accept chronic cases. NURSE: Here is your breakfast Mr. Merr … (she screams. All react and freeze) (if appropriate during presentation, scene changes can be indicated by music or sound, such a soft mallet on a cymbal) THOMAS NORMAN: (as if to a friend) I can show you anything, I tell you, anything at all … from an anchor to a pin, from a flea to an elephant. Find me a fat fish and I’ll show it as a whale. It’s not the show but the tale that you tell; It’s not the exhibit but how well you tout and how loud you shout. That poor deformed boy? Just watch! (takes prominent place as if talking to an audience) Musician! Ladies and gentlemen! Gather ‘round! Did I say “Ladies?” Perhaps I misspeak. This is not for the squeamish of the faint at heart. For I tell you that behind these curtains stands the most hideous of God’s creatures. Not a man, not a beast, but both! Is he turning from man to beast? Or beast to man? This you may discover for yourselves. Come! View! Peruse! Examine! Half a man and half an elephant! Yes, for less This perusal script is for reading purposes only. No performance or photocopy rights are conveyed. 6 ELEPHANT MAN than a pound, less than a shilling … for threepence (pronounced “thruppens”) you may see him: The Elephant Man! (The people react and file by Norman paying their money as they go. As they pass the showman, they set their eyes on the form of Joseph Merrick, expressing a variety of responses.) Stand up! (Merrick stands with back to audience) Turn around! (he does) Behold him! (all react and freeze) MOTHER: I name you Joseph, after your father … and Carrey, after the missionary man of God, William Carrey. May God be with you, Joseph Carrey Merrick. FRIEND OF MOTHER: What’s wrong with the boy. MOTHER: I’m his mother and as God as my witness, I don’t know. It just gets worse and worse. FREIND: How old is he now? MOTHER: Six. No, seven. FRIEND: Did you have a fright when you were a carryin’ him? MOTHER: No, not that I … (the idea strikes her) Oh.