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Home , Joseph Merrick, Madge Kendal, The Elephant Man (play)

Next on our I AND YOU GREEN DAY’S OTHER DESERT CITIES MAY 19-JUNE 19 AMERICAN IDIOT SEPT. 22-OCT. 23 stage: JULY 14-AUGUST 21 HIGHLIGHTS

In , George Psarras, front, plays John Merrick, a young man in Victorian with a disfiguring neurological disease. Max Tachis plays Dr. Treves, who takes Merrick in and introduces him to society.

All show photos by Susan Mah Photography.

A companion guide to The Elephant Man by Synopsis

Based on the true story of , a young man in Victorian England afflicted with a disfiguring neurological disease, The Elephant Man is a glorious testament to the human spirit. Trapped within his body, a scorned and helpless Merrick (named John in the play) is taken in by celebrated young physician , who gives him medical care and introduces him to the pleasures of society. As he becomes a favorite of the intelligentsia and aristocracy, Merrick’s triumphant redemption teaches that beauty lies within. But is that enough for a man who longs more than anything to be “normal”? Winner of the 1979 .

Characters

The Elephant Man includes these characters:

John Merrick (George Psarras): Based on the real Joseph Carey Merrick (1862-1890), Merrick is a young man shunned by society and family. Trying to make a living, he goes from workhouse to until Dr. Treves takes him in. Despite his appearance and extreme difficulty speaking, Merrick is intelligent, amusing, and creative, taking joy in building graceful architectural models. He yearns for human connection and is moved by a simple handshake.

Frederick Treves (Max Tachis): Based on Sir Frederick Treves (1853-1923), who performed England’s first appendectomy; this prominent London Hospital surgeon forges a friendship with Merrick after housing him in the hospital. Though he is an uncompromising Victorian gentleman, Treves softens toward Merrick and even draws parallels between Merrick’s life and his own, grappling with the difficult emotions this realizeation causes. Dr. Frederick Treves. Mrs. Kendal (Kristin Brownstone): Mrs. Kendal is one of the few people in Merrick’s life to see past his appearance. A renowned actress, she is confident and intelligent, taking joy in reading to Merrick and Joseph Merrick. sharing conversation. She is loosely based on Dame (1848-1935), an actress known for her roles in comedies and Shakespeare, who corresponded with Merrick though she may never have met him.

Carr Gomm (Jay Steele): The administrator of London Hospital, where Merrick lived for the last years of his life under the care of Treves. He often acts as a mentor to Treves and protector of Merrick.

Dame Madge Kendal. Ross (Tom Gough): A showman and manager of Merrick as “The Elephant Man” in a freak show, who first sees him as a -maker and then as a liability.

Bishop Waltham How (Tom Gough): A fervent believer, he wants Merrick to receive religious instruction above all. Welcome to

The Elephant Man is set during England’s late , a time known for dynamic technology and rigid society. Industrious climbers could ascend to the ranks of the nouveau riche by running a mill or starting a business. However, those who deviated from the social norm, or struggled with poverty, could fall hard or never rise, living out their days in a workhouse or on the streets of London's gritty Whitechapel district, the area where much of the play takes place.

A grim street scene in Whitechapel in the 19th century.

Queen Victoria ruled from 1837 until her death in 1901, spanning the years of the play: 1884-1890. Nowadays, we equate Victorian attitudes with sexual repression and strict religious morality governed by the Anglican Church. Churchgoing equaled respectability. Merrick was also fascinated with the church and its dramatic architecture, building cathedral models that reached for the sky.

Religion had its challengers. A gap grew between rich and poor as the wealthy benefited from the sweat of laborers in their new factories and foundries. Many criticized the Anglican Church for catering to the wealthy while the poor suffered. New sects such as Quakers, Presbyterians and Methodists emerged. Science also rocked religion's foundations. When Darwin published his theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species in 1859, this sparked a crisis of faith.

By the late Victorian era, cities were packed with people who had flooded in seeking industrial labor. Streets in blighted areas were crowded and filthy, the air heavy with soot. Alcoholism and crime ran rampant. Jack the Ripper knifed five prostitutes, terrorizing Whitechapel.

Also in this era, the workhouse flourished. This sounds noble: a place to house the sick, the old, and people who couldn't work. In reality, conditions could be dismal: sparse food, grueling labor, parents separated from children. Merrick himself lived in the Union Workhouse for a few years, unable to work due to his condition, before joining a "freak show.”

The overcrowding in the workhouses and cities did have one good cause: developments in science and medical care meant people were living longer. During this era, the discovery of bacteria led to better sanitary conditions (boiling water to limit the spread of cholera, doctors actually washing their surgical tools). By the 1870s, doctors were using antiseptics during surgery to limit infection. Still, hospitals like the London Hospital where Merrick lived could be a hotbed of germs. Many Victorians also still held mistaken beliefs about wellness. It was common to blame a physical deformity or sickness on moral failings. Many also believed that the emotional experiences of pregnant women could greatly affect the babies. Merrick's family thought his condition was caused by his mother being scared by an elephant while she was carrying him.

On the brighter side of life, many Victorians found joy in the performing arts. Gilbert & Sullivan operettas were all the rage with the upper class, while the lower classes cheered on singers, actors, dancers and animal acts at vaudeville shows.

Merrick went to the theater at least once, and it was transformative. Frederick Treves later wrote in his memoirs: "He was awed. He was enthralled. The spectacle left him speechless, so that if he were spoken to he took no heed. … Merrick talked of this pantomime for weeks and weeks. To him, as to a child with the faculty of make-believe, everything was real."

A slice of life in a Victorian theater.

Merrick (George Psarras, left) and Mrs. Kendal (Kristin Brownstone) make a connection under the eye of Dr. Treves (Max Tachis).

Inside the archives of the

The hospital where Merrick lived for the last years of his life may seem distant in time. After all, it was established in 1740 and used to prescribe mercury, laudanum and bleeding. Anesthesia wasn’t even around for the hospital’s first 100 years. But the Royal London is actually still a hospital today. To dig deep into its archives, you don’t need a headlamp. Just type in bit.ly/royallondonarchives. (You can also see a print of the hospital on the cover of this issue of Highlights.)

On the website the hospital people state, perhaps a tad apologetically, that don’t still have all their patient records dating back to 1740. However, they do have records going back to 1883, which is not bad. That’s where you can locate one Joseph Merrick. On a fine day back in March 2016, we typed in that name, and up popped these finds:

Merrick’s only surviving letter.

He wrote this to Mrs. Leila Maturin some time in the 1880s. According to Treves’ memoirs, Leila was a young widow who was the first woman to smile at him and shake his hand. In this letter, Merrick thanks her for giving him a book and a pair of birds.

A replica of Merrick’s skeleton.

This replica was cast in resin, based on 3D scans of the original skeleton. The original is housed elsewhere in the hospital and is not on public display, as these pictured items are. A Q&A with the playwright

You’ve heard of , and : all fetching young actors who at one time played Merrick on stage. And we’ve all heard of that play The Elephant Man (well, at least we hope you have, if you’ve gotten this far). Besides winning the 1979 Tony Award for Best Play, it’s also been revived countless times, on and off Broadway, on this side and the other side of the pond.

Most of us, though, haven’t heard very much about playwright Bernard Pomerance. Many sources will tell you he’s a quiet sort who is known for a few other plays (Quantrill in Lawrence and Melons) and is a major Eugene O’Neill buff, but isn’t exactly a media figure nowadays. So we were quite excited to find a brief Q&A with Pomerance that ran on the artsy website Blouin Artinfo.

Pomerance was interviewed just before Bradley Cooper debuted in The Elephant Man on Broadway, and he had a lot of praise for the young thespian. “There is a certain audience interest in seeing a really great-looking human being turn himself into a person who is supposedly very ugly,” Pomerance said. “But I don’t know that it Bernard Pomerance. makes a difference. I don’t think it makes a difference that Bradley Cooper is so handsome. I think it makes a difference that he’s an excellent actor.

Pomerance talked about how theater-makers tend to approach this role—and this play—with particular passion. “There is something about Merrick that creates in many people a sense of vocation. It’s a curious phenomenon because I don’t think it’s common in many roles. Certainly when I was writing the play, I had the same impulse: I have to do something right for this figure, to do justice.”

To read the full Q&A, go to bit.ly/pomeranceQA.

A moment with our director

The Elephant Man has some special creative energy behind it: it’s the one show in City Lights’ 2015-16 season that our Executive Artistic Director Lisa Mallette is directing. This play speaks to her because of its powerful lessons about empathy, and because it’s unexpectedly inspiring. This is not just a story about a man with a disease. It’s a tale about dreams.

“We are all captivated by dreams, and every day we feel their weight, consciously or unconsciously — dreams of something else, of something more, of something that should be, or could be,” she wrote in her director’s program notes.

This show is also an opportunity for Lisa to again work with the acting dream team of George Psarras and Max Tachis. She directed them in both Build in 2015 and in 2014. “Their chemistry is undeniable, and they’re both such powerful storytellers,” she said.

Currently in her 15th season at City Lights, Lisa also appears onstage when her schedule allows, most recently in 2014’s The Language Archive. She’s also a member of the Theatre Bay Area Board of Directors, where she chairs the TBA Theatre Services Committee; and the 2014 recipient of the Silicon Valley Creates Artist Laureate Award. Lisa Mallette. Dressing with drama: Elephant Man costume designer Pat Tyler When Pat Tyler puts down some fabric and walks away, you know she really likes it. After all, even the most perfect pattern isn’t much good to a costume designer unless it can shine into the audience.

“When I go fabric shopping, I always unroll a bolt and walk half the store away to see what it looks like. People think I’m crazy,” Pat said with a laugh.

Pat’s sense of perspective is one of the things that makes her so savvy. She sees a show not only through a costume designer’s eyes, but also as an audience member and seasoned actor and props designer. Her experience spans many years: studying theater and in college, helping start the Seattle Mime Theatre, sewing Renaissance Faire outfits for her kids, and costuming shows for many companies: children’s theaters, the Pear Theatre, Palo Alto Players, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, City Lights and many others.

Pat especially enjoys period dramas, and we’re thrilled to have her back in the past with us. Her intricate costumes for our 2014 production of Amadeus won a Theatre Bay Area award and remain some of her favorites.

“The first thing I ask for any show is: ‘What year is it?’ I then look at the characters and think: ‘Are they rich? Pat Tyler’s drawing of the golden dress. Poor? Working-class? Upper class?” Pat said. She then seeks a good combination of found costume pieces and ones she makes from scratch. The latter is the most fun.

For The Elephant Man, Pat’s stars are the two dresses she made for Mrs. Kendal’s character. The elegant actress wears a rosy silk gown in Act 1 (“It has a luster to it that modern fabrics don’t”) and a yellowy-gold satin dress in Act 2. “At that point The rosy silk Act 1 gown under construction. in time in the script, she’s just his (Merrick’s) golden idea of woman,” Pat said. “This golden girl.”

Other pieces Pat made from scratch include matching nurses’ uniforms, and Merrick’s period skivvies and hospital gown. As an independent costumer, she makes everything at home. “My husband goes to work with threads all over him,” she said.

Pat also spends lots of time at the theater working with the other designers to make sure everyone’s visions mesh. Coordinating with the lighting designer is especially key. Once, at another company, she was working on a production when when the director suddenly requested a wash of light in a dance scene. “It changed all the colors in the ball gowns. A kelly-green dress turned brown!” Pat recalled. (Fortunately, the request was retracted.)

Back at City Lights, Pat is very pleased to be working with actors George Psarras and Max Tachis again, after teaming up with them in Build last season. Far from a period piece — Build is about video-game creators — that play was Pat created a proper Victorian “lobster-tail bustle” nonetheless a lot of fun to design, Pat said. While George’s character slouched for Mrs. Kendal to wear underneath her dresses. around in T-shirts and sweats and a bathrobe, Max went from a sharp Silicon Valley-ite to a more casual gamer look. “He had to start out looking killer in this amazing suit, an Italian-cut suit that I found online for really cheap. … Then he deconstructed. He would come in next with slacks but a sweater and a tie,” Pat said. “It went backwards until he came in with a hoodie and gray jeans, and that was kind of fun.”

Max’s Build costumes also brought Pat one of her favorite reviews: “My biggest triumph was that his mother wanted me to dress him all the time.”

Some of Pat Tyler’s award-winning costumes in City Lights’ 2014 production of Amadeus. Roneet Aliza Rahamim (who just appeared in our Handle With Care last fall) played Constanze to Aidan O’Reilly’s Salieri (left) and George Psarras’ Mozart (right). Photos by Mike Ko.

Coming soon: City Lights’ 2016-17 season

We’ve just announced our new season! Buy your season pass by April 30 and get a special deal on the mainstage lineup of dramas, comedies, and our riotous summer musical. Here’s what’s coming:

OTHER DESERT CITIES: a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

CALENDAR GIRLS: a comedy based on the hit 2003 movie

IDEATION: from San Francisco playwright Aaron Loeb, a darkly funny thriller

FRANKENSTEIN: our second world-premiere commission: a new adaptation by Kit Wilder

RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN: a witty look at gender politics

LIZZIE: “Lizzie Borden took an ax…” and then they wrote a rock musical about her

Season-pass holders also get special benefits, including discounted prices on City Lights concerts, play readings, and other events. Learn more and buy your pass online at:

cltc.org/seasonpass City Lights Theater Company presents The Elephant Man from March 17 through April 17, 2016. Shows are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. (no shows March 20 & 27), with one 7:30 p.m. Wednesday show, on April 13. The theater is at 529 S. Second St., San Jose. Details: cltc.org, 408-295-4200.

The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance

Director: Lisa Mallette Stage Manager: Michelle Marko Assistant Stage Manager: Miranda Whipple Scenic Design/Production Manager/Technical Director: Ron Gasparinetti Lighting and Projection Design: Nick Kumamoto Costume Design: Pat Tyler Props Designer: Miranda Whipple Original Music & Sound Design: George Psarras Dialect Coach: Kimberly Mohne Hill Period & Violence Coach: Kit Wilder Carpenters: Paulino Deleal, Keenan Flagg, Gordon Gross, Joseph Hidde

Cast

Dr. Frederick Treves: Max Tachis John Merrick: George Psarras* Mrs. Kendal: Kristin Brownstone Ross, Bishop How: Tom Gough Dr. Carr Gomm, Conductor: Jay Steele Lord John, Will Porter, Pinhead: Brandon Blum Snork, Belgian Policeman: Nick Mandracchia Miss Sandwich, Princess: Karen DeHart Ensemble, Pinhead, Countess: Mary Lou Torre Ensemble, Pinhead, Duchess: Ivette Deltoro Ensemble, London Policeman: Keenan Flagg

* Member, Actors’ Equity Association

Highlights is researched and written by City Lights dramaturg Rebecca Wallace. Read past issues at cltc.org/highlights.