Back in the 1980s, there lived a man but this man did not look like you and me. This man did not look like a man at all, he looked like an Elephant. Everyone faces trials in their lives, but few could be as difficult as that were handled by John Merrick “The Elephant Man.” The 1977 play, The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance that tells the story of John Merrick, is a show that tells about a man with severe physical deformities, but much larger questions are raised by the play as well. The Elephant Man does not just examine Merrick’s life, but also illustrates the ideals of beauty, justice, mercy and truth. Thus, this paper will be examining this powerful and poignant drama, taking a look at Merrick’s story and critically analyzing whether or not the play is also about scopophilia (Holladay and Watt).
The Elephant Man (1977 play)
The 1977 play, the Elephant man was produced by Bernard Pomerance made its debut at the Hampstead Theatre in London. Soon the play moved to New York and opened at the Broadway Theater in 1979. The play earned good reviews and numerous awards, which includes the Drama Desk Award, the New York Drama Critics award, the Obie Award, and even a Tony Award (Cody). In a Newsweek review of the Elephant man, Jack Kroll wrote that the play was “Extraordinary a fierce and moving human drama” (Norden ). In the conclusion of his article, Kroll wrote that the ‘‘New York theatre is lucky to have The Elephant Man” (Norden). After watching the play myself, I can definitely agree with what Kroll wrote in his review. Pomerance’s play is based on Joseph Merrick’s story, chronicling the Elephant Man’s life story; and drawing in the large part from Sir Frederick Treves’s “The Elephant Man.” Personally, I must praise Pomerance’s efforts in the way he depicted the conflict that resulted when Merrick was saved by Treves from the freak shows with the intention of exploiting Merrick himself.
Why I chose to write about the Elephant Man?
Why was I drawn to a Victorian story of a severely deformed John Merrick who was rescued from the humiliating world of freak shows by young physician Frederick Treves, settled in an in London Hospital and elevated into the prize of high society? The play is poetic and gracefully layered, but it is not his ironies and metaphors that capture me (Norden). I felt that Pomerance was trying to make sure that the audience of the play are not themselves attracted to a freak show. After the intermission in the play, the first scene was entitled “Who Does He Remind You Of?” and I think this is the best answer to what attracted me to this play. For me, plays that act like mirrors are the most interesting. The Elephant Man is indeed a play that acts like a mirror for me because it does not pass opinions although it does surface compassion. False compassion can never gain a foothold.
The thing I particular like about the play is that there are no special effects involved when it comes to portrayal of Merick. Then again, a naturalistic portrayal would divert from the storytelling. Thus, what Pomerance manages to achieve is a Joseph Merrick who is portrayed with a limp, a palsied mouth, a twisted trunk, which constantly reminded me of Merrick's condition but never overwhelmed me. I think Merrick’s personality, especially his endearing and sensitivity, were portrayed quite realistically. If I have to raise objections against something about the play, it would probably be the fact that at times, Merrick is portrayed a polished when it comes to revealing the complete measure of his torment, and I felt that the characterization is not as gripping as it might be.
The original version of Treves from Pomerance’s play seems to have been portrayed more compellingly because of the studied, elegant sense he is shown to have of Victorian propriety. Mrs. Kendal, the actress who Treves employs as a social worker is also skillfully portrayed in the most literal sense. She is portrayed with bursting energy. Her portrayal nicely releases the comic highlights of the play. The portrayal of the three wacky “pinheads” is equally interesting. As for the other male characters, the portrayal of Angus Hepburn, the hospital administrator, starts slightly too formally, but as soon as he starts interacting with Treves throughout the play, he becomes an important character. Unfortunately, I found the other male characters looking more like caricatures than characters because their accents were difficult to understand and ineffective.
When I first saw the Elephant Man, I was quite captivated by the set. A Victorian hospital is quite effectively depicted by it. However, as the action in the play advances through twenty different scenes, the onstage arrangement, a white curtain being drawn manually, starts impeding the play instead of aiding it. I felt that the scenes were noisily shifted from one to the other and the pace was not efficiently maintained, and I think the director is the one to blame for this. No doubt, the director’s work throughout the play is certainly admirable, but at certain moments, the play seems to lose its grip. The design elements of the play were all quite fine and I must say that the sound effects were quite impressive.
What did I learn from the Elephant Man?
After watching Pomerance's The Elephant Man several times, I have come to the conclusion that the play is perhaps also about scopophilia (Holladay and Watt), among other things, - the desire to reify through looking. While Merrick is the sideshow, where customers pay an entrance fee to gawk at him, it becomes evident that he is a victim of the process. However, even at Treves’ house he is subjected to the exact same process, but this time the customers are the bourgeoisie. Moreover, Merrick’s predicament becomes even worse is that fact that Treves expects him to appreciative for everything, although his deformity keeps him imprisoned. Although Merrick finds some reprieve whenever he converses with Mrs. Kendal, but the objectifying process still confines him; especially when makes Mrs. Kendal function as an object for his own sexual desires by asking her to strip naked. Objectification seems to plague Merrick’s whole life. In one sequence he dreams of himself in place of Treves, and this is when he understands what exactly what Treves has done.
It is sad that just like the real-life Joseph Merrick, he only achieves releases from his predicament in the play through death and this is when Treves understands the outcome of his well-meaning efforts to ‘civilize’ the Elephant Man. Treves is shown in the play to have a breakdown because of this. I can assume that by producing this play, Pomerance wanted us to sympathize with Treves. After all, Treves’s behavior was induced by the honest intentions. After watching Pomerance’s play, I honestly felt sorry for the two main protagonists. The story was indeed saddening, and the as play, it had its strengths and a few weaknesses. The characters were portrayed as realistically and as close to the actual people as they could get. Perhaps this is what makes the Elephant Man such an emotion inducing play.
Works Cited
Norden, Martin F. Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in the Movies. Rutgers Univ. Press, 1994. Print.
Holladay, William E., and Stephen Watt. Viewing the Elephant Man. 1989. Web.
Cody, Gabrielle H. The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. Columbia University Press, 2007. Print.
