Fascinating, Layered Elephant Man

New Rep opened its 30th season with the award winning and thought provoking play Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance.  The play tells the true story of John Merrick, the so called Elephant Man who lived in the 1800s – if you search for his name online, you can see pictures of the real Merrick.  The play opens showing him in a freak show in London – we are told that he exposes himself to this humiliation in order to survive.  First we see the reactions of others who have seen John, and when we first see him, his head is covered, so we do not get a good look at him until later.  One day Dr. Frederick Treves walks by and is tempted to go see Merrick, his first glance of Merrick is very short, but asks that he come to be examined.  Over the course of the play, Treves examines Merrick and eventually invites Merrick to live at London Hospital.  While living at the hospital Merrick tries whenever possible to be a normal person – whenever he sees a behavior he feels is normal, he attempts it.  At the same time, those that he interacts with eventually are able to get beyond his appearance, befriending him and seeing something of themselves in him.  

Tim Spears gives a masterful portrayal of Merrick.  While we do not see the full visual effect, no exaggerated makeup or prosthetics, but we don't need to thanks for his portrayal.  We see him fully inhabiting the character, from the speech, the posture, the use of his arms – everything.  It is hard to take your eyes off of him, this is truly a masterful portrayal.  Michael Kaye does a good job as Treves, showing the range of emotions and struggles that the doctor must have faced, he really makes character with depth.  Valerie Leonard provides a good bit of the comedy in this play as the actress and socialite Mrs. Kendal.  She is hired by the doctor in hopes that an actress would be able to hide her reaction when seeing the grotesque Merrick.  While silly at times, as her relationship grows with Merrick, it provides a much needed balance.  In addition to other actors, the production featured a single oboe played by Louis Toth sitting on the corner of the stage.  I understand there was an instrumentalist during the Broadway production as well, and I'm still unsure about this detail and what it should add to the production.  The choice to not use a mask or makeup for Merrick was an interesting one (also the case on Broadway) that I felt really worked in this case and played on the theme of perception and being able to look beyond the outer layer.  Just as those who see Merrick can have their perceptions of him change, we can imagine him as we wish, we're simply able to see the man hiding behind those deformities.  Jim Petosa's direction along with the rest of the artistic team do a great job a layering this production and giving you a lot to dissect and think about afterwards. This play was enjoyable, kept my attention for the almost 2 hour run time and also gave me something to think about for some time afterwards.  

~ Frank Furnari - New Rep Reviewer