the elephant man...

Somewhat unusually, Moira and I went along to the Old Vic this afternoon to sample director Lee Lyford’s take on Bernard Pomerance’s award-winning play (and we only paid £10 each for our tickets, thanks to a group booking!).The play is based upon the life of Joseph Merrick (1862-90). In 1886, the chairman of London Hospital wrote to the editor of The Times and told of a hugely disfigured 27 year-old man who was reduced to living in a small, isolated attic room at the hospital due to his “terrible deformity” (you may have seen the film, with John Hurt?… I haven’t)… enlarged limbs, lumpy skin and impaired speech. The letter resulted in public donations which, essentially, funded his hospital stay until his death. The play does NOT feature an actor with grotesque make-up in order to replicate the original Joseph Merrick. Instead, they have opted to use an actor (the brilliant Jamie Beddard) who has Cerebral  Palsy – which effectively restricts him to a wheelchair and renders his voice difficult to understand (the play effectively uses sub-titles that appear above the stage)... and yet, his performance in the role is breathtakingly rather beautiful.

In Victorian times, Merrick was seen as ‘freak show’ exhibit. Today that just seems shocking, unacceptable and barbaric. Once properly hospitalised, Merrick received financial support from the wealthy and those who went to great lengths to demonstrate to all and sundry what ‘fine citizens’ they were to support such ‘causes’. In the play, Merrick’s character (as portrayed by Beddard) makes the audience think about how we marginalise people in society today – not necessarily on purpose, but sometimes subtly and without direct intention. As director Lee Lyford indicated in the programme: “I think a lot of the time we’re all quite frightened about getting it wrong, but it’s all about asking questions and breaking down the barriers to inclusion”.

There were times in the play when I thought they were just trying too hard to emanate the ‘feel’ of the Victorian era (the stripped-back, yet traditional, staging; the quite stilted dialogue; the ‘intertitles’ music hall references of the late 19^th/early 20^th century silent films etc etc) but, overall, I thought the play worked very well.

It’s a powerful, thought-provoking piece of theatre which, in these austere times (which are particularly affecting disabled people) and the NHS's 70th birthday, it comes as a timely reminder that we should be thinking of the ‘common good’ and not to simply allow privilege to thrive.