Review: THE ELEPHANT MAN Reminds Us Never To Judge A Book By Its Cover

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 14th April 2016

Multi award winning director, Megan Dansie, has made a name for herself directing the works of Shakespeare and plays not seen before, or not seen for a very long time in Adelaide. This time she has chosen to direct Bernard Pomerance's 1979 Tony Award winner, The Elephant Man, for the Adelaide Repertory Theatre Society, with no use of prosthetics for the eponymous role. The Rep has a sensational production on their hands and Dansie has another hit production to add to her résumé.

Joseph Carey Merrick, mistakenly called John by those around him, suffered from abnormal bone growth and abnormal skin growth, the two rare illnesses combining to contribute to his repulsive appearance and deformities, and resulting in a short life of only twenty-seven years. He was given the title of The Elephant Man and exhibited as the main attraction in a travelling freak show but eventually thrown aside, penniless, his money stolen by his promoter.

A top surgeon at The London Hospital in Whitechapel Road, Frederick Treves, took him in to the hospital to study him and work with him in an attempt to enable him, to a small degree, to mix with other people. This play is primarily about the two of them and their relationship as Treves takes control of Merrick's life, befriending him and doing what he thinks is best, for Merrick's own good.

Robert Bell and Steve Marvanek play Merrick and Treves, respectively. As they are onstage almost the entire time they are the only two who do not play other characters. The remainder of the cast have primary roles and play minor characters too, all well-delineated.

As Treves describes Merrick's deformities in a lecture, one by one Bell adopts them, twisting his mouth, curving his spine, staggering his gait, and curling up his right hand into a useless ball. Bell maintains this distortion for the entire play, a physically demanding feat. Merrick was extremely hard to understand, but Treves was eventually able to decipher his speech. This is, obviously, not possible for an audience in a theatre, and so Bell speaks clearly in a refined English accent so that we, like Treves, hear the inner voice of Merrick.

Bell's performance does not begin and end with his incredible physical manifestation of Merrick, though. He shows us a complex, gentle man trapped in a form that repels people, writing romantic prose and poetry, picking wildflowers on trips into the country, and making highly detailed models of buildings out of card. He desperately wanted to be "normal", and Treves takes on the task of helping Merrick towards that goal. Bell shows us Merrick's overwhelming gratitude and happiness at every positive event. His performance is moving and uplifting and Bell ensures that we see that it is still relevant today as so many attitudes are much as they were when Merrick was alive.

Complementing Bell's wonderful performance is that of Marvanek, as Treves. Initially his interest is entirely academic, wanting to photograph Merrick when he is an exhibit in the freak show. This is still his intent when he first meets Merrick again much later, after he has been robbed and dumped. Marvanek displays that excitement in Treves at being able to study Merrick and attempt top help him. As the performance progresses, though, he develops his character, showing more of Treve's humanity as he sees Merrick more and more as a friend and less as a patient and study project.

The two actors have developed a strong sense of their character's identities, a beautiful sense of balance in their relationship, and a very believable rapport. These characteristics are supported and reinforced by the other members of the cast as the people with whom Merrick and Treves come into contact.

Mrs. Kendal is an actress hired by Treves when other people he brings to meet Merrick will not go near him, repulsed by his appearance and smell. She accepts the job and is prepared by Treves for what she is to encounter. He asks her pretend that she likes Merrick and to shake his hand when she leaves, but after spending some time with him she actually befriends him, and becomes a regular visitor, which encourages many others to visit all the way up to Princess Alexandra. Georgia Stockham plays Mrs. Kendal with a fine level of sensitivity, displaying her character's genuine fondness for Merrick and interest in his life and artistic pursuits.

The administrator of the London Hospital, Francis Carr Gomm, is played by Tony Busch, looking every bit the careful businessman. Busch presents us with the archetypal administrator, with eyes on income and expenditure. He shows us with great skill how Carr Gomm changes as he comes to know Merrick, and is influenced by Treve, turning around and seeking to find a new home for Merrick, then embarking on fund raising so that he could stay at the hospital for what was left of his like.

Philip Lineton is the Bishop who visits Merrick to look after his spiritual needs, fixed in his ways and beliefs, very much displaying the Victorian rigidity, which we still see in some areas of the church today. This was an age when everybody believed, or professed to believe, in the Christian God, going to church to be seen, rather than to see, showing off their finery and trying to outdo one another. This is, of course, where the term one's Sunday best originated. Lineton presents that inflexible minister, interpreting the book in his own way and demanding his power be recognised as being through divine right.

There is also committed work from all of those in the supporting roles, completing a highly creditable cast. This is a most captivating production. It does not stop with the performance, though, as Robert Webb's interesting set, a raked disc to the right of the audience and Merrick's room at the hospital to the left, constantly changing locations and times under Richard Parkhill's clever lighting design, with the added use of Mark Wickett's projections, all makes for a visual feast. Jean Walker and Bev George have been kept busy, too, coming up with all of the great Victorian costumes.

The Rep, Megan Dansie, the whole cast, and all of those involved in bringing this to the stage and in running it behind the scenes, have a production to be proud of, so don't miss it.

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