Stirring ‘Elephant Man’ Continues A Reputation For Excellence

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — At the outset of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, the promising young surgeon Frederick Treves, on whose memoir the play is based, is interviewed for a job at a prestigious London hospital. A five-week production of the play opened last weekend at TheatreWorks New Milford.

“You have two books published by age 31, you own a house in London, and you’ll be able to charge fees of a hundred guineas before you’re forty,” the hospital director tells him. “That will be a sort of compensation.”

“Compensation for what?” Treves wonders. He’s in the prime of life, embarked on a brilliant career in a field that will allow him to do well by doing good.

It is then that he first sees the hideously disfigured Joseph Merrick, on display in a freak show as “The Elephant Man,” forced to expose his deformity to the curiosity of jeering crowds.

Treves rescues Merrick and gives him a home in a private room at the hospital, where he proposes to study his condition for scientific purposes, while at the same time guiding him toward a more “normal” existence. He teaches Merrick manners, dresses him in a copy of his own Victorian outfit, provides him with books to read, and arranges for him to be visited by the cream of London society.

But while Merrick emerges as an intelligent, idealistic and deeply spiritual  man,  Treves gradually becomes more troubled and confused. As Merrick eagerly absorbs the Christian religion, using his one functioning arm to build a model of a cathedral in order to express his faith in Heaven, Treves implies a lack of trust in a deity who would allow the kind of suffering Merrick must endure.

When Merrick falls in love with Mrs Kendall, the beautiful actress whom Treves has brought in to serve as a link to normalcy,  Treves angrily sends her away, but then is wracked with guilt as he questions his own motives.

Indeed, Merrick serves as a kind of Christ figure, whose encounters with others causes them to want to be nobler and better people, even as they each imagine him to understand them perfectly. Yet for each of them, he is only a mirror in which they see themselves as they would like to be.

As Treves realizes this and observes the inexorable course of Merrick’s condition, he feels his own helplessness.

Director Jane Farnol has put together a stirring production, incorporating all of Theatreworks’ usual perfectionism, including sets and costume design by Bill Hughes, lighting by Scott Wyshshynski, and sound design by Keir Hansen. She has two strong leads in Jeremiah Maestas as Merrick, who uses posture and gait to convey the deformity, while (unlike the real Elephant Man) his face and body are beautiful – conveying his inner humanity – and Richard Pettibone as the tightly buttoned Treves.

In addition, the smaller roles are filled by veteran actors, who do a fine job, especially George Meadows as the ruthless “manager” who exploited Merrick before Treves rescued him, and Thomas Libonate as an unctuous bishop.

By far the most powerful performance is given by Priscilla Squiers as the elegant, wise and compassionate Mrs Kendall. Her presence dominates the room, and it is easy to see that the loss of her companionship is the cruelest blow in Merrick’s painful life.

This is not a perfect play. Its structure is too episodic, making it a series of tableaux, rather than an organic whole. However, it is strong, serious, thought-provoking stuff that makes for an excellent evening of theater.

(Performances continue on weekends until May 21, with curtain on Friday and Saturday at 8 and one matinee on Sunday, May 8, at 2 pm. Tickets are $17.50.

Contact the theater’s box office at 860-350-6863 for reservations or additional information.)