The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man is well known to modern audiences from John Hurt’s powerful performance in David Lynch’s film. Bernard Pomerance's version of John (Joseph) Merrick is the perfect gentleman - an artist and a man of faith. His true affliction is the appetite of those around him for freaks and spectacle; the public craving for the peculiar, beloved of PT Barnum and later deplored. The play explores Merrick’s pursuit of meaning, acceptance and love, just as his physician, Dr Treves, seeks to understand the true nature of his condition.