REVIEW | The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man, Nottingham Playhouse
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Natasha
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Triggers and Advisories: The performance features theatrical smoke, haze, flashing lights and loud noises. Contains strong language and uses language some might find upsetting relating to disability, as well as portrayals of abusive behaviour relating to disability.
There is a real buzz around this European Premiere of ‘The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man’, based on the 19th-century life of Joseph Merrick. The production, described by its Australian writer Tom Wright as ‘a theatre-poem about the City and the Body’, is staged by neurodivergent director Stephen Bailey and features a cast of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent actors. Debuting at Nottingham Playhouse, which has a fantastic reputation for showcasing new plays and daring choices, this groundbreaking attempt at a biographical retelling is both wonderfully devastating, and devastatingly wonderful.
I was expecting something brave and lyrical, I was intrigued as to how the urban aspect would be portrayed, and I wondered if the make-up would try to emulate the famous John Hurt portrayal in David Lynch’s 1980 film (I am not giving Jeff Goldblum any airtime here). But because this is theatre, this production surpasses these thoughts and surprises me at every turn. It fails to produce what I expect - and so succeeds on every level.
This begins when the audience enters the auditorium to “lively circus music”, as described by the captions (which, together with audio description, are a normalised feature of this production). We - whether or not we have a disability or are consciously or subconsciously ableist - are clearly voyeurs. We have come to see what the curtain, beautifully bathed in red light, reveals.
The exquisitely imagined, executed and lit set design (Simon Kenny and Jai Morjaria) makes us feel at times that we are in another world altogether as we peer in, intrigued. Sometimes this is representing an increasingly industrialised England - all dry ice, scaffolding, shadow and geometric neon lines. Other more prosaic settings, including a surgery and family home, are cunningly contained within the wooden construction that otherwise boxes in Merrick. A balladeer replete with rock guitar lends narration and evocatively produces the sound of a rampaging elephant, dark blues chords and a menacing rhythmic accompaniment. This soundtrack and Nicola T Chang’s score work exceptionally well.
Invited by ‘barkers’ to view a spectacle within a spectacle we, the audience, soon become part of the literal and metaphorical circus examining Joseph Merrick. And make-up? I don’t mean to spoil proceedings, but one of the most fascinating aspects of this production is that although Zak Ford-Williams uses his body to represent aspects of Merrick’s physical difference, he is not transformed prosthetically by the mushrooming and cauliflower growths referred to in the play’s poetry. It is again we, the audience, who are compelled to conjure up the additional visuals. This exceptionally bold move wholly succeeds both in allowing us to project our own physical ideas and fears onto Merrick, and self-reflect about our ideas of what we find visually repulsive and disturbing.
Wright’s script is astonishingly refined and detailed, sometimes bending back on itself (billowed dresses anyone?) and occasionally bursts out of its Victorian straitjacket to incorporate contemporary references and humour. Indeed, Merrick’s historically revisionist life story is less a defined chronology than a series of vignettes, each giving us an idea what his brief life was - or may have been - like. The themes around the idea of Merrick’s body are very clever, relating to the industrialisation that will pollute the Midlands; the role of work and usefulness in a patriarchal society; God the creator; existentialism; Quasimodo and Esmeralda; and the nature of entertainment. But there is little pretension here. What we get instead is a form of realism through which the audience is forced to confront ideas of ‘normality’, what is and isn’t acceptable, and whether things have changed since Victorian times.
And last but absolutely not least - the acting performances are absolutely, fantastically brilliant. The entire cast brings the script to life through spoken word, signing and movement. All performers deserved the standing ovation from a transfixed audience. Special credit must be given to Zak Ford-Williams who takes his character on a challenging journey, culminating in an astounding and captivating final monologue which emphasises the humanity and personality of Merrick, rather than giving the final word to the doctors and psychiatrists who treat him like a sideshow.
‘The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man’ is playing at Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 22 September until Saturday 7 October.