The Elephant Man Hits The West End

I remember being very young – maybe 7 or 8 years old – and watching “The Elephant Man” about the life of John Merrick. I recall having undying sympathy for this disfigured – yet terribly intelligent – man, as he struggled through his life, taunted by crowds of cruel individuals, probably afraid of what they didn’t know. He was picked up by a showman that made him some money from shows, but they got away from each other and eventually John met Dr Treves that decided to take care of him.

The movie shows him building a cathedral with – I seem to recall – cardstock. It looked flawless. He always carried a picture of his mother around with him, showing everyone how beautiful she was. The doctor decided to start taking him out in public, and in a very memorable scene in the movie they were at the theatre and the actress (a friend of the doctor, I believe) blew him a kiss from where he was sitting on the balcony. He was all dressed up in a stylish suit, and ended up standing to his feet and getting a standing ovation.

He was only 32 when he died in his sleep. In the movie he has a picture of a girl on his wall that’s sleeping. His condition required that he had a whole horde of pillows to keep him breathing through the night, but having looked at this picture long and hard he threw away all his pillows, left one and lay down. To die.

This 1980 movie starred Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft and John Gielgud. The theatre production will open 4th April for previews, and will run through to 5th May at Trafalgar Studios. It first received critical acclamations for the 1979 Broadway production, winning all major drama awards including three Tonys, three Obies, the Drama Desk Award and the New York Drama Critics award. If you’re up for a strong experience, don’t miss it.