Southwick Players stage The Elephant Man

Nettie Sheridan admits there’s been something of an obsession behind her production of The Elephant Man which she’s directing for the Southwick Players this March.
The cast of Elephant ManThe cast of Elephant Man
The cast of Elephant Man

First, an obsession with David Lynch who directed the film of The Elephant Man which came out in October 1980 with an all-star cast including John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Michael Elphick and Hannah Gordon.

Second, an obsession with the story itself – a story which reflects the way we look at those who are different to ourselves.

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The production runs from March 11-14 at The Barn Theatre, Southwick. Tickets are on sale on 01273 597094 or http://www.southwickplayers.org.uk, priced at £12.

“As a long-time fanatic of all things David Lynch, the story of The Elephant Man has intrigued me since the 1980s.

“The play concerns the tragic story of Joseph (Carey) Merrick, born in Leicester in 1862 and who died at The London Hospital in Whitechapel in 1890, at 27 years of age.

“He was born an ordinary child, and it was not until he was a toddler that lumps and swellings started to appear on his face. After his loving mother died when he was just 11 years old, and his father remarried. He was somewhat neglected and then sent to live with his uncle after many attempts to run away from home. At 17, he entered and lived at the Leicester Union Workhouse and was surrounded by criminals but his condition was worsening all the time and people were becoming more and more afraid of him.

“He formed crowds of people wherever he went.

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“He decided to offer himself as a sideshow attraction for exhibition, advertising himself as Half Man, Half Elephant and then toured the Midlands with much success under the name The Elephant Man and then finally to London. During a short period of success in London, Whitechapel, set up in the back room of a shop, then called a ‘penny gaff’, Freddie Treves, surgeon at the London happened upon him and he took him in to the hospital to examine him and then to exhibit him at the pathological society lectures.

“His success back on the streets was shortlived as The Elephant Man as the oddity business had been dying out for decades in Victorian Britain, and The Elephant Man exhibit closed down in 1885. He then went to Europe where freak shows were a thriving business. After a short period he was abandoned in Belgium and put on a boat back to England where he was found at Liverpool Street station beaten by an angry mob and still carrying a card which Freddie Treves had given to him. A kindly police officer sent for Treves ….. and he was given an attic room at the London to live out his final remaining few years.

“Francis Carr Gomm, the then governor at the London Hospital, initiated a Victorian style Go Fund Me, calling out to readers of The Times to empathise with Merrick’s situation, so horribly deformed he can no longer live his life as part of normal society. The readers took pity and huge donations came thick and fast. Quite soon Merrick became quite the fashionable companion of the aristocracy of Victorian London and he was visited regularly in The Attic at the hospital.

“This production tells us the story of his final years as an exhibit in London and Europe and how he is found at Liverpool Street station by Frederick Treves, and the final years of his life spent in the London, but is by no means a rags to riches tale.

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“I have assembled a hugely talented cast of 15 astonishing actors who are committed to realising my vision for this production in a sensitive and respectful way. There is also an enormous team of creatives supporting the production development, each of whom play a part in creating the magic on stage.”

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