The Elephant Man

By Bernard Pomerance

2nd Place Recipient of Southeastern Theatre Conference Undergraduate Costume Design Competition

For this hypothetical production of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, I wanted to stay away from previous concepts in which Merrick is played by an abled actor, and create a space where a play that is so often caricature turn into something genuine by casting disabled actors in disabled roles.

Scenic Design

The Elephant Man is a world full of multitudes. It contains levels, with the dreams of its characters pulled down by bitter reality. Inspired by the blending of both realism and impressionism at this time, and the works of Ilya Repin and Edgar Degas, the two-leveled set forces the audience to consider the world Merrick inhabits, one he can never fully be a part of. The above platform is where characters look down upon Merrick, a place where they can physically view him as below them. The image is meant to invoke both operating theaters and a circus ring, emphasizing he will never live the life he wishes and the one that he deserves.

Upon this upper level, the colors pulled straight from Repin’s landscapes, are the windows of his beloved Saint Philip’s Church- a place he sees in his dreams and through his window, but again one he does not visit in reality. Instead, they shine down upon him in moments of hopes and dreams, an echo of a God who may or may not be there for him. The walls of the blue lower level are meant to be constricting, but with wide doors that serve to dwarf him in their size and to also act as easy pieces for transitions from Whitechapel to Belgium to the London Hospital. The wide staircase with bronze nosing is the only connection for Merrick to a world inaccessible to him, a place where he lectures in Treves’ nightmare and the place he ascends to in death as a literal stairway to heaven. Only in death can he gain true acceptance and light. Hanging practical lights operate as hospital fixtures, circus lights, and stars. Blurring the line between dream and reality, beauty and ugliness, this world is meant to be one not so different from our own.

Drafting