by Geoff Hoff

The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance is an award winning play about the disfigured man who became a celebrity during his short life in Victorian England. Although his name was Joseph Merrick, due to a mistake by the doctor who wrote a book about him, most accounts, factual and fictional, call him John instead, as does this play. The play is mostly factual (although there is much evidence that the real Merrick sought out the sideshow promoter, willingly became an attraction and was very well treated until he went to Belgium where he was ultimately swindled by an entirely different showman of all his considerable savings.)

The new production of The Elephant Man by the Andak Stage Company at the tiny New Place Studio Theatre, like all productions by Andak, is well above average. The simple set by Steven Markus set the mood and very effectively moved the story forward. The costumes by Kim DeShazo were quite good and evoked the period well. The lights were innovative (besides the one technical glitch the afternoon I saw it where a spotlight wouldn’t light), including projected scene titles that looked like they were carved into the rear wall. There was, however, an odd choice for a few of the props; among all this Victorian paraphernalia was an obviously modern legal pad used by Merrick as a drawing pad and an obviously modern portfolio used by the doctor for his notes.

The actors, as is also expected in an Andak production, were universally good, many of them playing several roles. The standout was Daniel Reichert as Merrick. The moment when he transforms, in shadow, from a well built actor into the Elephant Man while Dr. Frederick Treves (Andrew Matthews) describes his affliction to an audience of fellows, using nothing but simple adjustments to his body, was electrifying.

Abby Craden as Mrs. Kendal, the actress who is hired to befriend Merrick and becomes a real friend (she also played other roles) was also exceptional. There is also an interesting directorial choice, risky but very effective, wherein the actor playing Bishop How (Brian George) transforms on stage into one of his other characters, Snork the orderly. It both worked very well in the telling of the story and showed how versatile an actor Mr. George is; I hadn’t realized he played both roles until that moment.

Another interesting and effective directorial choice was to use a boy (Max Quill) playing a violin (very well, I might add) as a street musician to move the action through the scene changes.

The direction by John DeMita was mostly very effective, the staging was more than adequate, although I found the overall feel of the show lacked passion – it had a more intellectual feel than I would have liked and a lot of the actors (the aforementioned Mr. Reichert, Ms. Craden and Mr. George all notable exceptions), although all very good, played it very subdued and thoughtful, leaving the overall emotional impact wanting. The very episodic nature of the script may have contributed to this.

The other actors in the production were Norman Snow, Aandrea Graham and Michael Quill, all playing several roles.

The Elephant Man opened May 16^th is performed Thursdays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sunday at 3 pm through June 21^st, 2009.

The New Place Studio Theatre is located at 10950 Peach Grove Street in North Hollywood, CA 91601, just off Vineland, one block north of the Vineland/Lankershim/Camarillo intersection in the NoHo Arts District.

Ticket prices: $25.00

Reservations online at www.theatremania.com, http://www.Andak.org or by phone at (866) 811-4111