REVIEW: The Wildly Fictionalized THE MARVELLOUS ELEPHANT MAN THE MUSICAL Pays Homage To Victorian Age Obsession With Human Oddities And Penny Dreadfuls

Marc Lucchesi, Sarah Nandagopan and Jayan Nandagopan (joint Writers and Composers) new work THE MARVELLOUS ELEPHANT MAN THE MUSICAL arrives in Sydney as part of its current tour of the Fringe Festival Circuit.  An absurd mashup of the Victorian era medical mystery and the tradition of the Penny Dreadful horror stories, this work draws artistic influence from vaudeville, cabaret, burlesque and slapstick humor but don’t expect much connection to Joseph Merrick’s real story.

Joseph Carey Merrick (Ben Clark) was often known by his show title, the “Elephant Man”, a career as a touring exhibit that he had approached showman Sam Torr to set up, drawing on Victorian England’s growing fascination with ‘human oddities’.  While on ‘display’ in Tom Norman’s penny gaff shop Merrick came to the attention of Doctor Frederick Treves (Kanen Breen) who would go on to examine Merrick for medical science and present him at a meeting of the Pathological Society of London.  While Treves’ treatment of Merrick may have been somewhat lacking in human compassion as he was treated more as a scientific specimen than a human at times, there is no indication that Treves was intentionally cruel to him with the two eventually becoming friends when Merrick had taken up residence at the London Hospital where he stayed till his death in 1890. 

While THE MARVELLOUS ELEPHANT MAN THE MUSICAL uses Merrick as it’s muse, the only truth it tells is that he suffered severe deformities that medical science remains baffled by, and that he was examined and presented for scientific discovery by Doctor Frederick Treves.  Outside of these truths, the writers have fabricated a new story for their Merrick, who they refer to as John, a name that may have been an error in Sir Frederick Treves memoirs or Merrick’s chosen name.  Given Merrick’s true story is so fascinating and tragic, it is baffling that the writers have chosen to contrive such a wild fiction of his life, opting to anchor the work more in the mockery of a man so afflicted all the while slandering Merrick’s mother, claiming she was a prostitute, and Doctor Treves, making him out to be a greedy and selfish monster that wanted to control everyone around him with the aim of fame and fortune.  

The bizarre plot choices and the shoehorning in of a love story with the fictional Nurse Hope (Annelise Hall) aside, this work feels somewhat more like a vehicle for the writer’s to create a vaudeville variety show with a range of song styles, often sending up well known songs from musicals and pop music, most notably the reworking of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Three Little Maids into Three Little Mean Girls, and Kate Bush’s Babooshka into Mamushka’s Always Right.  Some lyrics are clever, and they’ve included a bawdy element with the aim to shock or scandalize but it often just feels juvenile and misses the opportunity to really show off any ingenuity.  They’ve drawn on the innuendo and titillation of burlesque and cabaret styles and combined them with old style chorus line choreography and slapstick humor for a work that often feels a little underdone, anchoring the work in the Fringe circuit. 

The standout of the show is Kanen Breen’s presentation of Doctor Frederick Treves.  Breen has an innate ability to inhabit the most absurd of characters and make them feel real and possible.  He knows how to take an over the top character and push it to its limits while still holding it at a level that has truth and honesty, making the most despicable character of the story the most likable.  His physicality is intuitive and nuanced and his ability for improv and reaction to the audience heckles lands with perfect timing, remaining in character throughout.  His understanding that the songs should serve the story are clear in his fabulous vocals that ensure that every work is clear and songs are delivered with texture, depth and most importantly unforced emotion. 

Ben Clark’s portrayal of John Merrick leans in to the fairytale that the writers have created, and he does his best to try to add some depth to the somewhat shallow sketch of Merrick that has been written.  While he cannot match Breen’s vocal strength, Clark has moments of lingering top notes and he plays the sweet romantic lead easily though the character is written without the gravity to really make Merrick stand out as the focal point of the story.  The nexus of the love triangle, Nurse Hope is presented with equal saccharine by Annelise Hall though her vocals hold the character back from being more than the archetypal ornamental female wanting a man.  For a character that is purely fictional, it is somewhat disappointing that the writers didn’t chose to make Nurse Hope, and her fellow nurses, Chastity (Eleanor Macintyre) and Faith (Rebecca Rolle), stronger, more independent women, instead opting to portray them as the outdated image of young women on the hunt for a man through the offer of sexual favors. 

Provided you have no expectations for gaining any true insight into Joseph Merrick or Sir Frederick Treves, (he received a knighthood in 1901), and you enter the Sydney Spiegeltent with the view to enjoy an absurd Fringe show, THE MARVELLOUS ELEPHANT MAN THE MUSICAL is an amusing, if somewhat baffling, night out. While the opening night performance was plagued with ongoing technical issues with sound problems with the body mics, hopefully these issues will be resolved for subsequent performances.   

The Marvellous Elephant Man The Musical

Photos: Paul Scott

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