This production's ambitious visual reinvention of Bernard Pomerance's 1977 masterpiece, though captivating in its ingenuity and incredibly successful in its application, is also its undoing. Throughout the history of this play, John Merrick, a real person who suffered from a rare physical disorder, has been played by perfect male specimens twisting their body to limn Merrick's deformity.
This time out, Oscar-winning special effects make-up designer Barney Burman has painstakingly re-created the actual appearance of Merrick with a detailed full-body suit quite jarring to behold, leaving actor Sean Hoagland, deep inside, able to perspire, literally, only through the arch of his one exposed foot.
This concept portends a bold alternative to the way the play is traditionally performed, but aside from the initial shock, director John Drouillard misses the point, which if nothing else is a political indictment of the woefully apathetic British middle class in the late 1800s that allowed Merrick to live without care.
To that end, Merrick is meant to be seen as grotesque only in the viewers' imaginations, giving them pause about what his misshapenness signified about the person trapped within. In seeing a beautiful near-naked man play Merrick, the audience came to understand his affliction was only as grotesque as their own prejudices made him. To achieve reality with Burman's stunning make-up is an amazing feat, but it robs viewers of discovering their own prejudices by making it actual; the justification is right there before them.
Although Drouillard's directorial skill has guided a phenomenally subtle and heart-rending tour-de-force performance by Hoagland, he has let the play down with static staging, numerous clumsy blackouts, and inadequate attention to the supporting cast, whose performances in general are as glaringly spotty as their accents.
Alex Monti Fox as Merrick's mentor Dr. Frederick Treves doesn't give a bad performance, but the actor has not made the strong choices necessary to complement the delicately nuanced work of Hoagland. Devoid of the character's usual bluster and intensity, the gradual emotional unraveling of Treves, shattered as his peers' sense of compassion is gradually exposed to him as acts of personal vanity, Pomerance's message has no effect.
Presented by and at the El Centro Theatre, 800 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood. Mar. 26–Apr. 24. Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/162861.