Following a highly-acclaimed, record-breaking run on Broadway, The Elephant Man, starring Bradley Cooper, will transfer to London this Spring.
The Scott Ellis’ production of Bernard Pomerance’s classic play will be at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a strictly limited season, from May 19 to August 8.
Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola will also travel over from the US to star alongside Cooper who plays the role of John Merrick.
The play is based on the real life story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century man who was born in Leicester, England in 1862 with severe deformities and became a star of the travelling freak show circuit.
He was later befriended by Sir Frederick Treves, a prominent British surgeon and spent some years living in The London Hospital in Whitechapel, where he died in 1890, aged just 27.
Bradley Cooper as John Merrick and Alessandro Nivola as Frederick Treves. Photo Credit Joan Marcus.
His story has been told before in the critically and commercially acclaimed 1980 film The Elephant Man starring John Hurt as Merrick and Anthony Hopkins as Frederick Treves, which prompted the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling to be created.
In this stage version we see Dr Treves take Merrick under his care and become astonished by his intelligence, unshakable faith and, most of all, his desire for love and understanding.
He introduces Merrick to the beautiful actress Mrs. Kendal, who is deeply touched by this pure and genuine soul. As a complex friendship blossoms among the three, Treves and Kendal struggle to protect Merrick from a world of questionable intentions.
Bradley Cooper, who was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 2011, plays the role of Merrick without any make-up or prosthetics but instead contorts his face and body to mimic his deformities.
He says: "Never did we think we would have the privilege to perform this show on Broadway, let alone in London. I’m honoured that Alessandro, Patricia, the entire company and I have the opportunity to continue to tell his story."
The production was first produced in July 2012 in Williamstown, Massachusetts by the Williamstown Theatre Festival under Jenny Gersten’s season and was due to end it's run at the Booth Theatre in New York City on Saturday, the day before the Oscars.
Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT, May 19 to August 8. Details: 020 7930 8800, trh.co.uk, elephantmanlondon.com
Bradley Cooper as John Merrick, Alessandro Nivola as Frederick Treves and Patricia Clarkson as Mrs Kendal. Photo credit Joan Marcus
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