Bradley Cooper on Stage: An Elephant Man in Reverse?

Bradley Cooper and Alessandro Nivola in The Elephant Man at Williamstown Theatre Festival | © T. Charles Erickson

On Sunday, August 5, 2012, Bradley Cooper (The Hangover; Limitless) completed a 12-day run as John Merrick in Bernard Pomerance‘s touching 1977 play, The Elephant Man, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. I took a little trip from New York City to Williamstown, Massachusetts to see the production, which also starred Patricia Clarkson (Good Night, and Good Luck) and Alessandro Nivola (Janie Jones, Jurassic Park III, and the upcoming Devil’s Knot).

Bradley Cooper takes on the stance of John Merrick at Williamstown Theatre Festival. It was painful to watch him fold three fingers of his right hand over one another; I can’t imagine what this position felt like. | © T. Charles Erickson

I was familiar with the play because I was lucky enough to see the original London and Broadway productions in the early 1980’s. Did Williamstown’s staging measure up? Yes, it was glorious in every way. This is why it chaps my you-know-what to see so many media outlets joking about the irony of a good looking actor playing the elephant man, questioning whether someone dubbed the “Sexiest Man Alive” could pull off the role, and focusing on his shirtless appearance in one scene (a device used for good reason in all stagings of this play).

Unlike David Lynch‘s 1980 film starring John Hurt in which Hurt wears prosthetics to look like the real John Merrick (aka Joseph Merrick), Pomerance specifically mandated that the actor in his largely fictional play wear no prosthetics or makeup. The idea was to eliminate the visual barrier between the man and the audience so that they could focus on his inner life. Attractive men have been purposely cast in the role, from David Schofield in London to Philip Anglim (an adaptation of this version is available on Amazon.com) and Billy Crudup on Broadway, to name a few.

So, the greater irony is that so many have fixated on Cooper’s appearance, turning him, in essence, into an elephant man in reverse. One of the themes of the play is superficiality and objectification. In Merrick’s case, he was objectified as an oddity in sideshows. Celebrities like Cooper also have to deal with staring eyes wherever they go.

Merrick purportedly ended his letters with an excerpt of the poem, “False Greatness,” by Isaac Watts (1674-1748):

Tis true my form is something odd,
But blaming me is blaming God;
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
Or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul;
The mind’s the standard of the man.

The last four lines could apply to anyone whose looks give people pause, positively or negatively. Jane attended a Q&A recently with Kristen Bell, who stars with Cooper in Hit and Run, a new movie in which he plays a crook with blonde dreadlocks. Bell said the studios fought the look that downplays his handsomeness. I guess you cant blame them, but kudos to Cooper and filmmakers Dax Shepard and David Palmer for waiting until they found a studio that let them make the movie they wanted.

Bradley Cooper Elephant Man
Bradley Cooper and Shuler Hensley in The Elephant Man at Williamstown Theatre Festival | © T. Charles Erickson

Now, don’t get me wrong. I hardly think Bradley Cooper is in need of our sympathy. But the lesson about objectification in Pomerance’s play certainly applies in both directions.

Clearly, Cooper is a serious actor and not just a “pretty face.” In his Inside the Actors Studio appearance, Cooper said this about his career: “I know that money or the fact that more people know who I am doesn’t do anything, doesn’t give you anything, zero. If anything, it’s something you have to sort of grapple with and come to terms with. But the only thing that really matters is the joy of picking up a cup in a scene and doing it authentically.”

What he’s talking about is losing himself in the character’s circumstances, which is a high that only actors understand. Contrary to what people think about acting, this process is actually a loss of ego – a giving up of the self for the service of the character and the story – and when you achieve it (which is difficult), it’s exhilarating and addictive.

Cooper stars in a few movies coming out soon (The Words; The Silver Linings Playbook; The Place Beyond the Pines; Serena) that may bring him more respect – like Brad Pitt and George Clooney have managed “in spite of” their looks. Meanwhile, the reviews of The Elephant Man (only local critics were allowed to review it) have been unanimously positive.

Bradley Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, and Patricia Clarkson in The Elephant Man at Williamstown Theatre Festival | © T. Charles Erickson

The play made a huge impression on me in the early 1980’s, and both of the actors I saw portray Merrick moved me deeply. This time, though, despite trying not to cry (sniffling in a small theater can make you self-conscious), I remained teary throughout the entire play. Details of the originals are, admittedly, hazy after 30+ years, but I know I didn’t cry from beginning to end during those productions.

Philip Anglim, for example, didn’t contort his face in the role, but Cooper did. This makes facial expressions difficult, which was true for the real Merrick, as well. It also makes it necessary for the actor to convey his emotions primarily through his eyes, voice, and inner life. No mean feat.

Despite this challenge, the vulnerability that Cooper brought to the role was endearing and immensely heartbreaking. Toward the beginning of the play in a scene in which Merrick is beaten, he wailed, and the sound pierced the heart. His voice was unrecognizable; besides the English accent, his pitch was higher. I spoke to him for a moment after the play, and I was struck by the difference between his voice in character and his normal speaking voice.

Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson in The Elephant Man at Williamstown Theatre Festival | © T. Charles Erickson

Patricia Clarkson as Mrs. Kendal, an actress who befriends Merrick, evoked the loudest laughs of the evening, and she made her hard work on the character look effortless. I have noticed this about her before, and I think it’s the reason she’s largely underrated. She simply makes it look too easy and natural, which is the mark of a true artist.

In the scene in which Mrs. Kendal first meets Merrick, he tells her of his unique interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. The look on Clarkson’s face was unforgettable as she registered that the disfigured man in front of her was such an intelligent, sensitive soul. She made me want to be an actress again.

If you aren’t familiar with Alessandro Nivola’s work, pay attention. As Frederick Treves, the doctor who cares for Merrick, Nivola brought impressive depth and nuance to a role that requires quite an emotional journey. Treves questions much in his life as a result of Merrick’s presence in it.

The very intimate theater at Williamstown served the play so well that I hate to ever see it in a larger venue again. The set by Timothy R. Mackabee was perfectly spare, the lighting design by Philip S. Rosenberg helped create the “elephant man” illusion, and the music in between scenes by Tom Kochan set just the right mood. The costumes by Clint Ramos were gorgeous and detailed. The talented director, Scott Ellis (who also directed Jim Parsons in the current Broadway production of Harvey), is to be commended, as is the entire cast.

I’d be remiss, though, if I didn’t specifically acknowledge Shuler Hensley, who played two pivotal roles seamlessly – a fact I didn’t realize until I checked my program. He was particularly effective as Ross, the man who is brutal to Merrick early on, yet manages to evoke pathos in a later scene.

Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Nivola in The Elephant Man at Williamstown Theatre Festival | © T. Charles Erickson

Cooper performed a 30-minute version of the play while a student at the Actors Studio, so he has apparently wanted to portray Merrick professionally for a long time. In the program, the last line of his bio reads “Dedicated to JM.” His empathy for Merrick was palpable in his performance.

Forgive me for being preachy, but… While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with celebrating someone’s beauty or even feeling a healthy helping of lust, I do think it’s a problem when we do so to the exclusion of their other, less temporal qualities. Just as Victorian England assumed Merrick was an “imbecile” due to his appearance and difficulty with speech, don’t we often assume (or perhaps hope) that someone who is beautiful can’t also be smart or talented?

When I was in my 20’s, one of my dearest friends was probably the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. A girl learned one day that he had graduated from a prestigious university, and she said, “Oh, you’re smart.” He innocently asked me what that was about. “She meant, too, sweetie,” I told him. “She meant, ‘Oh, you’re smart, too.’”

Besides our difficulty – still – in dealing maturely with physical abnormalities, our culture has an adolescent love/hate relationship with physical beauty, and our behavior as a result can bring out what is ugliest inside us. For this reason alone, Pomerance’s The Elephant Man remains relevant 35 years after it was written and 150 years after John Merrick was born.

POSTCRIPT: After this article was published, Bradley Cooper went on the record as saying that there are talks about bringing this production to Broadway in 2013 or 2014. Another publication also reported that it was playwright Bernard Pomerance who requested that only local critics be allowed to review the Williamstown production.

Comments

12 responses to “Bradley Cooper on Stage: An Elephant Man in Reverse?”

  1. Kelly Avatar
    Kelly

    Melanie, thank you for this article. I am a HUGE fan of Bradley Cooper’s. I too am annoyed by the media’s constant focus on his looks and in contrast so little on his talent. This man, this actor, is not afraid to take risks such as live stage performance and appear in roles in which he looks less than perfect. I believe his authenticity on Inside The Actors Studio, and numerous other interviews I have watched. Your article is really appreciated by a “true” Bradley Cooper fan.

    1. melanievotaw Avatar
      melanievotaw

      Thanks, Kelly. I think this kind of thing can happen in one way or another to anyone who is perceived as attractive. A friend sent me an email in response to the article with a story about how a woman didn’t expect much from him professionally because she said he was good looking. I cringed when I read his account. She said it to him out loud as if her comment wasn’t offensive, but the truth is that it’s a prejudice just like any other.

  2. Jane Boursaw Avatar

    This play looks amazing, and even moreso with Bradley Cooper. It was so interesting hearing Kristen Bell talk about how the studios wanted to use his handsomeness, rather than play the ratty character he eventually played in Hit and Run. Good for them for holding out to make the movie they wanted. 
     
    I can’t wait to see The Words. 

    1. melanievotaw Avatar
      melanievotaw

       @Jane Boursaw I think Bradley is smart enough to know that he has to work against type whenever possible if he doesn’t want to get stuck playing the same thing over and over. His looks are both a blessing and a curse in that respect, but he’s a real actor who wants to sink his teeth into meaty roles. I often find that people who aren’t actors don’t get it. A friend said he felt sorry for Megan Hilty because she had to play such a mean character on “Smash.” I said, “Are you kidding? She’s an actress! She’s eating that up with a spoon!” Anyway, I’m looking forward to all of Bradley’s films coming up. They all sound very interesting and have excellent casts.

      1. melanievotaw Avatar
        melanievotaw

         @Jane Boursaw And as a result of seeing the play, I’m now catching up on the Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola movies I hadn’t seen. I highly recommend “Janie Jones” and “$5 a Day” for Nivola. I had seen “Cairo Time” and “The Station Agent,” both starring Patricia, but I can’t recommend both enough.

        1. melanievotaw Avatar
          melanievotaw

           @Jane Boursaw I live for my Roku and Netflix streaming. I’ve discovered so many great little indies there. By the way, did you know that the guy who played Jean Smart’s son, Kirby, on Frazier is Brian Klugman, the co-writer and director of Bradley Cooper’s movie, “The Words,” that opens this week? They’ve been friends since they were kids in Pennsylvania.

        2. Jane Boursaw Avatar

           @melanievotaw Say what?! I had no idea! Kirby was such a great character that I just figured it was some goofy kid playing a goofy kid. Great actor. Amazing piece of info. Makes me want to see The Words even more now. 

      2. Jane Boursaw Avatar

         @melanievotaw I interviewed Scott Porter at the beginning of Friday Night Lights, and asked if he was bummed about being stuck in a wheelchair for the series. On the contrary, he was thrilled to be able to stretch his acting chops. I guess those more challenging roles are every actor’s dream. 

        1. melanievotaw Avatar
          melanievotaw

           @Jane Boursaw Exactly. Unless you’re in it just to be famous (in which case you aren’t REALLY an actor anyway), it’s all about exploring human behavior and the experience of walking in someone else’s shoes. So, the more different the next role from the last one, the better.

  3. melanievotaw Avatar
    melanievotaw

    @TCFF Thank you for the RTs! @reellifejane

  4. […] since then, I’ve been a fan and have checked out some of his other films. Take a look at my article about The Elephant Man (which may make its way to Broadway next year), and check out Nivola’s […]

  5. […] Festival production, which was also directed by Scott Ellis (read Melanie Votaw’s report here). There were many reports since then of a Broadway transfer, but as Cooper’s become one of the […]

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