Bernard Pomerance’s acclaimed play is based on the brief life of John Merrick. Abandoned as a child and shunned by society, the horribly deformed Merrick survives as a freak show attraction until a famous young doctor rescues him from his life on the streets. Evolving from a sensational object of pity to the urbane and witty favourite of the aristocracy and literati, his belief that he can become a man like any other is a dream tragically never realised.