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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 6, 2008 - 31 Artscene Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008 31 The Elephant Man is powerful thought-provoking play By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF T he true story of a deformed man turned freak show attraction opens tomorrow at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. The Elephant Man documents the life of John Merrick, who as a two-year-old boy began to develop abnormal growths, the beginning of a life characterized by extensive deformities. This unique role is taken on by veteran actor Yo Mustafa, creative director of West End Studio Theatre, which is staging the Tony award-winning play. While he plays a deformed man, Mustafa explains that unlike the movie version of Bernard Pomerance's story, Merrick does not wear prosthetics in the play. "It's all to do with his body, the way he holds his body," Mustafa explained, something that was very important to Pomerance, LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER OUTCAST: The Elephant Man (Yo Mustafa) receives stern direction from his sideshow handler, Ross (Vince Carlin). The West End Studio Theatre production of the award-winning drama opens tomorrow at the Oakville Centre. who felt prosthetics would take "It's really about the humanity away from the depiction of The of John Merrick and what he had Elephant Man. to go through. That's what the play shows," said Mustafa. "It shows the inside of John Merrick, and not the outside physical look of John Merrick. It's more the human aspect." The actor researched Merrick's body weight distribution to bring to life the deformities he lived with in his early 20s, when the medical world discovered and began to study him. "His right arm was very big, and also his hand was huge. The play describes it as more of a paddle than a hand. There's no fingers," Mustafa said. "When he was younger, he had a fall because of weight distribution, and he broke his hip. So all the weight is on the right side because the left side of the hip was broken. He was lame for all his life." Director Paul Groulx said WEST decided to take on the play because they wanted to do a drama, and were captivated by the story of The Elephant Man. "It starts from basically Dr. Treves seeing him at a little freak show in London. This is all true, it did actually happen," Groulx explained. "Dr. Treves at the time was one of the leaders in medicine in London at a London hospital, which, at the time, was one of the leaders of medical research in the world. "Dr. Treves was fascinated by the medical part of it, like what is wrong with this human being. He was extremely enthusiastic about studying him." While Treves was discussing Merrick's condition at a medical lecture, the police forced Merrick and his handler to leave the city of London. "He's declared almost like a criminal. He's too indecent to be in public," Mustafa said. Merrick heads to Belgium with his handler, but is eventually abandoned there. He then makes his way back to London, where See Play page 32 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008 11:00am to 3:00pm International Centre Aviation Ballroom, 6900 Airport Road You won't want to miss this annual event! Speak one on one with Exhibitors showcasing dozens of Residential and Day Summer Camps for your child. Explore opportunities in Arts & Crafts, Riding, Swimming, Tennis, Golf, Gymnastics & more. For more information please call 905-815-0017 ext 210 or toll free 1-800-265-3673