Bernard Pomerance (September 23, 1940 – August 26, 2017) was an American playwright and poet whose best known work is the play ''
The Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...
''.
Biography
Pomerance was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1940. He studied at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
and moved to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1968.
His first play, ''High in Vietnam, Hot Damn'', was performed at the Interaction Theatre and directed by Roland Rees. Along with Rees and
David Aukin
David Aukin (born 12 February 1942) is an English theatrical and executive producer as well as a qualified solicitor. He has been nominated for multiple British Academy Television Awards and has won twice for producing films about Tony Blair: '' ...
, Pomerance helped to found the theatre company Foco Novo in 1972. The name was taken from Pomerance’s play of the same title, the company’s inaugural production.
For Foco Novo he adapted a new version of ''A Man’s a Man'' by
Bertold Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...
and wrote ''The Elephant Man'', which was originally produced in 1977. One of the more successful and regularly revived plays to come out of the London
fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fr ...
, ''The Elephant Man'' was performed in repertory at Britain’s
National Theatre and several times off and on
Broadway. In 1979 ''The Elephant Man'' won the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
for Best Play. It ran for 916 performances at The Booth Theatre and was made into a film for television with the original cast. In 2013 Williamstown Theater Festival produced a revival of ''The Elephant Man'', which starred Bradley Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola. The play transferred to the Booth Theater on Broadway in Winter 2014, where it played to sold out houses. It then transferred to the Haymarket Theater, London, in Spring 2015 with the same cast.
The Hollywood
film of the same name, directed by
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...
, was not an adaptation of the play. Pomerance and the play’s producers attempted to block the film’s use of the title by suing the producers of the film, citing the shared title and subject matter.
Pomerance first was inspired to write plays by the work of
Eugene O’Neill, having seen the original production of ''
Long Day's Journey into Night
''Long Day's Journey into Night'' is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the ...
''. A later influence was the British playwright
John Arden
John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s".
Career
Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass ...
. Several of Pomerance’s plays take as their subject politically weighted views of American history, such as ''Quantrill in Lawrence'' and ''Melons'', which were both produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Personal life
Pomerance was first married to the British writer
Sally Belfrage, with whom he had two children. They divorced in 1983. Pomerance married Evelyne Franceschi on August 15, 2008 at the courthouse in
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...
. She died in 2015.
Pomerance died at his home in
Galisteo, New Mexico on August 26, 2017, following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76.
Tony-Award winning writer of 'Elephant Man' known for compassion, wit
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References
* Roland Rees, ''Fringe First: Pioneers of the New Theatre on Record'', Oberon Books, 1996.
External links
Listing of plays at doollee.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomerance, Bernard
1940 births
2017 deaths
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male poets
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American poets
University of Chicago alumni
Writers from Brooklyn
20th-century American male writers
American expatriates in the United Kingdom