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| Bernard Pomerance | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bernard Pomerance |
| Birth date | 1940 |
| Death date | 2017 |
| Occupation | Playwright, poet, actor |
| Notable works | The Elephant Man |
| Nationality | American |
Bernard Pomerance was an American playwright, poet, and actor best known for writing the play that brought renewed public attention to Joseph Merrick through a theatrical adaptation. His work intersected with contemporary theater movements in New York City, London, and on international stages, engaging actors, directors, and institutions associated with modern drama. Pomerance's career connected him to a network of playwrights, producers, and venues across the United States and the United Kingdom.
Pomerance was born in the United States during the early 1940s and grew up amid the cultural milieu shaped by figures such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Lillian Hellman, and institutions like The New School, Juilliard School, Columbia University, and Yale School of Drama. His formative years overlapped with artistic movements influenced by Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, and Harold Pinter. He received training and informal mentorships connected to workshops and companies including Actors Studio, Group Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, and regional theaters such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Public Theater.
Pomerance began as a poet and actor before establishing himself as a playwright, producing works that entered repertoires alongside pieces by William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Jean Genet, Tom Stoppard, and Edward Albee. His plays were staged by directors and companies linked to Peter Brook, John Dexter, Richard Eyre, Joan Littlewood, and venues including Royal Court Theatre, West End, Broadway, Lincoln Center, and National Theatre. He collaborated with actors who performed in works by Ian McKellen, Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley. Pomerance's oeuvre includes plays, poetry, and translations that engaged with texts by Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Butler Yeats, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Pomerance wrote the play that dramatized the life of Joseph Merrick, a historical figure later popularly known as the Elephant Man, a subject that had earlier been treated in essays and press accounts tied to London Hospital, Frederick Treves, Royal College of Surgeons, Victorian era, and exhibitions in Leicestershire and Nottingham. The play premiered in the 1970s amid theatrical currents exemplified by productions of Equus, The Homecoming, A Chorus Line, and Angels in America. Its London and New York productions featured collaborations with producers associated with Richard D. Zanuck, David Merrick, Joseph Papp, and theatres like Evening Standard Theatre Award venues. The Elephant Man received critical attention comparable to landmark performances at National Theatre, Broadway Theatre, Apollo Theatre, and festivals such as Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The play influenced subsequent screen adaptations and inspired portrayals by actors linked to Mel Gibson, David Lynch, Anthony Hopkins, and directors of biographical drama in both Hollywood and British cinema.
Pomerance's dramatic approach drew on techniques associated with Bertolt Brecht, Stanislavski, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, and August Strindberg, blending realism, expressionism, and poetic monologue akin to works by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. Recurring themes in his work resonated with historical narratives about Victorian medicine, institutional settings such as hospitals and asylums noted in texts about Frederick Treves and public spectacle, and ethical questions found in plays by Jean Anouilh and Hermann Broch. His language juxtaposed lyric passages with stagecraft devices used by practitioners like Peter Brook and Jerzy Grotowski, emphasizing the body, voice, and presence that attracted actors trained at RADA, LAMDA, and Actors Studio.
Pomerance engaged with literary and theatrical circles connected to figures such as Susan Sontag, Harold Bloom, Maggie Smith, Virginia Woolf scholarship communities, and intellectual debates in forums like New York Public Library panels and Cambridge symposia. Politically and philosophically, his outlook reflected concerns explored by writers and critics such as George Orwell, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hannah Arendt, informing his interest in power, identity, and marginalization. He maintained transatlantic ties between communities in New York City and London, participating in readings, workshops, and collaborations with universities including Harvard University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge.
The Elephant Man and Pomerance's wider career earned honors and nominations in categories observed by institutions such as the Tony Award, Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, Drama Desk Award, Laurence Olivier Award, and prizes associated with Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. His work was included in curricula and retrospectives at theatrical archives like Victoria and Albert Museum, British Library, and American collections at Library of Congress.
Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:1940 births Category:2017 deaths