The Elephant Man Page #11

TREVES:

Yes sir, I'll look into that.

(he rises)

Would you like to meet him sir?

(B) Nora stands outside the door, listening. She is barely

breathing.

(A) The E.M., still listening, slowly lets his hand drop

away from the cloak.

(B) Nora opens the door.

(A) The E.M. grabs for the cloak as the door swings open

flooding him with light. We see him for the first time in

his entirety. CU of Nora screaming and dropping the tray. CU

of the caught E.M.

(C) The shrill scream is heard from upstairs.

TREVES:

Excuse me, sir.

Treves rushes out. Carr Gomm just sits for a moment, thinking.

CARR:

The Elephant Man?

ISOLATION WARD LANDING

Treves, rushing up the stairs, reaches the landing. Nora is

at the railing, crying. The door is open, the breakfast tray

littering the floor. The E.M. is on the bed trying to squeeze

into the corner. Treves quickly closes the door and tries to

comfort Nora.

TREVES:

I'm sorry, my dear, I should have

warned you. I'm so terribly sorry,

please forgive me. There, you're

alright now. Go downstairs and please

ask Mrs. Mothershead to come up.

Tell her to knock on the door and

wait for me. Alright?

NORA:

Yes Sir. I'm sorry, Sir.

Drying her eyes, she goes downstairs.

ISOLATION WARD:

Closing the door, Treves steps over the spilt breakfast and

goes to the E.M.

TREVES:

I'm very sorry about that. Are you

resting well?

The E.M. makes a garbled sound.

Treves, alone with the E.M., once more finds himself becoming

uncomfortable.

TREVES:

Ah good. Well then... oh yes, we'll

have to get you some more food. I'm

sure you must be simply famished.

Hmm?

The E.M. is silent.

TREVES:

Of course you are. Now then, I think

you'll be quite comfortable up here

for awhile. I'll see to it you have

everything you need, and, uh... yes.

Treves puts out a comforting hand to the E.M. who flinches

back. The two men just look at each other.

GENERAL WARD:

Several Nurses are taking bath things off a cart. At the

other end of the room, Mothershead is talking to a patient.

Nora enters and walks over to Mothershead. They talk, and

Mothershead exits. Nora joins the other nurses.

OTHER NURSES:

Did you see him?

NORA:

Yes.

OTHER NURSES:

What's wrong with him?

We see Nora's face. She is silent.

ISOLATION WARD LANDING

Mothershead knocks on the door. Treves opens it, comes out

onto the landing and closes the door.

TREVES:

Ah, Mothershead. How are you feeling

today?

MOTHERSHEAD:

(suspiciously)

Fine.

TREVES:

Good. Excellent. Now then, Mrs.

Mothershead, I want you to come into

this room with me. Inside there is a

man with a rather... unfortunate

appearance.

MOTHERSHEAD:

I've heard.

TREVES:

Yes... Well, I want you to clear up

a little mess, a breakfast tray was

spilt. And bring up another breakfast.

When you've done that, you and I

shall give the man a bath. But,

Mothershead, I'm counting on your

many years of experience to get you

through this, Above all, do not

scream, do not cry out, or in any

way show this man that you are

frightened of him...

MOTHERSHEAD:

Sir, you don't have to worry about

me. I'm not the sort to cry out.

Shall we go in?

TREVES:

Yes... Yes, let's go in.

Treves opens the door.

ISOLATION WARD:

Mothershead goes right to the mess.

TREVES:

(to the E.M., hereafter

Merrick)

I would like you to meet Mrs.

Mothershead - Mrs. Mothershead, Mr.

John Merrick.

Merrick looks up to Mothershead, then averts his eyes. He

looks back at her and sees she has no difficulty being in

his presence.

MOTHERSHEAD:

How do you do?

ISOLATION WARD LANDING

At the door of Merrick's attic room stand two buckets of

very dirty water. We hear footsteps coming up stairs and see

a young porter carrying two buckets of clean, steaming water.

He puts them down, knocks on the door, and takes the dirty

water downstairs. The door opens, Mrs. Mothershead picks up

the steaming buckets and takes them inside, shutting the

door.

ISOLATION WARD:

Merrick's seated in a tin bathtub trying to hide his

nakedness. Mrs. Mothershead pours the water in. She scrubs

his back with obvious distaste, but does her job. Months of

filth and accumulated excrescence are turning the bath water

a murky black. As Mothershead scrubs, Merrick slowly leans

forward in the bath, closing his eyes, apparently oblivious

to his surroundings.

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