The Grinning Man

About the show

The play opens with a narration by the court clown Barkilphedro as we are introduced to a fictional version of London. He muses about how laughing at the misfortune of others is the biggest joy in life ("Laughter Is The Best Medicine"), before introducing the royal family to the audience. King Clarence is a miserable king with three children: Duchess Josiana, his hedonistic daughter, Lord David Dirry-Moir, his conceited and foolish son and Princess Angelica, their half-sister who has been locked away and has gone mad from loneliness. On the day the story takes place, David wanders around the Trafalgar fair where he meets the wrangler Osric who presents to him an arrangement of people with different afflictions. David then stumbles upon a caravan owned by Ursus, a puppeteer and druggist touring with his act, a young man known as "The Grinning Man", as well as a blind young woman who has "gone blind from gazing at him too long". David is fascinated and pays Ursus to continue as long as he sees the deformed man's concealed face, and the tale begins. Many years prior, King Clarence purges the country of rebels and executed those who stood in his way. Those desperate to get away fought to escape by ship, Ursus and his family being one of them. However, Ursus is unsuccessful in boarding the last ship departing and can only spectate from a high cliff as he witnesses a woman attempt to climb onboard with her son. Against his mother's pleas, the captain forces the boy to remove the bandages on his mouth to reveal a hideous grin carved upon it ("Show Us Your Face"). The boy is forced off the vessel as the people on board conclude his deformity is a bad omen. He cries out to his mother and begs for her to return, before the ship is struck by a large wave, killing everyone on board, including the boy's mother, which leaves him devastated as he vows to never forget her ("Mother's Song"). The boy wanders aimlessly through the dark woods, before discovering an infant girl whose mother has frozen to death and takes her with him and makes his way past the bodies of the executed rebels until he collapses from exhaustion and awaits death. Just then, an apparition of one of the hanged men appears and encourages the boy to keep going. As the boy rises up, he vows to protect the girl and find whoever disfigured him (“Hymn of The Hanged”). The boy is discovered by Mojo, a wolf-hound who leads him to Ursus’ caravan. After resuscitating the girl, Ursus discovers that she is blind as well as the boy’s deformity and providing him with pain killers. The boy introduces himself as Grinpayne, and asks Ursus to help him find his perpetrator. He then begins telling Ursus what happened to him, before being overwhelmed and breaking down into tears (“Cry of Pain”). Ursus comforts Grinpayne and convinces him that it’s best for him to let go of the painful memories and forget his past. Ursus decides to adopt the children and raise Grinpayne and the girl, whom he names Dea, as they leave London to start a new life (“Stars in the Sky”). Ursus starts telling the children stories as a way for them to cope with their tragic pasts and does everything in his power to prevent them from finding out the truth, which gradually causes Grinpayne to forget practically everything about his past. Years pass, and Dea and Grinpayne grow up and fall in love with each other (“Beauty and the Beast”). Back in the present, just as Grinpayne’s face is about to be revealed, the Great Bell of Bermondsey rings, which is later revealed due to King Clarence’s death as they recite the royal motto: “To them that have much more shall be given, to them that have not the little they have shall be taken”. At first it seems that none of the king’s children bother to show up. Barkilphedro has an imaginary conversation with the dead king’s corpse, wishing to be made a lord, but the corpse laughs in his face. Suddenly, Angelica shows up to the funeral. As she is the successor, the bishop has no other choice but to crown her queen, despite pointing out that she is slightly mad. As soon as she’s crowned queen, she immediately makes the decree that all traitors must be brought to justice and those who catch them shall be rewarded handsomely (“Weep oh Weep”). An exhausted Josiana returns from an orgy, and is immediately confronted by Angelica about her incestuous relationship with David. She asks her to find a husband who isn’t related by blood and to stop David from going to the fair and neglecting his duties, or else she would strip him of his title and take his sword. She proclaims how if she were queen she would outlaw law itself and wishes for someone to love. Just then David bursts in and informs Josiana about Grinpayne’s act and expresses his delight and amusement in seeing the entire thing as they rush to the fair. (“Never Seen a Face like This). Back at the caravan, Grinpayne and Dea confide to each other that they feel as if they are one step closer to discovering their pasts. Grinpayne asks Dea to help him find whoever mutilated his face and Dea happily promises to do so, before they are interrupted by Ursus (“Something’s about to change”).