In the prologue of this new play by Tom Wright, a cast member invites the audience behind the curtain to witness the life of Joseph Merrick, better known as the Elephant Man. It will only cost sixpence to see this grossly deformed man, she says, as if we are being lured in to see a freak show.

The curtain rises, and for 100 minutes the question remains: on some level, is the audience responding to the performance as a spectacle of difference, even deformity? Beyond the historical subject matter of a man whose physical disability prompted both revulsion and morbid fascination, The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man’s casting puts difference front and centre.

All but one of the cast of five is female: Paula Arundell, a woman of colour; Emma J Hawkins, who is one metre tall; Sophie Ross, a classic blonde; and the eldest, Julie Forsyth. They slip between female and male roles, as well as across Victorian England’s classes, prompting numerous moments where we grapple with their characters’ identities. Is she playing a woman, a man, a child, a doctor, a nurse? Ultimately, we are forced to ask ourselves why such definitions are important.