That Indianapolis Civic Theatre is opening “The Elephant Man” on Halloween weekend seems to lend new power to an already gripping play.

If today’s spooky holiday plays up the fun of being scared or amused by something we’re not, Bernard Pomerance’s imaginative probe into the short, miserable life of a deformed man in Victorian England strikes a deeper chord.

It asks: What if the mystery of something horribly other than who we think we are could bring us face-to-face with ourselves?

Civic’s production, soberly paced and memorably centered on Chris Goldfarb’s stunning portrayal of John Merrick, the title character, poses the question sensitively.

The playwright uses the setting of class-conscious London of the late 19th century to illuminate the struggle between scientific and religious ways of coping with life. The tone of the times was optimistic, sure of its moral standards and determined to understand and control everything.

These values are centered in the character of Frederick Treves, the young doctor who rescues Merrick from a storefront freak show and, out of mingled compassion and curiosity, gives him a home at the hospital where the research-minded surgeon works.

Joshua Ramsey’s performance as Dr. Treves had the crisp authority it needed in the first act, loosening in the course of the second into a stressed-out vision of society’s flaws. Merrick’s empathy and intelligence, once his life has been stabilized and freed from haphazard cruelties, successfully challenges his mentor’s certainty. A comic, tables-turned dream sequence, one of director Robert J. Sorbera’s many deft touches, probes the pathology of “normal” life.

Jean Engstrom’s evocative costumes, Ryan Koharchik’s lighting and set design — especially the handsome dark wood interior of the main set piece, Merrick’s room — and the atmospheric light hand of Michael J. Lasley’s sound design all lend continuity and breadth to the play’s succession of short scenes.

Goldfarb’s pained postures and distorted speech as Merrick consistently and acutely showed the force of the Elephant Man’s personality, his witty grasp of the life-changing project he’s the focus of and the pathos of his condition.

Of the characters who clarify life’s perils and opportunities for him, the actress Mrs. Kendal (Carrrie Bennet Fedor) and the sleazy impresario Ross (Daniel Scharbrough) were particularly well-defined and memorable.