Enemy, Enemy, Enemy of the People!

I have started to review plays for the Cambridge Theatre Review. Last night, I attended An Enemy Of The People by Henrik Ibsen. If you are looking for an excellent polit and social critique, you may be able to find it in movie form, starring Steve McQueen as Stockmann and Charles Durning as Major.

An Enemy of the People transcends both time and space providing a universal criticism of societal retrenchment and its impact on idealism. Written in 1882 and subsequently translated by Arthur Miller in the 1950’s, the play is not lost on this generation of theater attendees as it explores the intricacies of truth, ideas, and time through the lenses of society, community, and family. Ibsen well-develops both the classes and the interests that ultimately determine the direction of society for good or for bad. The simultaneous development of these social forces, their friction, and their eventual collusion is startlingly close to reality. As the play develops, viewers suddenly realize that the small, intentionally nameless town is their town and their society.

The plot follows a young, idealist, Doctor Stockmann (Tom Russell), who is the health and safety officer at the “natural” spa, the economic life-blood of an otherwise unremarkable town. As the town physician, he notices a pattern of illnesses which can only be attributed to swimming in and consumption of the spa waters. He soon discovers that the water is toxic, polluted by his own father-in-law’s (Stephen Bailey) tannery (Stephen Bailey). Believing that he is the champion of the town, Stockmann quickly informs the major power players to include his brother, Major (Quentin Beroud), who soon becomes the human antagonist and manipulator of the mass. Stockmann convinced by the power of the truth and the scientific basis of his evidence soon runs into the juggernaut of political and economic retrenchment as he discovers that idealism and righteousness are merely a façade for the status-quo.

Tom Russell delivers an excellent performance as Stockmann, a dynamic and difficult character who travels across the gamut of experiences from naivety and discovery to catharsis and isolation. His performance was only surpassed by his brotherly antagonist, Major, played by Quentin Beroud. While Stockmann is the main character, the performance of Beroud predominates from subtle finger curling to insidious snarls. The style and themes require such a powerful contrast between protagonist and antagonist and Beroud ensures that this exists. The tension is real. As the foil and daughter of Stockmann, Rozzi Nicholson-Leiley with her assertiveness and almost natural emotion overpowers the performance of Mairin O’Hagan. This dichotomy between mother (pragmatist) and daughter (idealist) is weakened only by the unrealistic emotion and sometimes awkward delivery of the former. Covering the spectrum of the oppositional left, Billing (Sam Sloman), Hovstad (Ned Carpenter), and Aslaksen (Harry Baker) deliver excellent supporting performances, which provide the foundation of the social criticism. In a unique twist, the Crowd is introduced as a chorus-like body and allows for the interpretation of the work as a tragedy. Their embeddedness within the audience, their jeers, and their mob-like chants force the audience into the mindset of the mob. This mechanism challenges the idealism that we each believe is within us.

“The strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone.” The same can be said for this excellent student-production. The strongest plays, presented by the strongest cast and crew, stand alone at ADC.