Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People is a story of corruption in government and media and one man’s stand against the state. Always relevant, the present revival coincides with the murder of the brave Russian anti-Putin activist, Alexei Navalny.
The play, written in anger in 1882, is based on a true incident. Dr Thomas Stockmann, chief medical officer of a small provincial town in Norway, a popular spa, discovers that the Baths (on which the livelihood of the community depends) are built on a sewer. He thinks the community will be grateful to him for alerting them to the health risk.
When the mayor (who happens to be his brother) refuses to take any action, he takes the story to a radical newspaper. He presumes he has the full backing of the local community; and so, he has, until they learn that the Baths will be closed for two whole years and that they will have to foot the bill with higher taxes. When the newspaper also backs down, he calls for a public meeting in which he attacks and alienates everybody in a long anti-democratic rant.
Matt Smith, whom you may have seen as Dr Who and as Prince Philip in The Crown on TV, is cast as a lighter weight Stockman. Such is Smith’s drawing power at the box office, the run of the play has already been extended. Paul Hilton is excellent as his vile brother.
There will be, however, many theatregoers who will wish they had seen the play Ibsen wrote rather than Thomas Ostermeier’s modern adaptation in an ugly set with its black walls full of chalky white slogans.
The big surprise is Act Two when the house lights go up and the audience is asked for their opinion. It was as if we were all attending BBC One’s Question Time. The gimmick doesn’t work. I longed to get back to the play, only to find Ostermeier has rejected Ibsen’s tragic finale for a downbeat ironic end with Stockman and his wife in bed.
The audience’s biggest reaction, a very loud gasp of shock, came when Stockman threw a bucket of paint all over his brother’s face and clothes. The audience clearly felt sorry for Paul Hilton, the actor, rather than for the role Hilton was playing.
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