In Sam Gold’s electrifying revival of Henrik Ibsen’s classic social drama An Enemy of the People, Jeremy Strong of “Succession” fame as the idealistic Dr.Thomas Stockman tells his daughter Petra (a sterling Victoria Pedretti) that they should consider moving from 19th century Norway to the US since the persecution they have been experiencing wouldn’t happen there. This optimistic line is greeted with hearty skeptical laughter by the audience at Circle in the Square. This response shows that Ibsen’s play is as relevant now as when it premiered in 1882.
The dilemma facing Dr. Stockman is one that a contemporary scientist could be encountering or one that a free-thinking citizen of 1950 may have been subjected to when Arthur Miller adapted the play just before red-baiting McCarthyism overtook the national landscape. The conscientious Stockman has discovered the waters of the soon-to-open spa in his small town are dangerously polluted and will cause illness and possible death. He advocates closing the spa and making extensive renovations. But when their livelihoods are threatened, all of the established authority figures, including his brother the mayor (a properly pompous Michael Imperioli), as well as “liberal” journalists and “moderate” tradespeople unite to shut him down, or even “cancel” him. Their arguments of discrediting scientific research sound remarkably like the voices raised against the veracity of climate change.
Ibsen’s theme of the individual standing up against corrupt forces in society resonates today as the mob violently rises to silence Stockman and label him as an enemy because he dares to speak inconvenient truths. The metaphor of the poisoned waters applies to the moral rot of almost everyone in the town.
Amy Herzog’s idiomatic new adaptation feels modern without being jarring, just as her version of A Doll’s House did last season. Gold’s staging is immediate and intimate with the oval of Circle In the Square transformed into an arena of ethics. The design team dots creates an authentic-feeling 19th century space with lighting seemingly only by candles, designed by Isabella Byrd.
In the third act when Stockman faces the stubborn opposition of reactionary forces in a raucous town hall, the house lights remain up and members of the audience sit on stage, providing the play with its dramatic highlight. The action is right in our laps and it feels incredibly real. The barbaric actions of the townspeople are especially shattering when contrasted with feel-good atmosphere of drinks and folk music generated by the onstage intermission that immediately precedes them.
Jeremy Strong wisely does not play up Stockman’s nobility but subtly suggests his innate idealism and naivete when the doctor initially believes his news will be greeted with thanks and enthusiasm for preventing a potential ecological and humanitarian crisis. He skillfully chronicles growing disillusion and anger when he sees his fellow townspeople for what they really are. Victoria Pedretti delivers a simplistic and radiant Petra without being cloying or sentimental. Michael Imperioli blusters with conviction as the self-important mayor.
Caleb Eberhart and Matthew August Jeffers as liberal journalists, Thomas Jay Ryan as a representative of the working people, and David Patrick Kelly as Stockman’s father-in-law, gradually and almost imperceptibly transform from reasonable citizens to venal creatures of the jungle, reinforcing Ibsen’s frighteningly relevant theme that anyone can be made into an Enemy of the People.
