Susan Granger’s review of “Enemy of the People” (Circle in the Square)
The idiom “Everything old is new again…” reverberates throughout Sam Gold’s revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 classic drama “An Enemy of the People,” since it seems to reverberate with contemporary allusions to truth being discarded in favor of ‘alternative facts’ and conveniently advantageous interpretations.
Set in a small town in late 19th century Norway, it revolves around earnest, recently widowed physician Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Jeremy Strong), who has discovered dangerous bacterial contamination in the popular public baths of the local spa resort.
Now, university lab reports have confirmed the scientist’s suspicious that the newly opened spa has been poisoned by industrial pollutants emanating from a tannery owned by his father-in-law, Morten Kiiil (David Patrick Kelly).
His revelation that the runoff is “a buffet of poison” and “public health risk” evokes memories of the Flint, Michigan, 2016 water crisis, along with the initial denial of the COVID pandemic. Thomas is guilelessly arrogant and naively abrasive, bristling with righteous indignation – but he’s right.
Vehement opposition erupts from Thomas’s brother Peter Stockmann (Michael Imperioli), the town’s pragmatic Mayor, who accuses his sibling of irresponsibility in threatening to go public at a town meeting with these findings which inevitably close the spa for three years or more, probably causing their tourist-driven economy to crash.
Gold’s wife Amy Herzog (“A Doll House”) has adroitly condensed this adaptation for a contemporary American audience, emphasizing the cynicism about science by people who have been manipulated by those in power, the precarious position of being a whistleblower, the perennial conflict between environmental vs. economic interests, and trial by public opinion.
While Ibsen’s moral indignation still abounds, Herzog and Gold change his concluding speech. Instead, seafaring Captain Horster (Alan Trong), Thomas’ only loyal friend, notes: “There’s something to be said for…being at the very bottom. You know where the ground is.”
Both Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli deliver passionate performances, along with the ensemble, consisting of Thomas Jay Ryan as the self-righteous printer Aalaksen, Caleb Eberhardt as the opportunistic editor Hovstad, and Victoria Pedretti as Thomas’s schoolteacher daughter Petra.
Scenic design by collective known as “dots” utilize the staging-in-the-round to develop the Scandinavian concept with weathered white wood, real candles and oil lamps, enhanced by Isabella Byrd’s lighting and David Zinn’s authentic period costumes.
At one point, described as a ‘pause,’ a full bar is lowered from the ceiling and theatergoers in the first few rows are welcomed to enjoy free Linie aquavit; some are even invited to stay on the set for the pivotal scenes to follow.
Running about two hours with no intermission, “An Enemy of the People” plays at the Circle-in-the-Square (235 West 50th Street) through June 16.