Radical, modern take on Ibsen’s classic ‘Enemy’ makes West Coast debut
In “An Enemy of the People,” Henrik Ibsen posed a provocative question: How do we balance social responsibility with economic necessity? Setting the 1882 drama in a small resort town polluted by industry, the Norwegian playwright introduced themes that predicted the greatest challenges of the 21st century.
“The message is, are we sacrificing the future of the planet for economic interests?” says director Thomas Ostermeier, whose production for Germany’s acclaimed Schaubühne theater company makes its West Coast debut at Cal Performances this week.
Ibsen’s play was designed to leave audiences unsettled, but Ostermeier, who staged “Enemy” for the Berlin-based company in 2012, ups the ante. In a radically revised version of the play by Florian Borchmeyer, Ostermeier asks the audience to weigh in on questions of environmental despoliation and the responsibility of citizenship. The approach has garnered acclaim in cities around the world — and got the production banned in China earlier this year.
The title character of “An Enemy of the People” is Stockmann, a young doctor whose brother is the town’s mayor. As the play begins, Stockmann becomes a whistleblower. The town’s spa — a tourist attraction that has provided the area’s primary
income stream — has been contaminated by industry runoff. Stockmann drafts a letter, intending to warn his fellow townspeople of the danger. It’s a warning they don’t want to hear; to his surprise, Stockmann is quickly branded the “enemy.”
“As ecology and economic interests collide, the mayor is trying to put up fake news in order to stop the economical damage,” Ostermeier said in a recent call from Berlin. “If the truth comes out, there will be no more tourists at his spa.”
Like much of Ibsen’s work — the revolutionary “A Doll’s House” included — “An Enemy of the People” represented a striking departure from the theatrical conventions of its day. Ostermeier, a leading director and provocateur in European theater known for his hard-hitting takes on repertory standards — recent productions include “Hamlet” and “Richard III” — brings the play forward for 21st-century audiences. Stockmann is a member of a rock band; background music for the play includes David Bowie’s “Changes.”
In Ibsen’s climactic scene — the moment when Stockmann confronts the townspeople — the production breaks the fourth wall to allow the audience to respond. “We address the audience directly,” said the director. “In 35 cities around the world, 37 percent of audience members have raised their hands and started to speak up.”
That was true earlier this year in Beijing, he adds, when audience members responded with particular vehemence. “People talked about free speech, ecology — it created a big thing.”
Indeed, following the performance, representatives of the Chinese government stepped in, canceling two subsequent performances scheduled to be presented in Nanking. “They cited technical reasons, but the reasons were political,” said Ostermeier. “They wanted to silence us.”
The Chinese government also seized film and other materials for a documentary project, “Mapping Democracy,” that Schaubühne intends to produce.
Ostermeier’s intent — to transform the 19th-century drama into a forum for protest — has proven more successful in other cities. The director says the device has yielded urgent outcries — in Moscow, “people were going onstage to show solidarity,” says Ostermeier. (The Schaubühne company’s website tracks audience responses.)
The play’s physical production also defies convention. Here, sets for “Enemy” are drawn on blackboard walls — defaced, erased
and whited out as the play progresses.
“When we first staged it, that was when the Occupy movement was still happening,” said Ostermeier. “It was the time of the
Arab Spring, the protests in Athens and Spain. It was a time for the young generation. A bourgeois 19thcentury setting just wasn’t going to work. ‘An Enemy of the People’ is such a politically
engaged drama, I would have found it ridiculous to have a high-end design.”