What is truth without power?
Matt Smith stars in the critically acclaimed An Enemy of the People, Thomas Ostermeier’s bold reimagining of the classic play by Henrik Ibsen.
Doubt spreads faster than disease in Ibsen’s thought-provoking play about truth in a society driven by power and money.
When Dr. Stockmann makes an unbelievable discovery about the healing waters in his local baths, he holds the future of the town in his hands, but those with everything to lose refuse to accept his word. As the battle goes beyond contaminated water, barriers are broken in this contemporary production as Ostermeier shows us why this perennial class will be relevant forever.
Making his West End debut, celebrated director Thomas Ostermeier‘s iconoclastic production of An Enemy of the People plays at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited run from 6 February 2024.
As much as I admire the fourth wall shattering audacity, I also cringe. The lo-fi set stained in stylish graffiti gibberish on walls, the dad rock playlist and live David Bowie cover, the tacky paint fight, Ostermeier’s production is a bit too eager to be edgy in a midlife crisis sort of way.
The polite-ish audience participation doesn’t fully mesh with the dramatic need for a gathering witch-hunt, however, and Stockmann’s up-to-speed analysis also doesn’t quite align with Ostermeier’s barely technological depiction of this backwater. He cleaves to Ibsen’s template of whistleblowing via local-press publication, missing a trick when it comes to incorporating the demented online realm and social media.
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