‘An Enemy of the People’ Broadway Review: Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli

EmilioMadrid

If the climate activists who disrupted a Broadway review preview An enemy of the people Last week they persuasively made their “Water is coming for us all” message, it’s not for me to say, but I will point out that the interruption spoke highly of this production.

First, there is Amy Herzog’s smart, sharp and relevant adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 classic about a doctor in a Norwegian town considered “an enemy of the people” for telling the truth about an environmental health hazard. The debate between science and commerce is strikingly topical, as Herzog carefully makes clear. Ibsen created an archetypal situation here: he would be willing to bet a trip to the beach that Peter Benchley was more than familiar with Enemy when he created that cowardly, shark-denying mayor of jaws, and if the activists at last week’s show hadn’t already seen a performance of this production, they certainly recognized a kindred spirit (not to mention the perfect scene to disrupt).

And the interruption also highlighted another strength of the production: the cast. By staying in character, going with the flow, and harnessing some truly impressive improvisation skills, they demonstrated their complete understanding not only of their individual characters but also of the play and its themes. It was nothing short of a privilege to watch cast members Michael Imperioli, Jeremy Strong and David Patrick Kelly remain so theatrically grounded and involved that many in the audience (myself included) were convinced, at least initially, that the interruption was part of the plan.

But rest assured, audiences each night of this limited 16-week run at Circle in the Square will witness a taut, tightly directed production. Sam Gold’s An enemy of the people is one of the best construction renovations of the current season to date, right up there with Victorious Purliesurpassing Doubt and even Gold himself, more trembling macbeth starring Daniel Craig in 2022.

Opening tonight, Enemy makes the most effective use of Circle in the Square’s circular performance space since Daniel Fish’s novel 2019 reinvention Oklahoma! (That production invited audience members to come up on stage for some chili at intermission, Enemy follow suit with aquavit injections. When in Norway…)

Surrounded by the audience is a stage design by that tremendously imaginative collective known as dots (Sidney Brustein’s window sign, appropriate). The action of the play takes place in a kind of rectangular corral, with beautiful white walls up to calf height that enclose the actors, almost as if they were performing in one of those newly built, shallow mineral baths that promise actors Rich men of the city become richer and provide them with stable well-being. current of work related to tourism for the most humble inhabitants.

But Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Strong), hired by his brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann (Imperioli), to serve as the planned resort’s official physician, suddenly has serious reservations. He’s been waiting for some lab reports from tests he ran months earlier, and when they arrive, his worst suspicions are confirmed: the city’s water system has become so contaminated with bacteria from a nearby tannery, owned by the late wife’s father from the doctor, no less: that typhoid fever and other life-threatening illnesses are almost guaranteed.

Dr. Stockmann shares the news with a small gathering of friends of his teacher daughter (Victoria Pedretti, You, The Haunting of Hill House), a group of ambitious and revolutionary-minded young people, including two journalists from a socialist newspaper and a kind-hearted sailor. How deep his devotion to Stockmann (and the revolution) is is a question that will soon be tested, as are the seemingly liberated attitudes toward the courage of the doctor’s charming daughter. With at least a couple of these kids, devotion to equal rights subsides after one or two sexual rejections.

With friends like those, the allegory of the contaminated water supply as a threatened scientific substitute for climate change, Covid, vaccines and other modern controversies is easily understood and, in less talented hands, the delivery of the message could seem embarrassing at best. cases, and playful at worst. But Herzog, as he recently did with Ibsen’s work A doll’s house Starring Jessica Chastain, it almost magically combines modernism (both in themes and speech) with the authenticity of the time. David Zinn’s period costumes somehow create a wealth of inviting grays, browns, and blacks (only Pedretti’s feisty Petra gets a splash of color, if a rusty maroon can draw attention).

Gold’s coup de theater comes just before a five- or 10-minute pause where it would normally be an intermission. With the house lights on and the performance space transformed from a living room or newspaper office to a tavern-meeting room, with fully functional branded refrigerators filled with Linie Aquavit, members of the audience to get up from their seats and have a drink, with some remaining on the “stage” to complete what will be a tension-filled town hall meeting.

With Strong’s pushy (and not just a little self-righteous) doctor trying to be heard over the shouts of his townspeople, his brother, and his back-stabbing friends, the scene turns violent (Strong must have trained with ice baths during an extended sequence when his Stockmann is practically buried in bucket after bucket of very real ice cubes; Mikaal Sulaiman’s expert sound design captures every crack and clink of the ice).

One of the ugliest moments, however, comes from Dr. Stockmann himself, in an Ibsen speech that Gold and Herzog have chosen to leave in (some modern-era revivals remove it). Occasionally known as the “mutt” speech, Stockmann, egged on by his former friend the newspaper editor (excellently played by Caleb Eberhardt), is drawn into the issue of who is best at making important decisions for a community: the farmers, who They are the best to make important decisions for a community. The highly educated Stockmann is compared to stray dogs, or the more academically qualified, intelligent poodles, of which the Stockmann is considered the best dog.

Having lived through years of Dr. Fauci’s degradation by the right as an egg-headed villain, it might be difficult for today’s audience to refrain from shouting at an opportune moment “Come on, poodles!”, but the scene , written by Ibsen, Adapted by Herzog and staged by Gold, hints at something deeper than us versus them: the not-so-subtle disregard for democratic principles when the bacteria hits the fan. During the revised performance, there was very obvious audience approval of most of Stockmann’s speech, but that quickly changed when Strong broke out into the old stray dog ​​argument. Eberhardt, in his role as the newspaper’s slimy editor, looked out at the audience and took note of the sudden, uncomfortable silence.

It was during the raucous town hall meeting that the real-life activists decided to make their uninvited appearances, and it’s worth noting that the rest of the post-break second act picked up remarkably well, with the cast not missing a beat as they continued on. throughout the end.

Looking strong (Succession) and Imperioli (The sopranos) going head-to-head for two hours is a joy, like the stars of your favorite HBO dramas crossed some crazy timeline to show each other what they’re up to. Pedretti is also up to the strong-willed, sometimes restless role, and as her inner circle, Eberhardt, Matthew August Jeffers and Alan Trong are excellent. David Patrick Kelly, as the proudly ignorant father-in-law, and Thomas Jay Ryan, as a cowardly printer/publisher, capture most of the play’s humor.

Performed under beautiful hanging candles (the beautiful, deep lighting is by Isabella Byrd), the play is sometimes accented by what sound like period Norwegian folk songs performed by cast extras. An enemy of the people It’s full of little surprises, even without intruders.

Qualification: An enemy of the people
Event: Broadway circle in the square
Written by: Henrik Ibsen, in a new version of Amy Herzog
Directed by: Sam Gold
Cast: Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli, Victoria Pedretti, Katie Broad, Bill Buell, Caleb Eberhardt, Matthew August Jeffers, David Patrick Kelly, David Mattar Merten, Max Roll, Thomas Jay Ryan and Alan Trong
Execution time: 2 hours (including a break)