Camden New Journal - Theatre: An Enemy of the People

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The Review - THEATRE by HOWARD LOXTON
Published: 17 April 2008

Classic insider story holds true today

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
Arcola Theatre

TOM Stockman, idealistic medical consultant to the spa that is the base of a resort’s economy, discovers its waters are polluted. They spread disease rather than offer a cure.
He declares it must be closed and its supplies rerouted. The mayor (his brother) looks at the cost, wants his report suppressed and soon turns the town against him. It is a situation dealing with responsibility against profit and Ibsen’s 1880s play is all too relevant today: the “real” world doesn’t like whistle-blowers.
Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s adaptation is modern without being anachronistic and Mehmet Ergen’s gripping production moves rapidly.
Played on a set of ‘Norwegian wood’ with a water channel snaking into the audience on which float the pages of Stockman’s report, it concentrates everything on the actors and gets excellent performances from all.
As self-interest leads the townsfolk, both reactionaries and progressives, to turn against Stockman (all except Sean Campion’s kindly sea-captain Horster), what starts as polemic turns to tragedy.
Don’t think of this as a revival of a classic. This production speaks directly to us now.

Until April 26
020 7503 1646

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