Misinformation Over Broadway: A Review of An Enemy of the People

A disclaimer before I start: I know an actor who has a small part in this play. I don’t think that colors by opinion overly. If I had not liked it, I would not have written a review.

My wife and I saw An Enemy of the People at the Circle on the Square theater yesterday and I cannot recommend it enough. I am likely biased, as this has been one of if not my favorite plays since I read it in high school. It literally shaped how I think about society in a profound way, so I was, I think, predisposed to like the adaptation.

And it is an adaptation, not a mere revival. Amy Herzog has made several changes to the script that I believe all worked. The characters of Katherine and Petra have been combined. Mixing their lines and concerns into one character makes that character richer and more believable than either character as they were written in the original play. Other characters have been removed to mere mentions or excised completely. Ibsen’s eugenics have bene muted (though not entirely removed. There is a passage in the climatic town meeting that highlights how ugly some “improvement” agendas can actually be). Purists might quibble, but none of the changes were missed, at least by me, and the entire play is now a tight two hours focused on the larger questions of how you deal with unpleasant truths and the damage they can cause.

The staging was excellent as well. The theater is a small, intimate venue with no bad seats, but the designer and director went above and beyond. Musical interludes deftly set the tone and mood while highlighting both the Scandinavian-ness of the source material and the talent of the various actors. The production does its best to draw the audience into the atmosphere viscerally. The lighting, subtle stage lights enhanced by natural candles and lamps, pulls the audience toward the stage, focusing your attention. At one point, a bar is lowered onto the stage and the audience is invited up for drinks (I did not drink, so I have no comment on the quality of the sponsored liquor, but the people around us certainly seemed to enjoy it) and then incorporated into the town hall scene. The actors did a marvelous job of weaving the audience into an out of scenes as necessary.

All of the acting was superb. Even the small characters did an excellent job of nailing their moments, using their few lines to drive the points home. Michael Imperioli and Jeremy Strong were excellent, as one would expect. They both did a remarkable job of embodying the Mayor and Dr. Stockmann, respectively, with all their faults and strengths. I especially want to call out Victoria Pedrettia as Petra and Caleb Eberhardt as the newspaper editor Hovstad. Petra, as mentioned, is now an amalgamation of the original Petra and Katherine, Dr. Stockmann’s wife, and Perditta blends the two characters marvelously. In my opinion, Hovstad is the most interesting character in the play, swinging from idealist to mercenary. Playing that while keeping the character both believable and sympathetic is a difficult task, but Eberhardt handles it effortlessly.

The entire production is a reminder that theater, live theater, is a creature unto itself. The interplay between the audience and the actors, the intimacy and immediacy of the performances, makes a live play something different than a movie or television show. That alone is worth experiencing. That this adaptation is brilliant only enhances the experience.

Unfortunately, I saw this late in its run. The play only runs through the end of June, but there are a few seats left. If you are in the area, I recommend as strongly as I can seeing this adaptation. They have taken a classic and, somehow, both improved it and highlighted its modern relevance without falling prey to broad stroke analogs. It brilliantly adapted, acted, staged, and well worth your attention.

You can purchase tickets to An Enemy of the People at its website.