Find out what is being said about Sam Gold’s production of Ibsen’s play, starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli.
New York Theatre Guide: “Key to the play’s balancing act is Strong’s performance. Stockmann’s transition from being a servant of the people to their titular enemy is swift, and Strong expertly portrays the demise. The local newspaper staff ensure their support for Stockmann, declaring, “We are behind you like a wall.” But their backing flickers out as quickly as the extinguished candles between scenes.”
Deadline: “Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 classic about a Norwegian town doctor deemed “an enemy of the people” for his truth-telling about an environmental health hazard is smart, sharp and relevant. The science vs. commerce debate is uncannily current, as Herzog thoughtfully makes clear.”
Variety: “As entertaining as it was, though, to watch ourselves, and as thematically rich as it seems to be implicated in something, there’s an element of the adaptation that lets all involved off the hook. Thomas is plainly correct, but he also pleads his case in sympathetic and warm terms, in order to win over those audience members who may not want to watch not just one but two unlikable brothers. It’s only once the battle is clearly slipping away from him that he starts to lose it.”
Time Out: **** “So far in this century, An Enemy of the People has been revived in New York more than any other Ibsen work, including A Doll’s House. I have seen productions that laid out the counterarguments and personality conflicts more compellingly, but none that focused so intently and mournfully on the underlying issue of contamination, both of the environment and of public discourse. This version of the play is a plea to the audience. Ibsen’s text ends on a note of hero worship, with Stockmann declaring himself the strongest man in the world. Strong, in this revival, seems more conscious of the limits of personal strength.”
The Guardian: **** “Whether such directness is successful in imparting something beyond the thrill of live performance – the cascading second half is, as expected, a showcase for Strong’s ability to portray a man on the brink – is, perhaps, up to the viewer. The appliqué of dialogue clearly invoking our current denial to 1880s Norway is at times jarring, at times moving, but in the hands of some veteran actors and immersive staging, at least a night of good New York theater.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Sam Gold’s crackling production up to that point has been deceptively traditional, handsomely staged in the round at the Circle in the Square, with a first act that sets the scene for festering conflict in the warmth and cozy domesticity of Stockmann’s home, lit by oil lamps and trafficked by a steady flow of drop-in dinner guests. Unlike some of Gold’s revivals that have staged classic texts in modern dress, the setting here remains a small town in late 19th century Norway. But the issues stirred up by Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 drama have queasy echoes in contemporary America.”
New York Theater.me: “Strong, who certainly has had experience portraying an often unlikeable character, presents the doctor’s complexity, including his strengths, while subtly suggesting that his stubbornness may have many roots — insecurity, grief, ambition.”
USA Today: “Imperioli is appropriately slimy as the coercive Peter, while Thomas Jay Ryan is sensational as the self-serving Aslaksen, a publisher and businessman who’s content to keep his head down. “If you’re accusing me of being a coward, just remember: I’ve been totally consistent,” he says.”
New York Post: *** “Excellent performances like these are all this play needs to be forceful and pulse-pounding.”
Theatrely.com: “It must be said the cast – which also features Michael Imperioli as the doctor’s brother, the town’s corrupt mayor – turns in fine performances, though Sam Gold’s direction guides the production toward an unnecessary slower-burn. (David Zinn’s costumes, and dots’ scenic design, naturally, are also gorgeous).”
The Wrap: “Herzog’s rewriting of “Enemy” (they’re calling it a “new version”) is a vast improvement on her rewriting of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” last season, in which 19th century characters were heard saying stuff like “he’s wasted” and “I’ll take you up on that” and “what’s going on with you?” With “Enemy,” Herzog turns on the automatic pilot of modern slang only once, when someone cracks, “She was messing with me.” Not that this writer doesn’t occasionally flex her creativity.”
TheatreMania.com: “As with her work on A Doll’s House last season, Herzog’s new script is approachable and welcoming for first timers, a fast-clipped retelling that excises the florid turns of phrase that tire contemporary ears, while bringing Ibsen’s political awareness to the fore.”
To find out more about the production visit: https://anenemyofthepeopleplay.com/