An Enemy Of The People, Duke Of York’s Theatre Review

Matt Smith in An Enemy of the People. Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Written by Franco Milazzo for Theatre & Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.

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Having the star power of Matt Smith is a definite plus for Thomas Ostermeier's take on An Enemy Of The People even if this curiously immersive update already feels rather dated.

Smith’s Dr Stockmann has proof that the water in the local spas is being polluted by local factories, the biggest of which is owned, coincidentally, by his father-in-law Morton (Nigel Lindsay). The mayor (and, also coincidentally, the doctor’s brother played by Paul Hilton) would rather that this news didn’t get out as it would kill the town’s tourist industry overnight, even if it means visiting families coming to harm.. 

The media initially backs our very principled and very determined hero who is deadset on “draining the swamp” and removing all corruption, even if it affects his own family. When the mayor threatens to increase taxes in order to raise the £100m he claims is needed to remedy the situation, the doctor finds himself the last man standing. At a town debate, he rails against many of the modern ills he sees facing the world from corporate greed and the tyranny of the liberal majority to the gross economic inequalities highlighted by spacefaring billionaires. 

This kind of scree is a little tired by now. We’ve heard this kind of epochal chest beating before from the likes of Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden, Jeff Daniels’ Will McAvoy and Rami Malek’s Elliot Alderson and, even if we hadn’t, it is not that the issues that Stockmann throws up aren’t relevant any more; it is just that they are far less impactful than they were even ten years ago. Covid has inured us to the eye-popping levels of hypocrisy and corruption personified by Michelle Mone. The Post Office scandal epitomised the extent and very human effect of the buck-passing in Westminster. The sexual shenanigans of the Royal Family - from Charles and Camilla’s adulterous trysts to whatever Prince Andrew got up to on Jeffrey Epstein’s island - are a constant reminder of how the upper class now have all the restraint and moral authority of alley cats. The drug-fuelled right-wing asides from Elon Musk and the increasingly deranged rants from Donald “swamp drainer-in-chief” Trump occupy more column inches than the deaths of many thousands of innocents ever will. Even the play’s topic of pollution has direct parallels with the rapid rise in sewage being pumped into rivers.

How Ostermeier handles the debate itself will be a divisive talking point for this production. Rather than being a straight face-off between the brothers as seen in other interpretations of Henrik Ibsen’s masterwork, the audience are pulled into the fray and asked to verbally take sides. Microphones are passed to those in the pews willing to express an opinion either way; whether some of those picked have been planted and are there more to raise hackles than a point is unknown but it seems that there are some very eloquent people in London.

Breaking through the fourth wall in such a brazen fashion is not new in the West End but does highlight the recent impact of interactive theatre and how the word “immersive” is underused and abused. On the one hand, we have shows like this and the brilliant A Mirror which eschew any mention of audience participation in their programmes despite that being a fundamental part and highlight of the evening. Then there are those like Cabaret and Guys&Dolls who wave the “immersive” flag despite this being a case of, at best, stage design rather than a genuine cornerstone.

Debate aside, Ostermeier’s direction gets better as the story moves on and leaves the highly wordy start behind. Smith bounces around like Tigger on sugar, high on his own morality and the righteousness of his cause and giving this play a much-needed boost of energy. Jessica Brown Findlay as the doctor’s wife Katharina feels incidental to the story especially in the latter stages but that can be pinned squarely on Ibsen’s text which is more interested in the philosophical battle fought out by Stockmann in public than the emotional one he faces at home. Hilton is a wonderfully sinister figure, never camp and always ready to ramp up the threat levels as the situation requires like Vin Diesel working his way through umpteen gear changes. Lindsay wanders in and out, an Alsatian at his side to give his character more of a menacing air. Tunes like David Bowie’s Changes are plugged over and over to unsubtly nod to Ibsen’s subtexts and keep a tangible thread between this adaptation and the original. Prices for this heartfelt cry against greed and capitalist range from £75-£195 per seat this Saturday.

An Enemy Of The People runs until 13 April at the Duke of York.

☆ ☆ ☆