Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play ‘An Enemy of the People’ deals with the scandal of an expose of water pollution resulting in the exile of a prominent citizen of the town.
This play is an imagined sequel where the shamed protagonist achieves his goal of being heard in a public forum to explain his actions and why he felt the town covering up the contamination was wrong. It breaks ground by combining multiple methods of staging, including pre-recorded and live video as well a minimal set and including improvisation. But one of the most engaging aspects is the fact that 11 audience volunteer members of the audience are chosen to be jury members to decide the question as to whether Thomas Stockmann is indeed an Enemy of the People.
There are three main actors, Wagner Moura, Danilo Grangheia, and Julia Bernat representing Thomas, his brother, and his daughter respectively. All bring amazing intensity of emotion to their roles, but the spotlight is on the man on trial.
Wagner Moura is extraordinary in drawing the audience into the scene, where you almost feel it is a member of your own family on trial for the most serious of crimes. The play is well over two hours long but I felt riveted the entire time and never felt as if a word was unnecessary.
The script is mostly in Portuguese since the director, Christiane Jatahy, and main actors are all Brazilian with sidebars in English. Thus, there are surtitles which gave rise to the only drawback of the performance – I wanted to read the captions but not take my eyes from the actors, an impossibility. Having said that there was no interruption to the flow, and no artificiality entered the vista.
The issues presented, discussed, and debated are easily translated into the contemporary world and raise many avenues of thought and argument.
In all I’d have to say this was one of the most astonishing theatrical experiences I have ever had. I was buzzing long after leaving the theatre.
