Ibsens an Enemy of the People Schaubãƒâ¼hne Berlin Review

Theater Review

An Ibsen Who Rages Over Ritalin and Economic Austerity Plans

Credit... Julieta Cervantes

Adjacent Wave: An Enemy of the People

Off Broadway, Drama , Interactive , Play

Closing Date: Nov. 10, 2013

Brooklyn University of Music – Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St.

718-636-4100

• November. seven, 2013

"Become on with the play!"

It would normally be startling, to say the least, to hear these words loudly verbalized by an audience fellow member in the center of an evening at the theater. Merely the new product of Ibsen'due south "An Enemy of the People" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater violently dismantles the 4th wall in the play'south climactic scene, and all simply turns the play into a public plebiscite on the current state of political and social civilisation.

In the scene, yous may think, the play's embattled protagonist, Dr. Stockmann (Stefan Stern), has chosen a public associates to nowadays his findings that the spa that has brought prosperity to the town — and promises to bring much more — has in fact been poisoning its patients due to its sick-planned placement downstream from a mill that has contaminated the waters. Simply the townspeople, who have just their own well-being at heart, follow the cues of the civic leaders, and turn on Stockmann, accusing him of being a traitor to the civic good.

In the radically revised new adaptation used hither, by Florian Borchmeyer, Stockmann'south righteous harangue is not only a defence force of his ideas. It'due south a long, vague and bewilderingly compendious laundry list of the world's current ills, taking in such random topics as the overprescribing of Ritalin to schoolchildren, the "sadness of family unit gatherings," the much-debated austerity programs beingness instituted across Europe and the blight of the blogosphere.

"The economic system isn't in crisis," Stockmann darkly intones (in German; the translations are on supertitles). "The economy is the crisis."

This glib simply rather vacuous phrase earned cheers and applause, and soon the discussion was opened up to the audience, with members of the cast crawling through the theater with microphones to give united states of america all a take a chance to air our views of the md's views. Demand I point out that the patrons of German-language versions of Ibsen plays tend to be are a liberal-minded bunch? Soon the air was filled with the catchphrases of controversy: "Monsanto" became a dirty discussion, "Gowanus" a cautionary one. Someone gave a shout-out to Burning Man, someone else chosen for the death of the "old values." I believe the word "revolution" came vaulting downward from the balcony.

All good fun, if yous happen to similar attention wildly disorganized meetings of left-leaning activist organizations. But something of a downer for those of us who had been finding the manager Thomas Ostermeier's provocative contemporary adaptation of the play (his third Ibsen at the Harvey) an engrossing and superbly acted night at the theater. Most problematically, of grade, the audience was playing precisely the wrong role: Instead of shouting the provocateur downwards, nosotros were pretty much set up to storm the barricades of the conservative majority with him, as a show of hands clearly indicated. Bring on the tumbrels!

Until this scene derails the production — it somewhen concludes with the boondocks'due south leaders assaulting poor Stockmann with paint balls — Mr. Ostermeier and Mr. Borchmeyer powerfully reveal how Ibsen'south drama about individual and social responsibleness remains so potent.

The production, like previous ones from Mr. Ostermeier and his visitor the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, uses stylish contemporary sets and costumes. The walls of the stage here are giant blackboards scribbled with designs of (I recall) modern furniture, at least until they are whitewashed, in an constructive bear upon, by the cast just before Stockmann'south big moment. The medico and his assembly — the newspaper editor Hovstad (Christoph Gawenda) and his assistant Billing (Moritz Gottwald) — are found in the opening scene having a casual band rehearsal at Stockmann's dwelling, as his married woman Katharina (Eva Meckbach) tries to calm their crying baby. "I'm never joining a band with a couple again," grouses Billing when the baby interrupts the rehearsal. (The vocal they were rehearsing was David Bowie's "Changes.")

The cast is largely young. Only Stockmann's staunch foes, his brother Peter (Ingo Hülsmann), normally the mayor but hither downgraded to a "member of the urban center council," and the publisher Aslaksen (David Ruland), await like they've passed twoscore or so. We know they're bad guys considering they're wearing ties.

Mr. Stern'southward Stockmann is a persuasive blend of earnest dedication and slightly unconversant egoism, his dogged conclusion to air the truth about the spas both noble and, in a fashion, thoughtlessly subversive. Mr. Gawenda'due south nuanced Hovstad similarly mixes sincere belief in the rightness of Stockmann's quest with an awareness that information technology volition be a useful boon for his paper.

At to the lowest degree, until the arguments put forth by Peter and Aslaksen change the debate. Although "An Enemy of the People" does not come shut to being Ibsen'southward most psychologically rich drama, his depiction of the insidious mode in which cocky-interest can corrupt even the morally mature is however astute and disturbing.

Such complication comes through in the terrific performances from the entire cast, including Mr. Hülsmann's smooth pol Peter, and Mr. Ruland as the minor, sensible Aslaksen, a human being searching to notice some middle footing. And the contemporary allusions Mr. Borchmeyer has interpolated experience intelligently thought out and rehearsed. E. coli is mentioned as existence the contaminant, Aslaksen raises the ornery thing of taxation hikes, and an statement erupts in the newspaper offices over the blurring of the lines between advertising and journalism. (Merely it seems a fiddling surprising, amid all these of-the-moment references, that Hovstad is editing a newspaper rather than a website.)

Until information technology jumps the tracks in the last twenty minutes (of an evening that runs a punishing two hours plus those 20 — without an interruption), Mr. Ostermeier'southward production matches and even betters his previous versions of "A Doll's Firm" and "Hedda Gabler" seen at the Harvey. This version'south new ending persuasively suggests that a contemporary Dr. Stockmann, in a civilisation in which accomplishment is measured past moneymaking alone, could bend his views to accommodate a less radical (and more than personally profitable) position.

Unfortunately such nuances are drowned out by the director'south decision to use Ibsen'southward drama equally an occasion for the audience to indulge its own political views. Most of u.s. adopt to express those at the polls, not the theater.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/theater/reviews/a-contemporary-enemy-of-the-people-at-the-harvey-theater.html

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