So while there are certainly political parallels to the present in The Enemy of the People, the most pressing parallels of the Phoenix Ensemble’s revival are to the contemporary state of theater itself. In an era when few companies will dare risk offending an audience and losing ticket and subscription sales, we’re seeing a lot more productions like this Enemy of the People. It's all too common that revivals of aggressive plays go against the originals' aggressive stance with populist, bumbling productions. To make Ibsen really relate to a modern audience, we need some brave soul to go crazy with the text, someone who is not afraid to distort Ibsen into something much newer. We also need a director who is willing to make sure there is not a pocket watch to be found. It seems no one else wants to take the risk of offending one’s contemporaries, so let me offer my uncensored, journalistically dangerous suggestion to the Phoenix Ensemble that, like Dr. Stockmann, spares no exclamation points: GROW SOME FUCKING BALLS!!!!!
An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. Directed by Amy Wagner; translated by Rolf Fjelde; set and lighting design by Maruti Evans; costume design by Suzanne Chesney; sound design by Elizabeth Rhodes (music composed by David Nelson). Photos by Gerry Goodstein.
Starring Laura Piquado (Mrs. Stockmann), Josh Tyson (Billing), Joseph J. Menino (Mayor Stockmann), Tom Escovar (Hovstad), John Lenartz (Dr. Stockmann), Brian A. Costello (Captain Horster), Kelli Holsopple (Petra Stockmann), Jack Tartaglia (Morten Stockmann), Dmitri Friedenberg (Eilif Stockmann), Angus Hepburn (Morten Kiil), and Michael Surabian (Aslaksen).
An Enemy of the People runs through September 20th at the Connelly Theater. It is performed by the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble.
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