Melbourne Festival
Playhouse,
Arts Centre Melbourne, October 21 to 27, 2012
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:*****
Published in Herald Sun online Tues Oct 23, 2012 and in print on Wed Oct 24.
Stefan Stern in An Enemy of the People
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH SETS OFF A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
TIME-BOMB in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, and Thomas
Ostermeier’s production fires it directly into our contemporary world where it
sits ticking ominously as we wait for it to explode.
Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Stefan Stern) is
a whistleblower with none of the protections of the Whistleblowers’ Act and he
faces ruination when he suspects, then proves, that the water supply to his
town’s new Health Spa is contaminated by upstream pollution and is making
patients ill.
Naively, Thomas thinks that the Town
Council and his brother, Peter (Ingo Hülsmann), the Mayor, will be grateful and
act immediately to repair the damage. Wrong!
Reparation, Thomas is told, is
prohibitively expensive and will ruin the town’s economy, so his proof is
discredited or ignored, Thomas is ridiculed and abused, supporters threatened
or bribed, and Peter will not tolerate his reputation being tarnished by his
foolhardy, ‘irresponsible’ brother.
Ostermeier argues Ibsen’s case with
vigour and courage so effectively that one wants to boo and cheer – and he
provides an opportunity in a participatory town meeting where audience members
vehemently argue the case on microphones from the auditorium.
This is an inspired interpretation of
Ibsen’s explosive play with committed, credible performances from a masterly
cast, acerbic and satirical humour and accessible, relevant political
commentary.
Tell a lie and build an entire
campaign on it – that’s what Peter does. Sound familiar?
But do we, and Thomas, only want
transparency and maintain the high moral ground when we have no financial,
vested interest? Thomas is finally confronted with an unexpected choice – and
we are left wondering what he will choose.
Ostermeier’s production is
riveting and lucid, illuminating the issues in Ibsen’s 19th century
Scandinavian play and catapulting them forward in time to address modern themes
including the environmental sustainability, global financial crisis and social
disintegration.
Ostermeier balances comedy with
drama, the personal with the political, comfortable domestic scenes with
prickly arguments then risky audience participation.
He incorporate delicious moments
of invention as lines of dialogue and moments between characters delight and
surprise us with their subtext or unexpected interpretations that resonate with
our modern context.
Stern is a sympathetic everyman
as Thomas, playing him with naïvete and awkward charm that evolves into
impotent rage as he is ostracised for attacking not simply the spa, but also
social norms and power structures.
As Peter, Hülsmann is cool,
dapper, articulate and maddeningly manipulative, generating heat as he massages
the truth into something that resembles policy.
David Ruland is wonderfully beige
as local bureaucrat and newspaper editor, Aslaksen, whose modus operandi is
appeasement while Christoph Gawenda is the perfect journalistic opportunist
looking for a story to make his career.
Moritz Gottwald, who also
provides music on guitar, invigorates the role of Billing, another ambitious
newspaperman, playing him as a twitchy, young man looking for the next lefty
issue to protest.
Eva Meckbach is funky and modern
as Thomas’s young wife and Ostermeier inserts some unsettling subtext about her
fidelity. As her father, Morten Kiil, Thomas Bading is louche and conniving as
he slopes silently around the stage with his German Shepherd in tow.
Jan Pappelbaum’s design cunningly
uses blackboard walls that are scribbled and sketched on to create furniture
and slogans, locations, stage directions and titles for scenes.
Live, modern music is skilfully
integrated into the play; in the opening scenes, Thomas and friends sing and
play David Bowie’s Ch-ch-changes and other pop songs.
Ibsen was controversial in his
time and this production delivers a volatile adaptation that will trigger
heated conversation in the car on the way home – and later.
By Kate Herbert
Creative Team
Director, Thomas
Ostermeier
Adaptation & Dramaturgy, Florian Borchmeyer
Stage Design, Jan Pappelbaum
Music, Malte Beckenbach, Daniel Freitag
Lighting, Erich Schneider
Costume, Nina Wetzel
Paintings, Katharina Ziemke
Cast
Stefan Stern,
Ingo Hülsmann, Eva Mendeck, Christoph Gawenda, David Rutland, Moritz Gottwald, Thomas Bading
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