“An Enemy of the People”

Highly Recommended ***** In January, I was fortunate enough to get into the sold out production of  “Traitor” at The Red Orchid Theatre in Old Town. This play was a modern day adaptation of Herik Ibsen’s masterpiece, “An Enemy of the People” , which is not on the Goodman Theatre stage (adaptation and direction by Robert Falls). Fall’s adaptation is much more true to the original which was written over 150 years ago. Ibsen was a truth-seeker and the dialogue that he used in his plays was as close to that of realistic as one could be. The story in “Enemy” is about a man, Dr. Thomas Stockman ( an incredible performance by Philip Earl Johnson) who has come back to live in the town where he grew up. He has been hired by his brother, Mayor Stockman ( deftly handled by Scott Jaeck) to head up the famous health spa/baths that have been keeping their town afloat.

The good doctor lives with his wife,Katherine (played to perfection by  Lanise Antoine Shelley) who is “with child” and his daughter, from a previous marriage, Petra ( powerfully played by Rebecca Hurd). The story revolves around Thomas finding that the water supply of the “baths” might be contaminated and should be repaired, while his brother, Peter wants to stifle this story. If the story and the truth gets to the public, it would destroy what they have and possibly put the people of the community out of work and even cause them to leave the town.

The story becomes a battle of two strong men and their opinions as to what might be best for the community and the people. Ibsen, in writing this tale was using his pen to attack the political system, the government, middle class society, marriage and family ties. In a way, this play was his revenge for the way critics had panned and ,as he felt, misunderstood his previous works. The direction by Falls is as perfect as one might see a play that is almost 2 1/2 hours long. The cast of players, some of Chicago’s most notable ( some taking on smaller roles) is powerful. In the next to the last scene, at the Town Hall meeting, Larry Neumann, Jr. is hysterical as the town drunk , and Allen Gilmore shines as Aslaken, the head of the Small Business Association. Aubrey Deeker Hernandez is Hovstad, the editor of the town newspaper, who rolls with the political punches and his associate Billing ( Jesse Bhamrah) are both “Pro and Con” on the subject.

David Darlow is stunning as Morton Kiil, Katherine’s father, who as it turns out may be responsible for the water situation in the first place. There are some wonderful developments that I will not divulge , as I do not want to give anything away. The townspeople in the one major scene fill the stage, but the ones who speak are:Carley Cornelius, Arya Daire,  Guy Massey, Roderick Peeples and Dustin Whitehead. The set ( (Todd Rosenthal) is powerful and when you see the final scene, remarkable. Ana Kuzmanic’s costumes are intriguing and very 1800’s looking. Robert Wierzel ( lights) and Richard Woodbury (music and sound) complete the technical parts of the production and it should be noted that the translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling makes the story-line easy to follow. Chuck Coyl handled the fight choreography ( very realistic). This is a production that is worth seeing. If you saw the Red Orchid show, you might want to see this just to see the original!

“An Enemy of the People” will continue at The Goodman’s Albert Theater thru April 15th with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  ( April 3rd only)  7:30 p.m.

Wednesdays  7:30 p.m.

Thursdays  2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ( no 3/22 matinée)

Fridays  8 p.m.

Saturdays  2 and 8 p.m.

Sundays  2 and 7:30 p.m. ( no evenings on 3/25 and 4/8)

Tickets range to $92 and are available at the box office, 170 N. Dearborn Street, by calling 312-443-3800  (fax 312-443-3825) or by visiting www.GoodmanTheatre,org

specials MEZZTIX  half price/day of subject to availability

Student $10 tix

There are accessibility performances: http://www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Accessfor handicapped patrons

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “An Enemy of the People”.