An Enemy of the People: Creative chaos is a necessity in this refreshingly contemporary reading of Ibsen at the Festival TransAmérique.

Photo: Festival TransAmérique

What makes this production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People so refreshing is the relaxed, hyper realistic presence of these excellent young actors, whose characters have been reconfigured in a contemporary urban space. Jan Pappelbaum’s modern loft-like set, where Dr. Thomas Stockmann lives with his wife and baby, and receives his friends, seemed to be constantly shifting like a flashing video creation. Thoma Ostermeier’s reading of the play is fresh, bright, contemporary and ear-splitting; the characters are also part of a rock band that roars over the sound system as soon as one of the members puts on the earphones.

Often the voices compete with the baby crying, the music blaring and the others all yelling at the same time. The result is an existential sense of creative chaos that takes over their lives, drowned in electronic sound bites, in the multiplicity of technological means of communications…smart phones, computers, recording devices and magnifying equipment, all kinds of electronic gismos that are spread out around the room and planted on the walls so that the living room not only becomes the newspaper nerve centre but an electronic work shop where everything comes together.  Such emphasis on the complex representation of our current society through the circulation of ideas, and the means of communicating those ideas. turns this play into a work that could not be any more contemporary than if it were written today.

The references to corrupt politicians, making money deals, hiding information and dealing behind closed doors, tickled the audience and loud guffaws came rolling across the theatre. However, the fact that Montreal happened to be on a health advisory which insisted that the public boil their water because the authorities feared it was contaminated, was also extremely timely. That was the departure point of Ibsen’s conflict and here it was as real as ever. No, it was not a publicity gag. It was an unexpected coincidence that gave this performance all its meaning and it all  came to a head in the fourth act where Thomas Stockman, the young doctor who works for the town Spa and has declared that the Spa must be closed down because the water is bad, sets out to defend his principles as he confronts the politicians and the newspaper editor in front of an angry public. By closing the Spa, he has just declared the death of the town’s economy and the ruin of them all. Seen in the contemporary Canadian context of recent political events, it was almost as though Rick Mercer had set in and was taking Harper and the conservatives to the cleaners. Except that was not really the case because this is not parody and the discussion moved up to higher level, as this single poor creature, sacrifices himself in a near Christ like stance, pelted with paint balls, to save human lives. 

In the highly charged Act 4, Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation makes some important changes in Ibsen’s text. Dr.Stockmann comes to defend his decision by telling the townspeople, (the audience), of the existence of toxic e-coli and other harmful bacteria in the water, and why he refuses to back down in spite of becoming a pariah in their eyes. At that point, lights come up in the house, the actors and the audience become melded into one nervous, jittery and intense mass. The Mayor of the town (Stockmann’s brother Peter), along with the editor of the local paper and the paper’s publisher, all square off in the audience to attack Stockmann, standing alone on stage behind a lectern, confronting the whole town alone. The image is powerful and the moment was highly dramatic as it turned into a serious political confrontation. Excitable voices rose about the crowd (the mikes were circulating by hand), some praising Stockmann, some demanding that the Mayor, who disregards the health warning, explain himself. A spontaneous three way discussion about the principle of not recognizing the importance of health over an economic decision seemed to annoy the crowd. Here, as we listened to Stockmann developing his arguments, we hear that Borchmeyer’s adaptation takes us out of Ibsen’s text and into a manifesto entitled L’insurrection qui vient /The Coming Insurrection) published in 2007 in France, and inspired by the Internationale Situationniste movement from the 1960s, that expressed the socio/political ideas circulating in France during the Spring of 1968 in Paris. This text allowed Borchmeyer, who adapted the play, to extend the specific discussion about the closing of the spa, to another level involving collective morality, ethics and the commodification of the individual in a society obsessed by consumerism. The thinking of sociologist Bourdieu is certainly in the background here.

That fourth act completely transformed the stage event. We sat there looking at each other wondering how to react as the excellent actors, performing as the opponents of Stockmann, ran up and down the stairs of the theatre calling out to Thomas, provoking him and telling us to listen. Reactions from the public suddenly began blurting out. Some of the voices coming from the audience were almost too strong, too well formed, to be coming from simple spectators. Had the FTA planted some good actors in the theatre to liven the debate? That was a real possibility but soon, more spontaneous sounding and less developed voices were heard and the public definitely took the side of the doctor. As soon as the meeting quieted down, lights dimmed and the final act took us back to the original space which served both as the private dwelling of the Stockmann family and the newspaper editing room. The walls melted into a mass of heightened visual effects. The production did some very interesting things with the visual component of the set. Composed at first of blackboards where everyone could write formulas and comments and ideas that could be passed around and shared by all, the walls suddenly imploded. The wife took a wet rag and ran it over the surface of the slate to create something that looked like an agitated Jackson Pollock piece that curved around, and sloshed about, suggesting a slow disintegration into chaos. Eventually, the young couple, now completely marginalized by the city, due to other dealings by Thomas’ father in law, finds itself  alone. There they are, looking over a new Real Estate document that is supposed to help them get out of this unbearable situation. What do we see but a suggestion that their solid principles might just be flexible enough to give them a final chance to make different choices, and thus save themselves, but at what cost? Nothing is written in stone; principles can be altered, social pressures are not without consequence. Ambiguity and chaos are necessary principles within our well organized societies. One cannot say that this has all been for nothing, but rather, flexibility is inevitable and rigidity, can only be counterproductive. . This is an extremely disturbing conclusion. None the less, the process has been more than entertaining, thought provoking, and an evening of theatre that shows how a director and his creative team can give a new and vibrant life to an older text without betraying it in anyway.

An Enemy of the People

Produced by Schaubuhne am Lehniner PLatz, Berlin

by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Thomas Ostermeier,

Adaptation and dramaturgy, Forian Borchmeyer

Set design: Jan Pappelbaum

Costumes: Nina Wetzel

Lighting: Erich Schneider, Paintings: Katharina Ziemke, Music Malte Beckenbach + Daniel Freitag

Presented in collaboration with Carrefour international de théâtre,(Québec),  Goethe Institut Montréal, Ministère des Afiares étrangères d’Allemagne.