En Folkefiende

Ibsen’s classic An Enemy of the People has had a resurgence in the last few years, the most recent production in Chichester starring Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville. This new version by playwright Brad Birch, put on by Squint with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, is one of the weaker revivals. 

In a small Norwegian town a project called 'The Springs' will help the local economy. A principled scientist, Tom Stockmann, discovers that the water is polluted and blows the whistle. Her brother is the mayor and he’s not happy.  

Birch captures a lot of the political and media cliches that are thrown around today whenever scandal comes to the fore. He gets to the heart of what the play is about—truth, morality, family—and by swapping a few of the genders he creates a decent modern take on a classic. 

But the production by Squint, who were behind last year’s excellent thriller Molly, falls flat in a lot of ways. The acting isn’t up to scratch for a start. The rhythm of the dialogue is off-kilter, most of the lines are rushed, erasing any sense of spontaneity and lending the performances a false quality.

The design, too, has style but no substance to justify it. It’s set in a glass cube: looks exciting but adds nothing to the production. There’s a live drum score, projections, the cube revolves and is constantly surrounded by the rest of the cast intently watching and moving like dancing ghosts. But all to no avail.

At one point, Stockmann says of the public, "unless it dances and flashes in 40,000 colours you’ve got no chance of holding them". It’s a message that the production takes too literally.