AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.

Mold

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
by Henrik Ibsen, English adaptation by Max Faber

Anthony Hopkins Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru To 25 May 2002
Runs 2hr 50min One interval

TICKETS 01352 755114
Review Timothy Ramsden 25 May

Solid, if slightly stodgy, production of Ibsen's progressive cri de coeur.Ibsen's play openly declares its own metaphor. When Dr Thomas Stockmann, medical officer to the spa-town's new public baths, reveals the water's polluted, the town worthies, led by his brother the mayor, gang up on him as a threat to their promised prosperity. At which he declares his new enemy - their hypocrisy and conventional-minded attitudes.

In a sense, then, he is the enemy, at least of some people. And some productions take a sour view of Stockmann's declarations that loneliness is strength, a cry that could come from a dictator as easily as a cutting-edge progressive. Ibsen, recently attacked for his play Ghosts, can be seen doing some self-justification here, while the title character of his earlier drama Brand, an all-or-nothing clergyman, also flows downstream into the play.

At Mold, Andy Hockley's Stockmann is a Cheeryble of a character, a lord-love-us happy Dickensian, all bluff naivety. At best, this allows us to witness his growing awareness of the venal complexities in human motivation. But it limits the character: how much can we follow the clarion call of someone who, in late middle-age, is only just waking up to simple realities?

A sense of anonymity's increased by Ruari Murchison's set, which may, with its overarching struts, suggest a spa but is too roomy for Dr Stockmann's home. And insufficiently cosy. Ibsen opens with domesticity and Mrs Stockmann – Stevie Parry a conventional hausfrau, tolerant but doubtful about her husband's ideas – serving up food to the visiting Billing. The spaciousness on view hardly suggests a household where a new table-cloth is a luxury.

Dorien Thomas's Mayor, a sour, pinched figure - even his beard seems parsimonious - is well-allied to the worried insistence of David Charles' ratepayers' representative – personifying the small people he speaks for. Other cast members make little impact. Eve Myles is muted as Stockmann's daughter, herald of the future, and Russell Gomer uneasy as the local editor. Ironically, some of the most sharply etched characters are the crowd who disrupt Stockmann's intended lecture. Calmly paced, yet building clearly through characters' motivations, this scene is the production's high point.

Lamstad: Duncan Bett
Peterson: Sean Carlsen
Aslaksen: David Charles
Hovstad: Russell Gomer
Dr Tom Stockmann: Andy Hockley
Morten Kiil: Ray Llewellyn
Captain Horster: David Maybrick
Ellida: Rhian Mottram
Petra Stockmann: Eve Myles
Eilif Stockmann: Daniel Newman/Benjamin Wheatley
Morten Stockmann: Liam Newman/Alex Southern
Billing: Richard Nichols
Hansen: Robert J. Page
Katherine Stockmann: Stevie Parry
Vik: David Prince
Nora: Kerry Joy Stewart
Peter Stockmann: Darien Thomas
Hedda: Non Vaughan-Thomas

Director: Bill Alexander
Designer: Ruari Murchison
Lighting: Ben Ormerod
Sound: Matthew Williams

2002-05-29 01:19:59