Dr Stockman (Kate Mulvany), a wellness consultant, discovers that the water in the town’s baths has been poisoned by heavy metals from her father in law’s leaky mill. The town’s economic wellbeing depends on the success of the newly installed baths which Stockman and her brother the mayor (Leon Ford) championed. Stockman anticipates this discovery will be the crowning moment of her career long commitment to public health. Is she mistaken? Do the citizens wish to learn an inconvenient truth?
Ibsen wrote this play in 1882. It has seen many iconic and highly successful productions around the world and is frequently rewritten in order to set it in the country in which it is being viewed, as the main elements of the plot are transposable. Anne-Louise Sarks (Director) writes that this play is a parable about truth and power; that the spa may stand in for Nauru, indigenous deaths in custody, or climate change. Melissa Reeves (Writer) notes in the program that the text asks us, above all, to deal fairly with each other.
This adaptation asks you to confront the disquieting notion that you may be complicit through inaction. The production takes as one of its focusses the mistreatment of women, and this message is amplified in the current climate as it powerfully displays some of the manipulative tactics men use to silence and intimidate.
The set design is Scandinavian chic, offering an intriguing inside and outside space. The characters have microphones, such that we can clearly hear them bickering when they are ‘inside’ and away from the other characters. This effect of overhearing the private was a compelling device.
The production features outstanding performances across the board, making space for each character to speak their truth. Kate Mulvany cultivated a genuinely thrilling connection with the crowd throughout. There was plenty of audience interaction, where Mulvany really shone, weaving in and out of the audience, glad handing and winning sympathy. Peter Carroll may not have the lion’s share of the lines but demonstrates why he is a much lauded figure; clearly a crowd favourite. Randine’s (Catherine Davies) pronouncement that both sides of the political divide are more similar to each other than they are to her was perhaps my favourite set piece, a truly affecting and profound insight into why people feel so disenchanted with the current system, with the ‘experts’.
This is a moving and timely production with a stellar cast which offers the chance to see Mulvany in full flight, and to reengage with Ibsen. As Reeves writes, ‘great plays from the past are these incredibly condensed pieces of human experience, precious documents to be mined for clues as to how we might proceed.’
An Enemy Of The People is playing at the Upstairs Theatre Belvoir Street until November 4. Photo credit Daniel Boud.
