Up until intermission, “An Enemy of the People” seems like your run-of-the-mill Roundabout period revival. The casually paced production is dignified, well-acted by likable stars such as Boyd Gaines (“Gypsy”) and Richard Thomas (“Race” and, of course, “The Waltons”), and competently directed by Doug “Doubt” Hughes.
So you settle into your seat, ready for an innocuous, snoozy night out.
But it’s another story after the break. With the exposition out of the way, it feels as if somebody had applied defibrillator paddles to the show and shocked it into life.
Henrik Ibsen’s drama may have been written in 1882, but its portrayal of life-threatening pollution, public health versus personal gain, and soul-destroying compromises could have been pulled from today’s headlines.
Then as now, it’s not easy to be a whistleblower. The play’s Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Gaines) discovers that the local, famed public baths have been contaminated by toxic runoffs.
Unfortunately, the news isn’t as welcome as he expected it would be.
“Our only revenue is as a spa town. So you tell me now, how will we survive?”
Asking this pointed question is the mayor, who happens to be the doctor’s brother, Peter (Thomas).
Stockmann’s supporters abandon him one by one, including the activist newspaper editor (John Procaccino) who was supposed to publish the doctor’s findings. Even his wife (Kathleen McNenny) begs him to desist.
In the face of so much resistance, Stockmann’s situation goes quickly downhill — and this trimmed-down adaptation moves just as fast, thanks to a new, punchy translation by the British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
Suddenly, our crusader finds himself on the receiving end of accusations. The hostilities are staged like an impromptu kangaroo court, with some characters running down the aisles to make a point, others yelling out from the first row.
Enraged, the townies declare Stockmann “an enemy of the people.” He responds in kind, delivering a full-throated diatribe against the destructive power a group can yield.
Gaines, who often plays good guys and saps, makes the most of his sympathy capital. At first you feel for his character, especially since he has noble intentions. But then he claims, self-servingly, that “the majority is the most insidious enemy to freedom.” So much for democracy.
Stockmann even toys with migrating to America — “The majority’s rampant there too,” he concedes, “but at least it’s more dispersed.” That’s not counting with another series of plot twists and reversals.
No matter where he ends up, you may find yourself pondering whether he’s a savior or a menace long after the show is over.