PUBLIC ENEMY Young Vic

Henrik Ibsen’s play is the classic confrontation of one man against authority, fighting the lies, the hypocrisy and intolerance of vested interest. Written in anger in 1882, it was based on a true incident and is still germane. Richard Jones’s modernized and truncated production is not helped by the exceptionally wide and ugly set.
Thomas Stockmann (Nick Fletcher), who is described by Ibsen as “an extravagant, immature fellow and a hot-head”, is chief medical officer of a small provincial town, a popular spa. He discovers that the Baths (on which the livelihood of the community depends) are built on a sewer. He naively thinks the community will be grateful to him for alerting them to the health risk. The mayor (Darrell D’Silva), who happens to be his brother, refuses to take any action. Stockman calls a public meeting and berates not only the council but the whole community. The high spot of the production is this disastrous meeting, acted with the house lights up and Nick Fletcher addressing the audience directly. The lengthy speech is given a modern spin in David Harrower’s version: “I’ll tell you what democracy is. It is the majority voting for ideas that are selfish and egotistical, ideas that promote personal gain over the wellbeing of the planet, ideas which are incapable of creating a long term future for all of us.” The community turns nasty. The final image of a defiant Stockman determined to stay on and re-educate the town, is a heroic image in keeping with the play’s most famous line (“The strongest man in the world is the man who stands alone!”) but it is not convincing.