“Enemy of the People” appeared at the Territory International Festival. This performance by the Schaubühne theater in Berlin became a sensation at the Avignon Festival 2012. Ibsen's play was published almost a century and a half ago, but, apparently, is not losing its relevance. The play is also on the schedule of Moscow theaters. It is now possible to compare interpretations. Director Thomas Ostermeier staged the play, as they say, “on the topic of the day”.
The black walls resemble slate boards. The place and time of action are indicated in chalk. And as soon as artists start beatboxing, it becomes clear that this is not a classic Ibsen.
One of the most famous theatrical provocateurs, director Thomas Ostermeier, almost rewrote the play by his favorite author, leaving only the plot backbone and character names. Stockman, a doctor in a small resort town, found that the medicinal water for which crowds of tourists come is actually poisoned. But this water is a source of income for government officials. The political conflict is complicated by a family conflict: the mayor of the city is Dr. Stockman's brother.
“It is not for nothing that this play by Ibsen is considered the most “social” in his work. It deals with many environmental, political and economic issues. The main question of my play is what are the chances of political reality influencing the course of events in a community that is thoroughly permeated only by the economy?” — explains Thomas Ostermeier, director and artistic director of the Schaubühne Theatre.
In 1900, Konstantin Stanislavsky played a rebellious doctor wearing starch cuffs. Ostermeier's main character is not a hero at all. Soft, pale, in an old leather jacket, the hipster can't even enter the room without hitting a joint. His enthusiasm is not charming and is sometimes repulsively fanatical. Fighting for the truth is not necessarily romantic and perfect, and so are fighters.
“People who can actually make a difference in the overall course of events think deeply and act slowly. As a rule, they do not correspond to the common image of an agitator at all. Both me and my audience would lose interest in the stands and the wrestler pretty quickly,” says Thomas Ostermeier.
But the “modernized” doctor acts like his classic prototype. Through Stockman, Ibsen proclaims that the most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom are the united majority, the strongest man is the one who is alone. This idea is the axis of the play, but not the end point. Ostermeier turns the final of the production into a political debate. The lights come on in the auditorium and microphones are delivered to the public. The director wants to hear everyone's opinion: “I ask those who think he is right to raise their hands.”
It seemed that the performance would end with this rally. And suddenly a bomb filled with paint flies from the hall and right into the face of the truth-lover. The community that the doctor was so zealously protecting took up arms against him. There are no halftones or subtexts in this performance; everything is weighty, rude, and visible. And there's no final. Will Stockman continue to fight or will he relent? — the answer is up in the air. A curtain.
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