An Enemy of the People
Henrik Ibsen
Adaptation by Thomas Ostermeier & Florian Borchmeyer
English-Language Version by Duncan Macmillan
San Jose Stage Company
“There are no moral billionaires. Not when millions are starving. And yet we revere them! We hope their electric cars will save the planet or, if not, that their rockets will get us to Mars. A handful of men own half the world, and … any one could end hunger and global poverty and still be fucking rich! Instead, they spend their days trolling each other on social media.”
While these lines feel as if they could be from a play hot off the press last week, their roots lie almost 145 years ago when Henrik Ibsen penned his starkly pointed exploration of exposing fact-based truth as it meets political, media, community, and even family backlash. Since its 1882 premiere, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People has been adapted and performed time and again globally as its nineteenth-century messages continue to find ever-increasing relevance — messages about environmental pollution, hiding truth by re-writing facts, and the power of the majority in the name of democracy to demonize and reject the voice of reason.
San Jose Stage Company opens Thomas Ostermeier & Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (English version by Duncan Macmillan) that in every respect looks, feels, and sounds like it is taking place right here, right now. Under the hard-hitting, often-surprising, and much-inspired direction of Kenneth Kelleher and with a stellar cast of six veteran actors well-known by Bay Area audiences, The Stage’s An Enemy of the People is a stunning, must-see two hours of live theatre.
Please continue to Talkin’Braodway for the rest of my review.
Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE
An Enemy of the People continues through March 2, 2025, in a two-hour (including intermission) production by San Jose Stage Company, 490 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA. Tickets are available online at www.thestage.org, by email at boxoffice@thestage.com, or by phone at 408-283-7142.
Photo Credit: Dave Lepori
