Had Henrik Ibsen’s Dr. Thomas Stockmann of “An Enemy of the People” been a character on the HBO zeitgeist drama “Succession,” he’d have been a whistleblower railing against the perniciously dysfunctional Roys as they manipulated a presidential election entirely to suit their own nefarious interests.
So there is some irony to the palpable frisson of excitement at Broadway’s Circle in the Square that accompanies the entrance of Jeremy Strong, the intense and phenomenally talented actor who shot to fame on that TV show playing a neurotic narcissist, but who now essays a character with more in common with Bernie Sanders than a scion of Rupert Murdoch. Actually, Stockmann is most like the AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who didn’t give a darn which bathhouse owners he offended as he read the science and saw a deadly future.
Strong’s creation is a classic, rumpled Ibsen do-gooder, an unvarnished wielder of scientific facts, oblivious to how the forces of business and its government lackeys surely will amass against him and a man willing to risk personal obliteration to get out his message that people will die from the contaminating bacteria at the town baths. And it will come as no surprise that Strong, under the direction of Sam Gold, dives deep, way deep, into his waters.
Ibsen raised the stakes in his 1882 play, now newly translated/adapted by Amy Herzog with a keen eye on the contemporary echo, by making the town mayor Stockmann’s brother.
Gold has cast Michael Imperioli of “The Sopranos” fame as Peter Stockmann, adding yet another theater-in-conversation-with-TV layer to these lively proceedings. Imperioli’s Peter, his coif looking especially bouffant, preaches expediency and discretion to keep the bath business running but lets you know he’ll break even his brother’s legs if need be. He’s quite deliciously weaselly without resorting to cliche and, among the many meta pleasures to watching these two men, you can read Imperoli’s simpler acting style as poking delicious fun at just how far Strong has lost himself in the role. It’s a near-perfect expansion of these two particular characters, and it is to Gold’s great credit that he thought of the casting idea.
Gold thought about much else as he tells the story of the Brothers Stockmann, alongside the spineless newspaper editor Hovstad (Caleb Eberhardt), the disappointing working-class representative, Billing (Matthew August Jeffers), the mercurial Morten Kill (David Patrick Kelly) and Thomas’ struggling daughter Petra, empathetically realized by Victoria Pedretti.
Some of what transpires here messes a tad pretentiously with traditional Broadway expectations.
We’re told there will no intermission, but there is actually a pause, at which shots of aquavit are served on the stage, even though Gold clearly doesn’t want to sacrifice any intensity by, you know, letting his audience go to the bathroom. This sudden house-lights-up is a way to liven things up from a straightforward naturalistic plod. It’s also an exceedingly clever way to get some audience members onto the stage as Strong’s Stockmann finds himself reviled at a public meeting, thus making a point of how much like sheep the public can be, even when the science is clear.
And Strong grabs that sudden intimate connection like a man holding onto a bucking steer, falling ever deeper into his character’s abyss. It is a sight to see. Strong is one of the great American actors of his generation. And Imperoli is no slouch either. He’s as live and present as anyone could ask.
I didn’t see the first (of several) pre-opening press performances at which climate protestors interrupted the show, scoring news coverage in some respected media outlets, but I sure as heck will take some convincing that no insider was in on that ruse. Protests typically go after events with which the protestors are at odds: this one was a protest at a like-minded show, which happens, like, never. But who knows?
Whatever the limit of the Gold shenanigans, they all feel very much in service of the message of a prescient play about the dangers of populist manipulation by those invested in the status quo.
Compared to other productions I’ve seen, the trio of Herzog, Gold and Strong generally downplay the flaws Ibsen baked into Thomas Stockmann, turning him more into a guy like the Nick Offerman character in “The Last of Us,” trying to hold off the zombies as they slay the people and hone in on democracy itself. Might as well go for the jugular.
“An Enemy of the People” plays at the Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 W. 50th St., New York; circlesquaretheatre.com
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com