There is a masterful improvised scene in San Jose Stage Company’s production of “An Enemy of the People,” lending itself to a patron’s critical opening night observation.
That tidbit had to do with a critical decision affecting the folks in a town in which the play is set — from the mayor who’s unsurprisingly playing politics with his citizens’ lives, to the members of the local newsrag doing its own enabling.
When the patron became part of the play and called out the officials, the production was indirectly put on notice as well.
“There’s no one up there that looks like me,” the patron correctly stated. This searing honesty serves as a brutal reminder of today’s societal climate. As diversity and equity programs are under attack by the White House, a handful of folks are happy to make every critical decision to benefit the smaller, more powerful and less diverse citizenry. This very dynamic is what makes the casting perfect.
In one of the most consequential and daring pieces of theater The Stage has produced in recent years, Ibsen’s timeless clarion call is fully displayed in a production not hiding behind vagaries. Immediately, terms such as “fake news” and “drain the swamp” leap off the stage, Donald Trump’s preferred term for the media living inside the title. The powerful shall not be crossed without consequences.
Doctor Thomas Stockmann (Coleton Schmitto) has discovered why the water supply for the town’s prosperous, therapeutic spa is sickening the citizens. As a medical man with a moral core, Thomas must warn others of the dangers that exist, even if it means tanking the town’s economy and threatening the financial fortunes of his slimy brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann (Johnny Moreno).
There are even more financial issues, including for the local newspaper and its journalists Hovstad (Brandon Leland) and BIlling (Nick Mandracchia), along with Thomas’ wife Katharina (Christine Capsuto-Shulman) doubling as punk band members. They rage and shred, despite the muted tone of the music, within Christopher Fitzer’s compelling set, where reminders of the citizenry’s oppressed status are splashed all over black walls.
What is remarkable about Thomas Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation of Ibsen’s 19th-century play is that it feels like it was penned in the last few weeks. There is no shortage of insight that chills the spine, to the point where it’s easy to assume the doctor is naive and silly. Will Dr. Stockmann’s desire to choose truth truly lead to cementing his status as the enemy among his fellow inhabitants?
The questions Thomas asks and the observations he makes are spot-on. “The economy isn’t in crisis, the economy is the crisis” connects directly with a society willingly accepting the ignorance thrust upon them. On its face, the concept of defending truth is absurd, and Thomas is sick of doing just that.
But anyone defending the truth nowadays can relate. There are not two sides to every story, just truth and lies. In the play’s most critical moment, a massive screed delivered with fiery vengeance from Shmitto goes right at the falsehoods of American exceptionalism. Shmitto’s moment is loaded with grunts and snarls, aided by more falsehoods from the newspaper printer and homeowners’ association chair Aslaksen (Katie O’Bryon-Champlin) resulting in Thomas being met with an avalanche of violence fired back at him in brutal, literal ways.
The play’s considerable strength is built from Kenneth Kelleher’s direction, his work often living in a vast, open space, allowing for urgent movement and lively tableaus. While Schmitto drives the story with an inferno inside a cynical world, others face their own conflicts.
The idealism of Thomas isn’t universally accepted, with Capsuto-Shulman delivering an effectively conflicted performance as Katharina, reluctant to hang her hat on truth, living inside her own damaging lies. Simple fact — the truth can’t feed her precious newborn. Only money will do that.
While Moreno often slides neatly into the slithering slime of his character’s underbelly, his tart turn as the pithy mayor is loaded with side-eyed sketch. And Randall King, along with the cool dog (Benjamin) makes a neat cameo as Katharina’s dad, who has his own financial needs threatened with the new revelations.
We are in a trying time, the third estate slowly breaking down, and truth no longer holding the same weight as it once did. Representation of so few means peril for so many.
Hopefully someday, Ibsen’s play will be a relic. We’re not there yet.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social
‘AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE’
By Henrik Ibsen, presented by San Jose Stage Company
Through: March 2
Where: San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose
Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes, with an intermission
Tickets: $34-$74; thestage.org
