Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

“An Enemy of the People” Tells Inconvenient Truths TimeLine Theatre christens its new Uptown building with the Henrik Ibsen work, adapted by Amy Herzog in 2024, about a doctor whose alarming discovery makes him a town pariah.

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by Mary Wisniewski
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Four people in period clothing are in a room. Two men sit at a round table while another man stands reading a letter. A woman stands behind, watching. The scene appears tense and dramatic, suggesting a stage play.

TimeLine Theatre’s “An Enemy of the People,” with Campbell Krausen, Will Allan, Grayson Kennedy and Charles Andrew Gardner/Photo: Brett Beiner Photography

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It’s amazing how well “An Enemy of the People,” written in 1882 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, holds up. It’s not enough to say the play is relevant—it feels like it could have been written tomorrow.

Now playing at TimeLine Theatre’s new Uptown building, “Enemy” stars Will Allan as Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a genial and eccentric doctor living in a small town. His brother Peter (Behzad Dabu) is the mayor. The play opens with town luminaries, including the newspaper publisher, eating and drinking around the doctor’s table, served by his clever and overburdened schoolteacher daughter, Petra (Campbell Krausen).

A widower, Stockmann has come with his daughter and young son from a miserable life in the hinterlands to work on the town’s new mineral bath spa. It promises to make a lot of money for the community, and Stockmann is already enjoying the comforts of his new life, with roast beef and a lace tablecloth.

Unfortunately, Dr. Stockmann learns that the water coming to the spa carries a deadly disease. At first, he gets support for sounding the alarm from the newspaper publisher (Grayson Kennedy) and others in town. But the cooperation melts away when town leaders realize how the news will destroy the town’s economy, and Stockmann becomes a pariah.

Directed by Ron OJ Parson, this production uses a 2024 Amy Herzog adaptation of the play with direct and simple language. The acting by the entire ensemble is powerful and energetic. Particularly striking are the family relationships—Allan and Dabu really seem like brothers who have been fighting their whole lives. Even some of their movements mirror each other, notably in an early scene when voluble Thomas is showing gruff Peter his prized new crystal lamp. You feel both the mayor’s simmering impatience and the doctor’s oblivious enthusiasm.

Such intelligent details keep the play from being too much of a black-and-white polemic—brave scientist versus villainous profiteers. While we are meant to be on Dr. Stockmann’s side, we also see why he gets on people’s nerves. Even loyal Petra gets frustrated by his constant demands. The performances keep the characters from being cartoons.

Four men in period clothing are in a library-like setting; one stands at a podium speaking emphatically to another holding a folder, while two others observe. Shelves of books and wooden furniture are in the background.

TimeLine Theatre’s “An Enemy of the People,” with Behzad Dabu, Anish Jethmalani, Will Allan and Grayson Kennedy/Photo: Brett Beiner Photography

Kennedy is good at the hard task of playing a journalist who really seems to believe in his own heroism, even as he flip-flops. Anish Jethmalani is also fine as Aslaksen, a bland chamber-of-commerce type who seems so reasonable and amiable, even as he covers up the truth. Krausen extracts the maximum level of complexity from Petra—she’s an independent woman, happy with her work and sorrowful at the thought of losing it.

The simple set by John Culbert neatly transforms Stockmann’s home from a newspaper office to a town hall. Costumes by Christine Pascual are true to the era, while André J. Pluess’ sound design creates the menace of storms and violence, just outside the space.

You’ve seen a version of this story before in the film “Jaws.” Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb said that he and Steven Spielberg always referred to the 1977 blockbuster as a cross between the Ibsen play and “Moby Dick.” The difference in Ibsen’s story is that unlike a killer white shark in the water, microbes are invisible and easier to deny.

The second half of the show features an angry town meeting in which Dr. Stockmann storms into the audience, arguing that the town suffers from the disease of ignorance. At a recent Sunday matinee, audience members loudly responded, clapping and cheering. I heard mutters of “Yes!” and “Just like Dr. Fauci,” referring to the former U.S. medical adviser vilified for his views on preventing COVID-19.

This is an excellent production and a great way to christen the new home of a company focused on history—with dirty water from the past.

“An Enemy of the People” is on stage at TimeLine Theatre, 5035 North Broadway, through June 27. Tickets available here.