An Enemy of the People

In one of his most provocative essays, Ibsen offers a rebuke to the Victorian notion of community as well as to the blessings of democracy. His An Enemy of the People creates a situation in which one must stand alone to face the forces allied against him.
In a coastal town, a community-minded physician has promoted the development of public baths in order to attract tourists. When he discovers that the water supply for the baths is contaminated and attempts to publicize the failing and correct it, he encounters political cowards, sold-out journalists, shortsighted armchair economists, and a benighted citizenry. His own principled idealism exacerbates the conflict, and after a public speech that turns into a tirade, the townsfolk label him an enemy of the people. He and his family are all but driven out of the town he was trying to save.
Nicholas Rudall's translations of Ibsen have brought a fresh perspective to the American theatre. His new rendering of An Enemy of the People makes the play more speakable, more American in its speech patterns, and more reflective of the levels of diction required by the class, education, and affectations of the characters.

Nicholas Rudall is co-editor, with Bernard Sahlins, of the Plays for Performance series published by Ivan R. Dee. He is an actor, director, and former artistic director of the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago as well as emeritus professor of classics at the University. He lives in Chicago.