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Culture Stage

An Enemy for our times

An Enemy Of The People is a play that seems designed to make Stephen Harper squirm.

Ibsen’s parable follows a small-town doctor who uncovers an inconvenient truth: the lucrative local baths are being polluted, and could hurt people. Addressing the problem, however, will upset the economy.

Sound familiar? It certainly did to Tarragon’s artistic director, Richard Rose, when he saw this updated adaptation a year ago in Berlin.

Rose tried to snag the whole creative team for a Toronto production, including celebrated German director Thomas Ostermeier. But due to scheduling difficulties he ended up with their blessing to stage his own English version of their update. The action is switched from 1877 to present-day small-town Norway, and middle-aged protagonist Dr. Stockman (Joe Cobden) becomes instead a young man with a new family.

“The adaptation makes changes that bring issues like the oil sands, fracking, Walkerton and the cod fisheries into focus,” says Rose.

“Is democracy a principle or an economy? It seems that economy wins time and time again. One of the feelings I’ve had for years, that this play speaks to, is how interwoven the tar sands have become with the wider economy: government, taxes, people’s jobs. You can’t challenge it without challenging the whole system.”

At the heart of the play is Dr. Stockman’s relationship with his brother (Rick Roberts), an ambitious town councillor who wants to keep the potentially dangerous baths open.

“What moved me about the play is how human it is, and how we make many of our political decisions out of self-interest. A market [economy] is very simple: the numbers work or they don’t. It’s a very limited vision that doesn’t take human values into account. What about taking care of people?”

One of the biggest challenges was reworking the translated dialogue.

“It sounded a little formal when we translated it from German. A little much in the mouth, as we say. So instead of saying ‘Your newspaper always spared him,’ it’s ‘Your paper never went after him.'”

Rose hopes the timely piece packs a punch.

“I hope it stimulates debate, provokes thoughtful reflection and inspires people not to make decisions based purely on economics.”

Now in previews, opens Wednesday (September 24) and runs to October 26 at the Tarragon. 416-531-1827. tarragontheatre.com. See listing.

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