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Richard Thomas and Boyd Gaines depict battling brothers in a disappointing Ibsen revival

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BROADWAY REVIEW

John Lee Beatty’s handsome settings for “An Enemy of the People” feature acres of knotty pine – and the rest of Manhattan Theatre Club’s production looks terribly wooden as well.

Opening on Thursday at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, this lumbering rendition of Norwegian master Henrik Ibsen’s social-moral problem play represents a rare misfire for director Doug Hughes and a number of excellent actors like Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas, who appear scarcely up to their best standard.

One can see why MTC chose to revive Ibsen’s 1883 play. The story about idealistic Dr. Stockmann, who valiantly blows the whistle on his own civic institution, recalls today’s WikiLeaks scandals or the latest news about corrupt local governments and dubious infrastructures.

Set in a Norwegian spa resort where Dr. Stockmann declares its tainted waters are toxic, the drama features an ugly struggle between the egoistic hero and his own brother, who is the town’s smarmy mayor. Viewers unfamiliar with the play may be absorbed by its series of ironic twists as the doctor, who believes he is being a hero, eventually is condemned by the community as a troublemaker intent on ruining their business for his own personal gains.

Those of us who know the drama well are likely to find this revival a surprisingly crude effort. The overall tone of the production uncertainly wavers between dark comedy and melodrama. David Van Tieghem’s metallic music lends a portentous air to the proceedings.

British author Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s 2008 adaptation, for all of its modern-day expletives, sounds obvious and declamatory (“I have truth and honor on my side!”) and the actors too often tend to shout their speeches. The border between forceful acting and simply acting forced is frequently crisscrossed by the 14-member company in Hughes’ roughshod staging of the play.

Typically a very fine actor, Boyd Gaines broadly traces Dr. Stockmann’s emotional journey from self-satisfaction to frustration to bewilderment to bitterness. As his manipulative civic booster of a brother, Richard Thomas appears strangely spooky, with a faraway manner that hints at malevolence. The other actors are mostly competent – if stentorian – with the risible exception of Michael Siberry as the doctor’s crafty father-in-law, who lurches through his scenes looking like a refugee from “Peer Gynt.”

“An Enemy of the People” continues through Nov. 11 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, 261 W. 47th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

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