Literature Network » Henrik Ibsen

At Olney, an 'Enemy' To Hold Close; The Sharp Knives Come Out for Ibsen's Caustic Skewering of Small-Town Politics

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From: The Washington Post
Date: 20060727
Author:Nelson Pressley

Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" is a roar from the mountaintop at the ignorant, hypocritical rabble below. The people, he thunders, are boobs, and it's an honor to be their pariah.

Written in hot blood after the public and critics recoiled from his "Ghosts" in the 1880s, "Enemy" is breathtakingly, winningly arrogant, and Jim Petosa's production at the Olney Theatre Center takes on a swaggering, argumentative tone and rarely lets up. The show moves with the pace of "The West Wing" and the noise of "Twelve Angry Men"; voices are raised and tables pounded as the central figure, Dr. ...

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