New Staging of Ibsen's AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE is Coming to the American Theatre of Actors
This staging takes an unconventional approach to Ibsen's text by stripping the script of punctuation, capitalization, and most stage directions.
Duse Productions will present a new staging of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, launching as an Equity Approved Showcase on January 28 at the American Theatre of Actors. While the initial engagement runs through February 8, the production is structured to continue beyond the showcase, with plans for future expansion.
This staging takes an unconventional approach to Ibsen's text by stripping the script of punctuation, capitalization, and most stage directions. With the exception of essential entrances, exits, and story-critical actions, the text is presented as a continuous flow of language, placing responsibility for interpretation directly in the hands of the actors.
Rather than dictating rhythm, emotion, or meaning on the page, the production invites performers to discover those elements through rehearsal, listening, and collective investigation. The approach treats the text not as a set of instructions, but as living material - one that must be actively inhabited rather than executed.
The script is presented in full, using a new English translation created specifically for this production and drawn directly from Ibsen's 1897 Norwegian second edition, the final version approved by the playwright himself. The goal is fidelity without rigidity: honoring the original language while removing layers of accumulated interpretation.
The production's aesthetic draws inspiration from Yevgeny Vakhtangov's concept of "fantastical realism," in which heightened theatricality and truthful behavior coexist, alongside the natural, disciplined acting associated with Eleonora Duse. Minimalist staging supports this balance, allowing imagination and presence to do the work that spectacle often replaces.
At the center of An Enemy of the People is environmental contamination and moral responsibility. Dr. Tomas Stockmann discovers that the town's celebrated public baths are poisoned, only to find that truth becomes dangerous when it threatens economic comfort and social order. The production's close-up staging places audiences in direct proximity to these conflicts, emphasizing listening over volume and attention over force.By removing formal constraints from the text and trusting actors to transform it collaboratively, this staging aims to create an experience that feels immediate, intimate, and alive - a classical play encountered not as a museum piece, but as a shared act of discovery.
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