Ibsen in Town..!!!

It indeed is quite heartening to see hordes of spectators making a beeline for one of the well-renowned theatre spaces in the city at Chetpet, well ahead of the scheduled time of 7 pm, for a German rendition of the popular playwright Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People”. Well, the early birds [this blogger included :-)] were catching up with their long-lost literary pals, cappuchino in hand, at the Coffee-Day joint in Campus, and around the shades of the huge banyan tree - that gives the venue its fascinating aura.

Thomas Ostermeier, the director of the play, and one of the most influential theatre directors worldwide, said that, when he first discovered Ibsen’s drama “Enemy of the People”, he didn’t really like it. But the subject made him direct it despite of that. So, together with his dramaturg Florian Borchmeyer he seems to have reworked the play to suit a contemporary audience with a contemporary context. “We also made the main character about 20 years younger – so it’s about the young generation of Berlin. A generation that seems to be politically engaged. They’re mostly vegetarian, they ride bikes instead of driving cars, and they all support various causes. But when it comes to political action or demanding change – it is getting obvious that this is not a strong generation”, he avers.

This is one of Ibsen’s prominent realistic plays, in which an individual’s hopes and dreams for his society are ostracised by the very society which he is trying to help.

Everything about the play was phenomenal. Be it the intricately made up stage design, or the aesthetic appeal of the costume design, or the foot-tapping music (which the characters played literally on stage, to perfection and to aplomb from the audience), or the role of the dramaturg in bringing out an awesome dramaturgy of the text, or the wall paintings which were so realistic, adding to the enhanced visual appeal, or the light designs, or the acting of the main characters Christoph Gawenda as Dr. Stockmann, Eva as Mrs.Stockmann, or the gentlemanly Hovstad, or Morten Kill, or Billing - the impact was immense..!

A whopping 2 hrs and 30 minutes had flitted by, before we could even realise it! And that too without any intermission, whatsoever. Because of the sensual nature of a few select scenes, children below 16 years were not permitted. Either ways, the Hall was packed to capacity and the audience guffawed intermittently, sailing with the mood and tone of the characters and their idiosyncrasies.

Eleven students from MCC, and two staff members made it for the play. Free transportation was arranged for our Literature students. (Indeed, they seem to have enjoyed the performance to the core!!)

Additionally, for the benefit of the English-knowing spectators, subtitles of the dialogues were displayed on an unobtrusive electronic-display board – a very good attempt for a play of German mould.

The opening scene beautifully captured the tone that pervades the entire gamut of the play. When…

to be contd…