Among the Enemies of the People

Do you want an on-stage cushion seat? It’s thoroughly comfortable. It has a backrest. And they’re our most popular seats for the shows that have them.  A non-toxic, washable paint will be used during this performance and may splatter on audience seated on stage. Please note, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Harvey Theater are not liable for any damage to clothing or belongings. Do you want one?

Sure.

Great. Lean back, stretch out your legs, and enjoy a front-row seat for up-close views of the enemy of the people in An Enemy of the People. But those backrest cushions look suspiciously close to the drama onstage.

There’s no audience participation, is there?

Oh, I can’t say.

So there is?

Oh, I don’t know.

So what do they have us do?

Oh, I can’t say.

Do they ask us to stand up?

Oh, you’ll see.

Hmm.

More than half-way through the play, the fourth wall is finally broken.

The play’s beleaguered  Dr. Stockmann tries to garner support for his attempt to save the town’s people and spa-goers from being poisoned by contaminated waters that supply its baths. The administration, of course, wants to hear none of it and works on a cover-up. So Stockmann calls for a town meeting and breaks the fourth wall. The town’s townspeople mingle with the city’s townspeople in an open-mic public meeting wherein Stockmann beseeches in German (with English supertitles), and his opponents entreat in English.

Who are these city townspeople who willingly acquiesce to a German-language soliloquy on all of the current inequities in the world?

Hmmm. 2 hours and 20 minutes without an intermission. And no tedium, tiredness, or testiness.  I guess it was good.