REVIEW: Play of the Week – ‘Enemy of the People’

Broadcast: Wednesday, 20th March 1957

Character: Hovstad

The story is set in Norway. 

 Act I: Dr Stockmann’s Living Room.

Act II: Dr. Stockmann’s Living Room.

Act III: The Editorial Office of ‘The People’s Herald’.

Act IV: Large hall at Captain Horster’s house

Act V: Dr Stockmann’s Study.

Some Background

One of the greatest writers of the 19th Century – Henrik Ibsen, provided a tense story for Granada’s Play of the Week on 20th March, 1957.

This play was of enormous interest because it had been adapted by one of America’s foremost dramatists – Arthur Miller. Granada couldn’t have chosen a more dramatic moment to present Miller’s version of this great work, because it concerned a man’s fight for what he believes to be right.

Miller himself was a champion of what he believed to be right, having refused to reveal the names of fellow writers who took part in extreme Left Wing activities in the late 1940’s, even though this denial brought him before a Congressional Committee and led to him facing trial on charges of contempt of Congress.

No dramatist was more in harmony with Ibsen than Miller. His work on ‘Enemy of the People’ revealed his understanding of the formers mind and of his craft.

Miller, who was once married to Marilyn Monroe, had written many famous plays, including ‘Death of a Salesman’ and ‘All My Sons’. His thesis of the latter of these works was similar to that of ‘Enemy of the People’. The message implicit in both these plays is that a man’s social responsibilities are above self-interest: he should champion what he believes is right even though it may bring disaster to himself and to his family.

Miller’s adaptation altered nothing of the essence of ‘Enemy of the People’. The great play was there with all its warmth of feeling, its humour and its depth. Though the characters express themselves differently (Miller had substituted language of the 1880’s with that of the 1950’s), the meaning of their words were not altered but sharpened. Every word landed a punch.

The principal character is Dr Stockmann – general practitioner of a small town, who discovers bacteria infecting the water supplying a newly-opened health spa. He warns the leading men of the town, who refuse to believe him. When he’s inevitably proved to be correct, he exclaims: “Now they’re going to get it with both barrels!” 

Ibsen was the first dramatist to make his characters behave as they would in real life, his language would be probably be far more choice!

Ibsen wrote ‘An Enemy of the people’ in 1882 as a fighting reply to the abuse hurled at him after the publication of ‘Ghosts’ a year earlier. When he was reviled by the public, the press and the intellectuals, he promptly sat down to satirise, in ‘Enemy of the People’: the crassness, hypocrisy and stupidity of the “compact majority”.

Dr Stockmann is an irrepressible character; optimistic, fiery and with his own sly humour. “Well, it shows you, that’s all,” he comments on his return from a public meeting with his clothes torn. “A man who goes out to fight for the truth should never wear his best suit.” 

Stockmann is a typical; “agitator” to be found in every community, and ‘An Enemy of the People’ was full of fun – one of the most exuberant plays Ibsen ever wrote.

“I am descended from peasants and believe in my people!” Hovstad

The Story

The play opens in Dr Stockmann’s (John Robinson) living room, where his wife (Jessica Spencer), is welcoming Mr Billing (Tom Criddle) who’s been invited to dinner. No sooner has this gentleman taken his seat at the table when there’s a knock at the door. When Mrs Stockmann answers it, she finds Hovstad (Peter Wyngarde) – Editor of the local left-wing newspaper, ‘The People’s Herald’, standing outside.

Moments after Hovstad’s arrival, there’s a second knock at the door. This time it’s her brother-in-law, Peter Stockmann (Clive Morten) – the town’s Mayor. Hovstad and the Mayor greet each other rigidly, and then begin to discuss the building of the new public baths, which both agree are an excellent addition to the town. However, when Hovstad announces that the baths had originally been Dr Stockmann’s idea, the Mayor appears annoyed.

Just as the Newspaper man takes his seat at the dinner table, the Doctor arrives home, bringing with him his two sons, Eilif (Brian Franklin) and Morten (Anthony Wilson), along with Captain Horster (Edward Forsyth). It’s clear from the off that the Doctor and his brother – the Mayor, are not on the best of terms, since the GP snappily counters each and all of his brother’s observation and opinions, and routinely talks over him.

Nevertheless, the Mayor asks his brother what he thinks of an article he’d penned about the new baths for Hovstad’s ’paper. The Doctor replies cryptically that he hopes the piece won’t be printed immediately, as it might turn out to be unfitting. The Mayor becomes agitated at this, since the Doctor plainly doesn’t wish to enlighten him any further on this point. With Stockmann remaining tight-lipped, the Mayor decides to leave.

The following day, Hovstad and his colleague, Billing, plus Horster and Mrs Stockmann meet at the latter’s home for a chat over a drink and a cigarette. The Editor brings up the difficult relationship between the Mayor and his ‘paper. But before a heated exchange ignites between the two men, the Captain interjects – announcing that he himself is due to sail to America soon. Hovstad and Billing are both stunned to hear this, and remind the sailor that he’d be missing an important election that’s scheduled to take place in the town later that month.

Momentarily, Petra (Jill Dixon) – Dr Stockmann’s daughter and the night school teacher, arrives with a letter for her father, which he’d clearly been eagerly awaiting. He takes the letter with him to his study where it’s read. When he reemerges, Stockmann announces that he’d recently taken samples of the water at the new public baths which he’d subsequently sent to a lab. The result of the tests he’d carried out were contained in the envelope brought by his daughter. The water, he declares, is dangerously polluted.

The Doctor goes on to tell the gathering that contaminated water from local industries has been seeping into the bath’s pump room, and that if the town’s hierarchy had listened to his advice about the drainage system in the first place, this problem would’ve been avoided.

Those around the table are full of admiration for the Doctor’s prompt action, and praise him for saving the town. The predicament, he maintains, can easily be rectified.

A few days later, Mrs Stockmann hands her husband a newly delivered letter, which is a response from the Mayor to the report from the lab. His reply curtly states that he will speak with Stockmann about it at a later date.

Some days later, the Mayor calls on his brother for the sole purpose, it transpires, of sniggering at the Doctor’s findings – saying that the Town Council would be mad if they were to believe it. Just then Hovstad arrives, and tells the Doctor that he hopes to publish an article about his findings in ‘The People’s Herald’, which he hopes will kindle a campaign against the town’s right-wing leadership since the real contamination, he says, comes from them.

Whilst the Doctor agrees that Right-Wing ideology is not the way forward, he’s still somewhat reluctant to start a concentrated assault on the Town Council which, after all, is led by his own brother.

Aslaksen (John Salew), a friend of the Stockmann’s and Chairman of the influential Homeowner’s Association, arrives to offer his support to the Doctor. He suggests that he should organize a peaceful demonstration in an effort to exert pressure on the Council to resolve the issue. The Doctor, however, doesn’t believe that such a protest is necessary, as he’s certain that he can persuade the baths’ Board of Directors to take the required action.

When Aslaksen’s departs, Hovstad, who’d been listening intently to the other men’s conversation, dubs the Doctor a weakling for his lack of desire to take on the Council, but Stockmann insists that if the Mayor fails to act with regard to town’s water system, then Hovstad would be welcome to publish the whole of the laboratory’s report in his ‘paper.

In the Editorial Office of ‘The People’s Herald’ the following afternoon, Hovstad is writing at his desk when Billing arrives with a copy of Dr Stockmann’s findings. The two men deliberate over the persuasiveness of the report, and how they might use it to confront the Council. Hovstad is convinced that if the Doctor’s pitch is officially recognised, then the Mayor would inevitably be confronted by those who invested in the baths and the powerful Homeowners Association.

At this point Stockmann turns up to disclose to the newspaper men the details concerning the row he’d had with his brother. The three of them agree that this scandal could well result in the downfall of the Council and its leader. When Aslaksen also appears, they each inn turn guarantee the GP that both the left-wing activists of the town, and the regular man on the street, will all back him. Secretly, both Hovstad and Aslaksen agree that the Doctor will be very useful to both of them, even if for different reasons.

When Aslaksen vacates the office, Hovstad and Billing – the latter of whom, it emerges, is standing for public office himself (if only to annoy the establishment!), converse about how much they’d like to be rid of him. Unfortunately, they have to rely on him and the powerful Homeowner’s Association whose money enables them to publish their newspaper. They then consider the possibility of the Doctor providing them with financial support.

As Billing leaves, Petra arrives to translate an English news item for the paper, but on reading it she immediately changes her mind – saying that the content is in direct opposition to everything that she and the ‘paper stands for. Hovstad explains that he thought the piece, which is about how higher ideas (or ‘Free Thinking’) can help guide a person’s actions, would help keep their less gifted readers happy.

Although Petra might expect this kind of low calculating from Hovstad, she’s surprised at Billing, with whom she’s involved with romantically. Whilst she still refuses to translate the article, she thanks the Editor for his support of her father.

To Hovstad’s astonishment, the Mayor now arrives and remarks on what a marvelous set-up the young Editor has. He begins by talking about his brother’s proposition for the baths, to which Hovstad claims to have no knowledge. That’s until the visitor notices a copy of the Doctor’s report lying on the desk.

The Mayor continues by warning Hovstad that, if Stockmann’s proposals are accepted by the Council, it could prove disastrous for the town. The baths, he explains, would have to close for upwards of two years, and that the costs for all the work would have to come from a civic loan.

On hearing this, both Hovstad and Billin begin to have second thoughts about backing the Doctor who, at that very moment, is seen walking towards the office. Given that he doesn’t wish to be seen fraternising with newspaper men, the Mayor hides from his brother in an adjoining room.

Stockmann wishes to see the first draft of the article about his findings, but Hovstad tells him that it’s not as yet been prepared. While the cheery medic interprets the two journalists caginess as a sign that they might be planning some festivities in his honour, Hovstad attempts to convey how things actually stand.

Just then Mrs Stockmann charges into the office, where she begs her husband not to risk everything by publishing his article. The Doctor smiles and calmly reassures her that he’ll soon have the majority of the townsfolk behind him. He then notices the Mayors traditional hat and cane lying on a chair, and deduces that his brother must be in the office somewhere. He puts the hat on and begins impersonating his sibling, until the Mayor can stand the insult no longer, and shows himself in the doorway of the adjoining room.

Several days later, a large room at Captain Horster’s house is full to the rafters with people from the town. Mr Billing has been sent to report on the meeting, whilst Horster is there with Mrs Stockmann and her children.

Meanwhile, Hovstad, Aslaksen and the Mayor arrive and take their places. They’re followed in short order by Dr Stockmann, who’s greeted with a mixture of applause and cat-calls from the assembled crowd.

The Mayor immediately prevents his brother from addressing the gathering with his report or, indeed, from mentioning the baths at all. Whilst he and Aslaksen work in tandem to influence the people in thinking that the Doctor is merely attempting to damage the interests of the town, Hovstad asserts that his sole concern is for the Doctor and his dependents. A recommendation is passed that the Stockmann’s case should be dismissed.

The Medic is plainly angry at the betrayal of those who’d sworn to support him. The final straw comes when a drunk (Reginald Marsh) staggers into the meeting room just as the Doctor is about to speak, and demands his right to be heard. Whilst the interloper is quickly dispensed with, Stockmann reminds those assembled that it was initially his idea to build the baths, and that he only ever wanted those facilities to be beneficial to the people of the town.

Although Aslaksen attempts to quiet him, the Medic’s parting shot is aimed at the Council, his says that he hadn’t bargained for the immense foolishness of those in power. In this he means the disappointing behaviour of his own brother. But, he adds, they’re not the party most guilty of stupidity. The people themselves must shoulder most of the blame for allowing the power of the majority to lie in the hands of the minority.

He now rounds on Hovstad and asks if, as a supposed ‘Freethinker’ himself, if he would agree with him. The Editor replies that, nowhere has it ever been said in print that he’s a “Freethinker” adding that, no, he does not agree with Stockmann’s foolish statement. “I am descended from peasants and believe in my people”, the newspaperman retorts.

Undeterred, Stockmann asserts that if the Peoples Herald refuses to publish his report, he will find a newspaper in another town that will.

With this, Hovstad stands and accuses Stockmann of being “An Enemy of the People”. In his agitated state, the Doctor agrees – stating that he’d be happy to remain so as long as he knows that what he’s doing is right. Meanwhile, as Aslaksen collects the ballot papers from the assembled crowd, Billing tells several of the locals that the Doctor is, in fact, a heavy drinker, and as a result, had recently been deprived of a raise in his salary by the Council.

When Aslaksen announces the result of the vote, and Stockmann is affirmed ‘An Enemy of the People’, he leaves with his family – the sound of the masses chanting “Enemy!” ringing in his ears.

The morning after the meeting, Dr Stockmann is found picking up the stones that had broken every window of his study the evening before. To add insult to injury, the landlord arrives thereafter to serve the family with notice of their impending eviction. In spite of this downturn in his fortunes, the Doctor remains optimistic now that he’s decided to leave for America with his family on Captain Horster’s next boat, where they’re to start a new life.

His wife is not quite so sure about the plan – proposing that a move to another town in Norway would be more prudent, but the Doctor is resolute; the people will be the same wherever they go in their own country, he maintains. At least in America things might be different.

The Doctor feels wholly justified in planning the family’s relocation when Petra arrives home to tell her parents that she’s been dismissed from her job after her boss was intimidated for employing her.

When Horster arrives, however, the Doctor’s fervor is dealt a blow on learning that the Captain has also lost his position – having been dismissed by the ship’s owner for his continued support of the Stockmann’s.

Hot on Horster’s tail is the Mayor, who arrives at his brother’s home to announce that the Doctor has been removed from his position as Medical Officer at the baths, and to request that he leaves town for six months or so. If, after that time, he’s willing to freely withdraw his testimony regarding the polluted water, then the Council would consider giving him his job back.

As a man of principal, the Medic flatly refuses to cooperate. The Mayor now suggests that the reason his brother feels so assured in his defiance of the Council, is because Morten Kiil – a local tannery owner – has provided for the Doctor and his family in his Will. This comes as a total surprise to the Stockmann, but when the Mayor adds that the elderly businessman might now decide to rewrite his Will in view of the Medic’s recent behaviour. Stockmann reject this, saying that Kiil has no love for the authorities, and that he’d be absolutely delighted to see the Doctor rocking the boat.

On hearing this, the Mayor accuses his brother of causing trouble in the town merely to ingratiate himself with Kiil, and now that he’s armed with this information, he assures the Doctor that he’ll never get his job back.

When Kiil arrives moments later, he brings with him a number of share bonds in the baths. The tannery owner suggests that if the Doctor was to retract his statement, the value of the shares that he’d bought cheaply that very morning would increase substantially, and leave him as the majority shareholder. He’d then be able to start work on the repairs that the GP had originally recommended. He asks the Doctor to consider his proposal, and to let him have his answer that afternoon.

As Kiil leaves, Aslaksen and Hovstad arrive with their own proposal for Stockmann. They’re aware that Kiil has been buying up blocks of shares, so they offer to give the Doctor full use of ‘The People’s Herald’ as soon as Kiil gains control of the baths so that he can convince the public that the water problem has been solved.

The two men advise the Doctor that the press have a huge amount of power in a town like theirs; all that they would require is some form of recompense in order to keep the newspaper running. Stockmann retorts sardonically – saying that it would be a travesty for sure if ‘The ‘People’s Herald’ – a real “friend of the people” should fold. However, since he himself has been declared ‘An Enemy of the People’, he really couldn’t care less what happens to the ‘paper! He then chases the two men from the house with his walking cane.

On hearing the commotion, Mrs Stockmann, Petra and Captain Horster come from the living room to see what’s going on. They find the Doctor writing the word ‘No!’ three times in large letters on a card which he’s ready to send to Morten Kiil. He then announces to his wife that they won’t now be sailing to New York as planned, but will stay put and fight. Given that the family are about to lose their own home, the Captain offers them a place at his house. There, the Doctor would be able to continue running his medical practice for the poorer residents of the town, since the more affluent townsfolk would doubtless refuse to see him.

Stockmann gratefully accepts Horster’s generous offer and vows to take on the rats that run the Council. His sole concern, he confesses, is that there might not be a single man in the town who’d be willing to carry on the fight after he’s gone.

When Eilif and Morten – Stockmann’s sons arrive having been sent home from school for fighting, the Doctor resolves to establish a school for the poor in the hall where he was declared ‘An Enemy of the People’.

Mr Stockmann, though, still has reservations – not least as she believes that the authorities will continue to persecute her husband. He reassures here, however, that he will always be stronger than them, because he stands alone.