An Enemy of the People

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE Doctor Stockmann claims that the healing springs in the new municipal spa are actually harmful to health. The water has been infected with bacteria and the entire piping must be replaced. But who will pay for it? And who will reimburse the lost profits? Does the doctor want to cure us or bury us? Is he with us or against us? The cause of the issue is known, the solution is clear, and yet people are stuck. Are we prepared to relinquish some of our personal comfort to save the environment and serve the common good?

Technically speaking, this is a first-class production. Similarly to the director’s recent Pieces of a Woman, the acting plays a major part. Every member of the ensemble succeeds in avoiding plain performance and show the ability to portray both ferocious emotions and calm moments. Particularly thrilling is, of course, the duel between Lukáš Melník as Doctor Thomas Stockmann – the fidgety guy eagerly searching for the cause of everything – and Marián Chalány, who portrays his brother, the manipulative and creepy Peter.
VOJTĚCH VOSKA, Nadivadlo

JAN HOLEC (1988) is an outstanding contemporary director. He graduated from DAMU, having previously studied law. In 2014, he was a founding member of the Spektákl theatre company, where he has already shown his predilection for staging literary classics (Dostoevsky’s The Insulted and the Injured, Lem’s Solaris). His directions include Dorst’s Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter and Františák’s dramatisation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, both at the Klicpera Theatre, as well as collaboration with the LETÍ ensemble, the National Theatre in Brno, the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice and the Drama Studio Ústí nad Labem. In 2019, he became the artistic director of Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava, where he also has staged famous pieces, such as Loves of a Blonde and The Brothers Karamazov. In 2023, the Divadlo festival presented his project based on Kafka’s The Trial and a year later, his production of the play Pieces of a Woman by Kata Webér.

PETR BEZRUČ THEATRE in Ostrava is an artistically outstanding Czech theatre, as confirmed by numerous awards and audience feedback. The theatre’s dramaturgical plan focuses especially on young audiences and those who are not afraid of pressing issues. The theatre has renowned creative team and many of its former actors have found fame throughout the Czech Republic (Richard Krajčo, Lucie Žáčková, Tereza Vilišová, Filip Čapka, Jan Plouhar, Tomáš Dastlík, Jakub Burýšek, Markéta Matulová). Its signature dramaturgy includes modern takes on classical works, dramatisations of major works of literature or film, and, last but not least, works dealing with regional themes.