An Enemy of the People A New Version by Christopher Hampton [Paperback]

An Enemy of the Peopleconcerns the actions of Doctor Thomas Stockmann, a medical officer charged with inspecting the public baths on which the prosperity of his native town depends. He finds the water to be contaminated. When he refuses to be silenced, he is declared an enemy of the people. Stockmann served as a spokesman for Ibsen, who felt that his plays gave a true, if not always palatable, picture of life and that truth was more important than critical approbation.

An unequivocal triumph. Times Literary Supplement (London)

Christopher Hampton's new version of the text is also a revelation . . .An Enemy of the Peoplehas been reborn as a passionate current debate about the value of the individual . . . The dust has been blown off the original text, and it will not settle for a long time . . . There is a vitality, vehemence and victory here against the odds. Spectator (London)

More than any revival of Ibsen's plays I've seen, it creates a sense of place vital to the theme . . .An Enemy of the Peopleis little short of superb, for it gives us both a big, rich, public play and the private drama of two men locked in rivalry that probably goes back to the playpen . . . You want an unforgettable picture of the idealist at his most necessary yet impossible? Here it is. The Times (London)

Norwegian playwrightHenrik Ibsenwas born in 1828. His plays includePeer Gynt(1867),A Doll's House(1879),Ghosts(1881),An Enemy of the People(1882),Hedda Gabler(1890), andThe Master Builder(1892). He died in 1906.

Christopher Hamptonwas born in the Azores in 1946. He wrote his first play,When Did You Last See My Mother?,at the age of eighteen. His many works for the theatre, television and cinema includeThe Philanthropist,translations of Yasmina Reza'sArt, Life x 3,andThe Unexpected Man, his adaptation ofLes Liaisons Dangel3Y