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Interview ‘We want to challenge the people who have influence’

Theatre director JOLLEY GOSNOLD tells Lynne Walsh why he's bringing an Ibsen classic bang up to date

ADAPTING a complex and politically charged classic by literary colossus Henrik Ibsen may seem daunting enough.

More than that, the new production of his play An Enemy of the People, about to open at The Playground Theatre in west London, promises “a new, diverse, modern adaptation,” a description which might strike dread into many a reviewer’s heart.

All that’s missing is that buzzword “innovative.”

Cynicism is banished, though, when I talk with director and writer Jolley Gosnold in a brief lunch break during rehearsals with the Here Now Ensemble. He’s 24 and thoroughly delighted to be a working-class lad making his way in theatre.

Along with an ensemble of young actors he went to drama school with, he’s relishing the challenge. “One of the things I was interested in is looking at a politicised youth trying to tackle big issues and having to take responsibility for their lives,” he tells me.

Responsibility looms large in Ibsen’s play. It premiered in 1882, when the Norwegian playwright was 54 and already a bete noire of arty society for plays like A Doll’s House, which had a go at traditional roles in marriage. It left audiences scandalised.

An Enemy of the People — with its focus on whistleblowing — ruffled more than a few feathers too. That, and the way that the bewildered herd may not always be on the side of right. Having “might” isn’t the same thing at all, Ibsen demonstrated.

His play is set in a lucrative spa, where the waters are contaminated. Many – both upper crust and hoi polloi – are pretty blasé in the face of this information. They prefer to keep visitors’ money rolling in.

There’s a big theme in An Enemy of the People regarding duty, with clashes of views fuelling the drama. Should this be duty to the townsfolk, to the community, by protecting the economy? Or duty to the truth? Hero-cum-anti-hero Stockmann carries the banner for the latter, putting his personal life in jeopardy.

The heart of the drama is still Ibsen’s fury at a society which seems to be democratic and is in fact feudal. As the protagonist fights a lone battle to stand by his principles, he declares: “If the only way I can be a friend of the people is to take charge of that corruption, then I am an enemy!”

But for Gosnold, as a hero, “he’s really seriously flawed and quite hard to like. What he says may be right but as a messenger, he’s very difficult.”

This production certainly has an elephant in the room. Its marketing materials point out that the theatre — a former bus garage on Latimer Road — is “in the shadow of Grenfell tower.” With the drama pivoting on a voice calling out the Establishment and demanding justice, are there references here to the horrific fire of two years ago?

“The word Grenfell is not mentioned,” Gosnold explains. “But it is such an obvious example of the broken foundations of our society. We want to challenge the people who have influence. We’re looking at how people are silenced when they stand up for right. This is criticism of a society that is set up for the poorest people to fail.”

One of the most well-known adaptations of Ibsen’s play is Arthur Miller’s 1950 version, which had the central figure redrawn as a socialist with his motivation coming from his deep belief in democracy.

This production’s focus is more on family and that’s not only an artistic choice but one designed to bring in newer audiences. The theatre’s seemingly mundane location is significant because Gosnold is on a mission to get younger people through its doors.

“Theatre needs to be an exciting forum,” he stresses.”We have to appeal to people who may not feel that theatre is for them. If we’re trying to get young people, we wouldn’t do it in period dress. We’re saying: 'These people look like you and sound like you.’

“But we’re not dumbing it down – this is not a soap-opera version.”

There’s clearly a working-class perspective and sensibilities driving this reworking and the focus on family seems to echo the director’s upbringing. He was brought up by a single mother with lots of kids and “sometimes there was a struggle to have enough food on the table. Now I’m lucky – I have a voice.

“There’s such snobbery that you can’t enjoy the arts if you’re working class. And I’m really passionate about theatre etiquette — these ideas about how people should behave in the theatre.

“It’s our responsibility that what we’re doing on stage is exciting enough to stop people looking at their phones.”

There’s immense chutzpah and energy in Gosnold but it doesn’t come across as the folly of youth. His thoughtful, politically astute approach feels very grounded and he knows that — as did Ibsen and Miller — the arts have to move with the times if they are to survive and thrive.

An Enemy of the People runs from July 2-23 at The Playground Theatre, box office: theplaygroundtheatre.london

 

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