Review: Enemy of the People ****

Crucible, it's good to have you back.

The famous venue has been dark for two years, closed for theatre business and the atmosphere was extraordinary at the re-opening on Wednesday.

In the audience there was an almost palpable collective groan of relief that we finally have one of Yorkshire's best theatres back in our bosom.

With the level of expectation in the air on opening night, we needed something special, something spectacular to live up to those expectations.

That was not what we got.

Instead, we were given a gloriously efficient staging of an Ibsen masterpiece.

Knight of the realm Antony Sher was taking on the vast, sprawling part of Dr Tomas Stockmann. Sher described it as the biggest part he has ever played, surprisingly, but once you have witnessed the epic nature of a part which regularly feels and looks like a two-hour monologue, it is easy to understand the claim.

An Enemy of the People was written by Ibsen in response to the outcry with which Ghosts was met.

That play, dealing with taboo subjects as it does, was hated by the masses. An Enemy of the People is an eloquent and passionate rebuttal to the masses.

Stockmann discovers the baths on which the fortunes of his beloved home town are built, are filled with poisonous bacteria. The people, clearly, must be told, but his brother, the Machiavellian Mayor of the town, conspires to turn the town against his brother and rubbish his claims.

In a furious meeting, Stockmann delivers a lecture explaining not that the baths are poisonous, but that the lack of recognition of this fact demonstrates that society is governed and populated by morons.

In Christopher Hampton's light and surprisingly funny version of the Ibsen script, Evans and Sher work hard to bring out the comedy of the piece and succeed enormously. You'll rarely laugh so much at Ibsen.

What they miss, however, is a chance to plumb the depths of the play.

Sher, extraordinary actor that he is, has the ability to bring fireworks to a part like this. The descent into madness of Stockmann, only embraced in the dying moments of the play, was surely a perfect opportunity for Sher to really show off his range. It's not that there is anything wrong with his Stockmann, just that with a little more inspiration we could have been blown away.

Similarly Evans has grabbed hold of the challenging and impressive stage of the Crucible to present a rigidly effective staging of the story.

It will take him time to get used to just what can be done with this magical stage but if this is a starting point, it will be good to see where he can go.

While this does feel like a one-man show, the ensemble cast give much cause for praise; Lucy Cohu's put-upon wife of Tomas, Katrine Stockmann, is riveting when she is on stage and tells whole stories with few words and John Shrapnel, as mayor Peter Stockmann, is wonderfully studied.

It is good to have this stage back.

To March 20.