Will Allan Photo by Brett Beiner Photography

Sound familiar?

These words, from Amy Herzog's new translation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, could have come from the mouths of any of millions of Americans today. Clearly, TimeLine Theatre chose wisely when they made this play the one that would open their magnificent new facility on N. Broadway. The theater building is worth talking about: the former warehouse has gone, replaced by a lovely and inviting wood-trimmed facility with a bar/cafe and several dedicated areas with comfy seating for patrons to chat before and after shows, as well as a flexible performing space much larger than their old home in a church on Wellington. But this is not a piece dedicated to a building; it is one dedicated to a production. And that production is one of the strongest shows in town.

Directed by Ron OJ Parson, this play finds itself strangely more relevant today than it has been at any time in the 144 years since it was written, thanks to the fact that we witness daily obfuscations of the truth in the service of power. The press, which is at the center of the play, has even been called the "enemy of the people" by the man who is currently leading this country. And the dawn of AI makes it sometimes impossible to know what is real and what is not. The outrageous situation in this play is one that has played out over and over again within our lifetimes, and grows worse every day: even when whistleblowers exist, they are silenced and people are fed disinformation from sources they should be able to trust in order to cause confusion.

The specific problems in this play, for Ibsen, had to do with the ways in which human beings assimilate scientific knowledge and protect their own hides. A respected doctor discovers that the Norwegian town's new spa is fed with water teaming with bacteria and wants to shut it down before it ever opens and makes visitors sick. His brother, the mayor, won't allow it: without the spa, the whole town could go bankrupt. The press is initially on the side of the doctor, but switches sides when the mayor argues that they too will go out of business. (And then there are the people who don't believe in bacteria and call them "tiny animals.")

So the lie is formed.

Substitute any modern issue for the bacteria; for example, climate change. We know that human-made climate change is an enormous problem. Our government knows it too, but there are too many of them who can make (usually illicit) money from continuing to prop up the oil companies, so they do. And they scream out the lies. And millions believe them. And Earth pays the price.

In An Enemy of the People, Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Will Allan) is the one who makes the discovery. Once he knows the truth for certain, he immediately brings it to the attention of his brother Peter, the mayor of the town (Behzad Dabu), but, focused as he is on the profit angle, Peter argues that his brother should not present his findings. At first, Thomas has the backing of the local press, represented by Hovstad (Grayson Kennedy) and Billing (Kenneth Hamilton), two leftist young men who often dine with Dr. Stockmann and his daughter Petra (Campbell Krause) and have marital designs on her, and the printer of the newspaper, Aslaksen (Anish Jethmalani), who prides himself on being politically moderate. However, after hearing from the mayor, every one of his "friends" pulls their support. There are even blackmail attempts from the mayor, the newspapermen, and Thomas's father-in-law, Morten Kiil (David Parkes), who runs the tannery that produced the bacteria in the first place. In fact, the only person other than his daughter who remains by the doctor's side is a friend who is a ship captain, Captain Horster (Charles Andrew Gardner). Thomas becomes a pariah overnight because he refuses to repeat the lie.

The acting is universally outstanding, as is expected from a TimeLine show, especially one directed by Parson. And the show fairly zips along: it's only two hours long. Ibsen is a witty writer known for dark dramas, and here he has created characters who are complex and understandable... and thoroughly modern. Thomas, frustrated by his brother's demands, sounds like he's trying to explain today's political sphere when he summarizes Peter's plan thus: "so you're lying to the people in order to have the opportunity to keep lying to them." He complains to Petra, "What I can't stand is living among these puppets who can't think for themselves," and plans to move to a new, freer place: "In America, we won't need to worry..." It turns into a laugh line that Ibsen never could have intended.

Everything here is on point: John Cuthbert's beautiful, doomed set, Christine Pascual's costumes, Brandon Wardell's lighting, which has to include a scene that literally encompasses the audience; André Pluess's sound design, Nicolas Bartleson's props, and of course the TimeLine wall in a hallway behind the house in which dramaturg Maren Robinson places all of this in historical context. (The section on whistleblowers is excellent.)

TimeLine's opening of Chicago's first new theater since Theo Ubique's Howard Street cabaret is absolutely perfect. Would that the times in which we are living were as well.

An Enemy of the People runs through June 14, 2026, at TimeLine Theatre, 5035 N. Broadway, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit TimeLinetheatre.com.