Matthew Lewis Johnson and Brent Vimtrup Photo by Mikki Schaffner

It's a straightforward tale set in the late 19th century. A small coastal Norwegian town has undertaken the creation of a spa where patients come for healing. On the brink of its opening, its progressive, science-driven director, Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Brent Vimtrup), gets the bad news that the spa's bathwater is seriously contaminated by bacterial run-off from a nearby tannery. Stockmann's brother Peter (Matthew Lewis Johnson), the town's conservative, bombastic mayor, wants to cover up this news because tourism will suffer, perhaps permanently, and repairs would be astronomically expensive. The brothers, lifelong diametric opposites, butt heads immediately, and many townspeople quickly shift from supporters to detractors when they recognize the potential impact on town.

Vimtrup and Johnson play intriguing opponents in this production. Vimtrup is wiry and compact, a bundle of idealistic energy–frequently entering or leaving a scene while whistling a jaunty tune–as a proselytizer for good health and protecting fellow citizens. Johnson is a considerably larger man, and makes his overbearing, self-serving and arrogant mayor purely despicable. Vimtrup is riveting from start to finish, playing the doctor as a passionate devotee of science, bewildered and furious at the rapidly eroding support for doing the right thing. Johnson's bullying mayor is more of a buffoonish windbag, one who all too uncomfortably resembles many of today's contemporary politicians.

In fact, the plot of Ibsen's play, and especially Herzog's intentionally refined adaptation, bears an uncanny resemblance to the politics and rhetoric that impacted the recent pandemic. Various townspeople we meet in the show's high-energy opening scene are enthusiastic about the promise of a successful spa on the local economy. Hovstad (Montez Jenkins Copeland), the editor of The People's Messenger, the town's progressive newspaper, is excited and initially eager to publish Dr. Stockmann's information. He also has eyes for the doctor's supportive, pragmatic daughter, Petra (Jasimine Bouldin), who does her best to contain her father's ebullient optimism. When Hovstad realizes that delays in opening the spa could affect his paper's subscriber base, his support evaporates, alienating him from the doctor and Petra.

Aslaksen (Barry Mulholland), the newspaper's stuffy, unimaginative printer and the chair of a property owner's association, is one of the quickest turncoats when he learns that remedying the situation will be at taxpayers' expense. As a leading member of the village's council, Aslaksen manipulates a public meeting to discredit the embattled doctor. Billing (Patrick Earl Phillips), at first a loud supporter, is changed by a political appointment, noisily rallying the townspeople in opposition to Dr. Stockmann's stubborn refusals to downplay the news.

Morten Kiil (Jim Hopkins) brings some comic zest to the role of Dr. Stockmann's father-in-law. (Stockmann's wife, a character in Ibsen's original play, has been folded into that of his daughter in Herzog's adaptation.) Kiil is an investor in the tannery responsible for the water pollution; he's also something of a pariah in the town, a hard drinker and frequent loudmouth. The only steadfast character, Captain Horster (Sylvester Little Jr.), a friend to the doctor, defends him and Petra following the raucous town meeting. Horster offers wise counsel and is willing to help them escape the crowd's vitriol, but the role feels rather underwritten.

Cincy Shakes' production is played on a gray-toned Scandinavian set (scenic design by Jon Savage), with low railings and an onstage audience that makes everyone in attendance complicit in the evolving erosion of citizen trust. Overhead are rafters with pale Nordic stenciling; bare tree branches silhouetted against a background scrim complete the chilly atmosphere.

This staging of An Enemy of the People is a perfect example of how the arts can inspire and inform conversation about contemporary attitudes. We can admire Dr. Stockmann's forthright commitment to truth and transparency, but it's certainly possible to imagine the adverse impact this might have on everyday life. Herzog's adaptation has streamlined the story for maximum impact, and Vimtrup's impassioned performance, even as the doctor struggles against intractable negative public opinion, is admirable if heart-rending as he engages in a losing battle.

Director Brian Isaac Phillips has given his production a stunning concluding image that clearly indicates which side of the battle he and Cincy Shakes stand on, admirable and idealistic. An Enemy of the People offers a powerful lesson worth witnessing, even if it is shot through with sadness and reality regarding the devastating high price for telling the truth.

An Enemy of the People runs through September 20, 2025, at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Otto M. Budig Theater, 1195 Elm Street, adjacent to Washington Park in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, Cincinnati OH. For tickets and information, please visit www.CincyShakes.com or call 513-381-2273.