A Trial – after An Enemy of The People (EIF)
★★★★☆ Substantial
Lyceum: Fri 7 – Mon 10 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
A Trial – After An Enemy of The People, at the Lyceum as part of the International Festival, is a highly satisfying and constantly intriguing theatrical experience.
Co-produced by EIF, Centro Cultural de Belém, Holland Festival, Festival d’Avignon and DeSingel, it is the project of director Christiane Jatahy and actor and film-maker Wagner Moura.
A scene from A Trial – after An Enemy of The People. Pic: Jess Shurte.
That word ‘after’ in the title can sometimes hide a multitude of sins. We’ve all seen those productions ‘after’ William Shakespeare that are in truth a very long distance behind him. But here it’s literally ‘after’, in that it is a sequel to Ibsen’s drama about the doctor who blows the whistle on a possible medical scandal at his town’s spa, even though it could cause economic ruin.
Since the events of Ibsen’s play, things have gone from bad to worse for Dr Stockmann, including the death of his wife who became ‘too depressed’. Here the doctor is in court, seeking to clear his name from the stigma of being ‘an enemy of the people’. As in the original, he is attacked by his brother the mayor and defended by his daughter.
A knowledge of the original, while probably an advantage, is unnecessary as the background is explained in detail. Moura himself plays the doctor, with Danilo Grangheia and Julia Bernat as his brother and daughter. A jury selected at random from audience volunteers hears the evidence and gives their verdict at the end.
elegant authority
But the jury’s deliberations, while of interest, are far from being the point of the exercise. The performers largely speak in Portuguese with English surtitles, but there are also stretches in English, largely when Dr Stockmann is responding to the jury organiser, played here with elegant authority by Louise Burke. The switching of language does make it much clearer than it might otherwise be when the performers are improvising, but it still makes for a compelling mixture.
Exactly what is the nature of truth nowadays is very much up for debate in a script by Jatahy, Moura and Lucas Paraizo, with ideas of democracy and responsibility also thrown in. If the doctor’s personal experience and views of global politics have led him to question whether the majority decision can always be trusted, the very idea of him wanting to be ‘acquitted’ by a majority decision of randomly chosen individuals is in question.
A scene from A Trial – after An Enemy of The People. Pic: Jess Shurte.
Such slipperiness is reflected in the play’s staging. So many big productions that make such use of screens and films fall down in their execution; here it works superbly. Pre-filmed inserts, video conferencing and live video are used, and once again the joins are perhaps not always where they appear to be. For example, Dr Stockmann walks offstage and an apparent live video feed supposedly shows him ostentatiously smoking a cigarette backstage while standing by a sign that reads ‘Liar Exit’.
It’s something of a tour de force both technically and artistically, with Jatahy’s direction being impeccable, and it constantly wrong foots you. What should be Moura’s big closing speech is performed with him sitting facing the jury, and therefore with his back to the audience, who correspondingly only see his face on the huge screen.
Moura and the other actors are excellent throughout, and the technical team also deserve great praise – video designer Julio Parente, DP Paulo Camacho, sound designer Pedro Vituri, sound operator Diogo Magalhães, video operator Diego Avila and technical director Mickaël Marchadier. One of the most interesting elements of the production is that all of the operations (even supposedly including the surtitling) apparently happen in plain view, blurring the lines again.
thought-provoking
This extends to the whole way the production presents itself. Its theatricality is constantly stressed (as is the fact that ‘it isn’t a movie’, even if parts of it clearly are just that). The theatricality of the courtroom setting is also constantly reinforced, once again making us question whether we are really looking for the ‘truth’ or just witnessing a performance. This is helped by the more ‘traditional’ elements of the staging, including the set and lighting design of Thomas Walgrave.
It isn’t perfect by any means. Anyone who is put off by the thought that International Festival productions are often just a little too pleased with themselves might find ammunition here. The whole idea isn’t that original; there are several ‘you are the jury’ dramas at the Fringe every year. And the helpful pop cultural references are more than a little dated – Rocky and Jaws (which is well-known for supposedly being an adaptation of Ibsen).
However, it is a proper piece of thought-provoking, beautifully put together theatre, where a two-hours-plus running time with no interval fairly flies by.
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes (no interval).
Lyceum Theatre, 30 Grindlay St, EH3 9AX. (EIF).
Friday 7 – Monday 10 August 2026.
Daily: 7.30pm, Sat mat: 3pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
ENDS
