An Enemy of the People in Kyiv

The rehearsals of An Enemy of the People (Dr. Stockmann) are in full pace. The main character of the play discovers water contamination at a medical resort in a southern Norway town... The health baths had big money invested into them. However, some time after they began the operation, Thomas Stockmann (played by Oleksandr Kobzar) discovers that sewage waste contaminates the water, so that tourists who come for treatment become infected with serious illnesses... He believes the discovery to be his main achievement and drafts a costly reconstruction of sewerage. But city officials are not enthusiastic about the idea and by manipulating public opinion they draw the “cohesive majority” of urban residents on their side...

Our conversation with the director took place at a break between rehearsals. The premieres will take place on April 2 and 7.

Jonas, what in particular has attracted you to Ibsen’s play and why have you decided to put it on in Kyiv?

JONAS VAITKUS

“There are things in this work that we should pay more attention to. Any idea carried to extremes is very dangerous! And dangerous not only for the person who brings it, but for those who surround this person. I mean that even if the most sincere person, full of good intentions, goes for broke, then there is a danger. I feel it in Lithuania and I see that in Ukraine you also have it... You have incompetent people participating in politics... I am convinced that people should have experience and understanding of the laws of politics. You cannot pose yourself as ‘an innocent child’ and think that your idea will overcome every obstacle – it is childish. It is necessary to gain wisdom.

“Stockmann is a professional, he takes care of the humiliated and insulted, of the excluded from power or participation in the affairs of the city and country. If he had wisdom, he would have stopped, and he would not have ended up being manipulated by people sophisticated in politicking. They subtly manipulate Stockmann as well. Dr. Stockmann is a good man, a wonderful family man, but these qualities could not save him. He nevertheless lost his balance, as well as understanding of what is happening. He even lost the sympathy of others that he had won with his professionalism. He is losing influence on the people around him, he is losing support. This is the danger. This is the error committed by many people who have been possessed by some idea.”

Your Dr. Stockmann – is he the enemy of the people?

“Not that of the people, but rather of a primitive uncontrolled crowd. Our play shows him as a person of his own mind, responsibility, and wisdom. But in public, in some common affairs... you won’t find wisdom.”

So you do not support your Stockmann in this situation?

“I support him as a person and do not support people who have used his sincerity and his professionalism... people around him are hounds, they are hunters who catch prey. They are driving the prey and rely on it to bank their profits.”

Each of them pursued their own selfish goals, and finally they set him up...

“Yes, that’s why they set him up. And I think if you go into politics, dare to voice dissent, enter into opposition – you should read Shakespeare, Strindberg, read past history, modern history. And if you are a bit educated in this case, if you study what happens in society during all these movements, revolutions, then you begin to understand the consequences as well. Entering politics you cannot be illiterate, uninformed, and throw yourself blindly into the fire. You’ll disappear there.”

Thus your play is a plea towards a potential “Stockmann” – to put it somewhat bluntly, with a particular appeal to be prudent... In your play, is Stockmann the victim of others or his own ideas?

“Both the people around him and his ideas. But not a victim... For me it is important how he would pull out himself and his family from this crisis and how would they go on with their life. One can write another play about it.”

So, do you leave it to the audience – be it as the viewer chooses?

“Yes, I think so, because at some point Stockmann seems to realize what and how is happening. And most importantly, realize that transformation of human consciousness is a lengthy process.”

In your opinion, does any government in some way pose itself against a human?

“Is it true that with every new election we get better government? Well, some steal more, some less, others find their own ways in it… But nothing changes.”

But you cannot be without a government.

“Well, it’s debatable...”

What is the solution?

“It is very simple and yet long. Everything needs to be brought closer to truth, justice, and order! You can do it, take all you want, but honestly: no stealing, no cheating, no hypocrisy. There is no other choice...”

It seems that you are an incorrigible dreamer...

“I would rather dream than give up...”

Jonas, the artistic direction of this performance, on behalf of you and your set designer Ihor Nesmiianov, is very bright, airy, full of light and the sky...

“Yes it is, because Stockmann is still a child; in a sense, he is a kind of Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin, who cannot get tarnished because his natural traits reject lies...

“You know, on many performances at Lesia Ukrainka Theater you can hear a stunning silence among the audience. I expect it to be the same during our play of An Enemy of the People (Dr. Stockmann). I want to be heard! I want the audience to listen to what we speak from the stage...”