Alex Kingston will appear in a specially adapted version of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at Nottingham Playhouse, one of the highlights of the theatre’s autumn 2019 season.
Kingston will take the lead role of Dr Stockmann in the play about fake news, whistle-blowers and the corruption of power. It is set in contemporary Norway where Dr Stockmann discovers a town’s spa waters are poisoned.
British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz has adapted An Enemy of the People for Nottingham Playhouse.
The theatre’s artistic director Adam Penford said, “I’m thrilled that An Enemy of the People is our headline drama this autumn, following on from the major success of The Madness of George III in November. It's a play I've had my eye on for a few years as the themes it explores feel so current; it's hard to believe Ibsen wrote it 130 years ago.
“Alex Kingston is a tremendous actor with a powerful stage presence and global profile. I was delighted by how passionately she felt about both the play and the character and was excited about coming to Nottingham.
“Likewise, Rebecca Lenkiewicz is one of the most renowned British playwrights and her new incisive adaptation brings the play bang up to date so it has the freshness and mass appeal of a contemporary thriller.
“An Enemy of the People is one of the greatest dramas ever written and audiences will be gripped by its dramatic narrative and the mirror it holds up to our society.”
Alex Kingston commented, “I’m really excited about participating in the 2019 season at Nottingham Playhouse. The main character was written for a man and has always been played by a man; in this version it’s being adapted to allow me to play the role.
“The piece is really timely—there are a lot of shadows within the play that echo what we’re going through right now: the Flint water scandal in Michigan, the vilification of Hillary Clinton, the general state of democracy and post-Brexit Britain. There are a lot of themes that will resonate for the audience in this play.”
An Enemy of the People will run at Nottingham Playhouse from 13 until 28 September.
In the autumn 2019 season, Nottingham Playhouse and the Watermill Theatre at Newbury, Berkshire will co-produce Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Bill Buckhurst, who directed Sweet Charity at the Playhouse in 2018, will again be at the helm of the musical about the power of the President, the lure of celebrity and the failure of the American dream. It will run from 30 October until 16 November.
The Playhouse has also confirmed it will host the première of LIT, the debut play of Nottinghamshire writer Sophie Ellerby, a co-production with HighTide. The play will explore the turbulent teenage years of a girl looking for love in all the wrong places. It will run from 24 September until 5 October.