Tyranny of the majority

In the play An Enemy of the People, one man stands for right, says Pádraic Killeen.

FOR a decade, Declan Conlon has been one of the country’s foremost stage actors. For his celebrated turn in the Abbey’s sumptuous production of Tom Murphy’s The House, Conlon won ‘best actor’ at the Irish Theatre Awards. Having just performed in Drum Belly in the Abbey, Conlon is back onstage this week at the Gate Theatre, playing the lead in Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.

The production is based on Arthur Miller’s 1950 adaptation of the play, set against the Cold War paranoia in the US. Concerned about a toxic hazard in the public baths that have made his sleepy hamlet a rich tourist spot, the play’s central character, Dr Thomas Stockmann, stands up against his own community. Irish audiences will detect undertones of the latter days of the Celtic Tiger, when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern dismissed sceptics.