‘Dr. Stockmann’ Given Permit After 12 Years

After 12 years of persistence, theater director Ali Pouyan, 63, a recipient of the first degree of art certificate from the Evaluation Council of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, has received permit for performance of his adaptation of an Ibsen play.

The play ‘Dr. Stockmann’ is based on ‘An Enemy of the People,’ a drama written in 1882 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), often referred to as father of realism.

The play opens on the final day of the 35th Fajr International Theater Festival (January 20-31) at Chaharsou Hall of Tehran City Theater and will run through the end of the current fiscal year (March 20), Mehr News Agency reported.

“After 12 years, I finally got the permit and we are now rehearsing for the play,” said a jubilant Pouyan.

He referred to a famous quote from the Ibsen work attributed to the protagonist of the play, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, the medical officer at a newly established municipal bathhouse, who said, “You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.”

“Our slogan for this performance is ‘the strongest, the most determined.’ Several times in the past 12 years, I tried to bring the play on stage. But officials rejected it.”

 Celebrated Cast

But he didn’t give up and finally got the permit. The play has a cast of celebrated thespians: Sediqeh Kianfar, 84, Asghar Hemmat, 64, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia, 61, Golchehreh Sajjadieh, 62, Maral Farjad, 34, Mohammad Sareban, 69, Manouchehr Alipour, 68 and Siamak Ansari, 48, and two others, Azar Samavati and Babak Qaderi.

Sharifinia has also designed the décor and costumes for the show.

“Ibsen’s views and thoughts have been preserved intact in the performance,” Pouyan said.

  Persecuted for Honesty

In this powerful work, Ibsen places his main character Dr Stockmann, in the role of an enlightened and persecuted minority confronting an ignorant, powerful majority. When the physician learns that the famous and financially successful baths in his hometown are contaminated, he insists they be shut down for expensive repairs.

For his honesty, he is persecuted, ridiculed, and declared an ‘enemy of the people’ by the townspeople, including some who were his closest allies, according to the blurb of the drama by the US-based Dover Publications.

Upon completion of the play, Ibsen wrote to his publisher in Copenhagen, Denmark, “I am still uncertain as to whether I should call it a comedy or a straight drama. It may have many traits of comedy, but it also is based on a serious idea.”