Ibsen’s Drama at Tehran's Molavi Theater

The 1882 drama ‘An Enemy of the People’ by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) will be staged in Tehran at Molavi Theater.

Directed by theater director and actor Sina Rastgou, it is slated for May 15-June 10.

After ‘Dr. Stockmann,’ an adaptation of the same play, staged by veteran director Ali Pouyan at Tehran City Theater in winter, Ibsen’s work will reappear in a different version. The 80-minute play starts at 6 pm, according to Tiwall (tiwall.com), a website on cultural events where tickets are available.

The play received awards for the best set and best costume design at the University Theater Festival of Baran held last summer in Tehran. It also got the best actor award.

The latest work is a product of Omid-e-Iran theater troupe, and Rastgou was advised by modern director Kiumars Moradi in the new adaptation. The décor is designed by Seyed Mohammad Mousavi; costumes by Bahar Khalilfar.

Leading cast members are Mohammad Reza Imanian, Zahra Behrouzmanesh, Mohammad Habibi, Amir Shah Ali, Vahid Sheikhi, Vala and Bardia Adeli, Shahryar Fard, Mohammad Mesgari, Marzieh Mousavi and Mansour Nasiri.

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 costly 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.

Upon completion of the play, Ibsen wrote to his publisher in Copenhagen, “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.” Molavi Theater is located on 16-Azar Street.