Henrik Ibsen’s reimagined A Hero Of The People comes to the Sherman Theatre

Few plays can have proven more adaptable than the 140-year-old An Enemy Of The People, by Henrik Ibsen. One might attribute this to theatre-makers’ keen nose for social issues, or more gloomily, the continuing tendency for white-collar crooks to hold sway over a biddable populace. Nearly all its themes have stayed relevant down the decades, and in its latest reimagining is transplanted to a Welsh town, courtesy of Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre and playwright Brad Birch, with an altered title.

A Hero Of The People has a cast of five but centres on two siblings, an MP (played by Oliver Ryan) and his doctor sister (played by Suzanne Packer). The former is an advocate for industrial development in the town, while the latter contends that it’s a pollutant and health hazard. It’s Ibsen’s plot – where a GP raises hygienic concerns about a Norwegian town’s communal baths – writ larger, and refracted through decades of neoliberalism, where poverty and economic competition lead to cut corners and morals.

On at 7.30pm only on Fri 13, Sat 14, Wed 18-Sat 21, Tue 24, Wed 25 and Fri 27; 6:30 pm on Mon 16 and Mon 23; 7pm on Tue 17 (sold out); 2pm and 7.30pm on Thurs 26 and Sat 28. No performances on Sun 15 and Sun 22.

words NOEL GARDNER