FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR
THOMAS OSTERMEIER’S PRODUCTION
OF IBSEN’S AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
David Binder Productions and Wessex Grove today announce the full company for the West End production of Thomas Ostermeier’s bold reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, originally produced at Schaubühne Berlin. Joining the previously announced Matt Smith as Dr Stockmann are Jessica Brown Findlay (Katharina Stockmann), Priyanga Burford (Aslaksen), Zachary Hart (Billing), Paul Hilton (Peter Stockmann), Nigel Lindsay (Morten Kiil), and Shubham Saraf (Hovstad). Making his West End debut, Ostermeier’s production opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 20 February 2024, with previews from 6 February, and runs until 6 April.
Thomas Ostermeier said today, “It’s a privilege to be starting rehearsals in the West End for the first time with a cast of this calibre, joining Matt Smith as Thomas Stockmann. I look forward to rediscovering the brilliance of Ibsen’s prescient masterpiece with this incredible group of actors as we build an English language production for London.”
David Binder Productions and Wessex Grove present
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
by Henrik Ibsen
In a version by Thomas Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer
Conceived and directed by: Thomas Ostermeier
Originally produced by Schaubühne Berlin
What is truth without power?
Doubt spreads faster than disease in Ibsen’s thought-provoking play about truth in a society driven by power and money.
When Dr Stockmann makes an unbelievable discovery about the healing waters in his local baths, he holds the future of the town in his hands, but those with everything to lose refuse to accept his word. As the battle goes beyond contaminated water, barriers are broken in this contemporary production as Ostermeier shows us why this perennial classic will be relevant forever.
Making his West End debut, celebrated director Thomas Ostermeier‘s iconoclastic production of An Enemy of the People premieres at the Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited run.
Jessica Brown Findlay plays Katharina Stockmann. Her theatre work includes for the Almeida Theatre, Uncle Vanya, Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios), and Hamlet. For television, her work includes Flatshare, Life After Life, Brave New World, Harlots (as series regular Charlotte Wells), The Outcast, Jamica Inn, Labyrinth, Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits, Downton Abbey (as series regular Lady Sybil), and Misfits; and for film, The Hanging Sun, Munich: The Edge of War, The Banishing, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Iris Warriors, Monster Family, Steven, The Beautiful Fantastic, Frankenstein, The Riot Club, Winter’s Tale, Lullaby, and Albatross.
Priyanga Burford plays Aslaksen. Her theatre credits include Rapture (Royal Court Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, Eyam (Shakespeare’s Globe), and Consent (National Theatre). Her television work includes Innocent, Industry, Avenue 5, This Time with Alan Partridge, Press, W1A, and King Charles III; and for film, No Time To Die.
Zachary Hart plays Billing. His theatre credits include Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), and The Crucible (ALRA). For television, his work includes Bodies, Peaky Blinders, The Witcher: Blood Origin, Masters of the Air, Sitting in Limbo, and Doc Martin; and for film, Jericho Ridge, and Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes.
Paul Hilton plays Peter Stockmann. His theatre credits include Othello, Mosquitoes, Peter Pan, wonder.land, The President of an Empty Room, Mourning Becomes Electra – Olivier Award nomination, Three Sisters, The Oresteia (National Theatre), The Glass Menagerie, All New People, Riflemind, In Celebration (Duke of York’s Theatre), The Inheritance (Young Vic, Noël Coward Theatre, and Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor and Tony Award nomination), Anatomy of a Suicide, Terrorism, Mountain Language (Royal Court Theatre), The Cherry Orchard, The Daughter-in-Law (Young Vic), Dr Dee (ENO), Dr Faustus, As You Like It – nominated for the Ian Charleson Award, A Mad World My Masters (Shakespeare’s Globe), Polar Bears, The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse), Rosmersholm, The Storm (Almeida Theatre), On The Third Day (New Ambassadors Theatre), The Homecoming, Les Blancs, Ghosts (Royal Exchange Theatre), and The Mysteries Part I and I, Romeo and Juliet, and Richard III (RSC). His television work includes Slow Horses, The Crown, A Very English Scandal, Granchester, The Crimson Field, The Driver, The Ark, Case Histories, Labyrinth, Silk, Twenty Twelves, Laconia, Garrow’s Law, True Dare Kiss, The Relief of Belsen, Trial and Retribution, The Family Man, The Princes in the Tower, and The Last Dragon; and for film, Sweet Sue, Earwig, Eternal Beauty, Lady Macbeth, Swansong, London Road, Wuthering Heights, and Klimt.
Nigel Lindsay plays Morten Kiil. His theatre credits include Farewell Mister Haffman (Bath Theatre Royal), The Lehman Trilogy (Gillian Lynne Theatre), Woman in Mind (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Trials, Same Deep Water as Me (Donmar Warehouse), Faith Healer (Abbey Theatre), God of Carnage (Theatre Royal Bath), Harrogate, Sucker Punch (Royal Court Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Phoenix Theatre), Bull (Young Vic), Speed-the-Plow (Playhouse Theatre), A Small Family Business (National Theatre), Richard II (RSC), Shrek the Musical (Olivier Award nomination), Broken Glass (Tricycle Theatre – WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actor), and Under the Blue Sky (Duke of York’s Theatre). His television work includes Kidnapped, The Chelsea Detective, Salisbury, Tin Star, Plebs, The Last Kingdom, The Capture, No Offence, Safe, White Gold, Innocent, Unforgotten, Victoria, Death in Paradise and Gifted; and for film, Six Minutes to Midnight, Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back), Access All Areas, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson, Four Lions (nomination for Best British Comedy Performance in Film), First Night, Scoop and Rogue Trader.
Shubham Saraf plays Hovstad. His theatre credits include The Father and the Assassin (National Theatre), Three Sisters (Almeida Theatre), An Adventure (Bush Theatre), and Hamlet and As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe). For television, his work includes Shantaram (as series regular Prabhu), Criminal (as series regular Petit), A Suitable Boy (as series regular Firoz), Bodyguard, Boomers and Fresh Meat; and for film, Romeo and Juliet, 6 Underground, Overlord, The Cut, Honour, The Cut and Suspension.
Matt Smith plays Dr Stockmann. His theatre credits include Lungs (The Old Vic), Unreachable, Fresh Kills (Royal Court Theatre), American Psycho (Almeida Theatre), That Face (Duke of York’s Theatre and Royal Court Theatre), Swimming with Sharks (Vaudeville Theatre), Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship, The History Boys, On the Shore of the Wide World (National Theatre), and The Master and Margarita (NYT/Lyric Hammersmith). His television work includes House of the Dragon (as series regular Daemon Targaryen), The Crown (as Prince Philip), Bert and Dickie, Christopher and His Kind, the title role in Doctor Who, Moses Jones, Belle De Jour, The Street, Party Animals, and Ruby in the Smoke; and for film, Starve Acre, Morbius, The Forgiven, Last Night in Soho, His House, Official Secrets, Charlie Says, Mapplethorpe, Screen Gems, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Terminator Genisys, Lost River, Womb, and In Bruges.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright. His principal works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll’s House, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, The Lady from the Sea, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, John Gabriel Borkman, and When We Dead Awaken.
Since September 1999 Thomas Ostermeier is resident director and member of the Artistic Direction of the Schaubühne Berlin. His productions for the company include An Enemy of the People, Death in Venice, The Little Foxes – audience award of the Theatergemeinde Berlin, Richard III – Premio della Critica Teatrale, Bella Figura, Professor Bernhardi, Returning to Reims, History of Violence, Italian Night, Abgrund – co-production with Salzburger Festspiele, Youth Without God, Vernon Subutex, Ödipus, Qui a tué mon Père and The Seagull. His other theatre work includes Der starke Stamm, Vor Sonnenaufgang, Die Ehe der Maria Braun, and Susn (Münchner Kammerspiele), The Girl on the Sofa (Edinburgh Festival – Herald Angel Award), The Master Builder (Burgtheater in Vienna), The Seagull (Théâtre-Vidy, Lausanne), Knives in Hens, Nora – Nestroy Prize and Politika Prize, Hedda Gabler – audience award of the Theatergemeinde Berlin, Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Returning to Reims (Theatertreffen Berlin), John Gabriel Borkman – Grand Prix de la Critique of France, Hamlet – Barcelona Critics Prize and critic’s prize as Best International Production 2011 in Chile, The Cut – critic´s prize at the international theatre festival KONTAKT in Torun, Measure for Measure – Friedrich-Luft-Prize for the Best Theatre Performance in Berlin, La Nuit des rois ou Tout ce que vous voulez (Comédie-Française Paris) – Prix Molière for the best Production in France 2022 – as well as productions across the globe. In November 2004 Ostermeier was appointed Artiste Associé for the Festival d’Avignon by the artistic director of the festival, Vincent Baudriller, and has been presenting shows at the Festival regularly since then. In 2023 he opened the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence with his version of Brecht’s/ Weill’s The Threepenny Opera. He has been appointed Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French ministry of Culture, was German president of the Deutsch-Französischer Kulturrat (DKFR) – German-French Council of Culture, was the recipient of the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the KYTHERA-Price for Culture, and is a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Künste, of the Académie de Berlin and of the Deutsch-Französischer Kulturrat, as well as receiving honorary doctorates from the Universities of Kent and Gothenberg.
For the Schaubühne Berlin, Florian Borchmeyer’s work includes The Return of Ulysses after Claudio Monteverdi, Eugene Onegin after Alexander Puschkin, Das wohltemperierte Klavier Musical theatre after Johann Sebastian Bach and László Krasznahorkai, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, Galaxy, Summerfolk by Maxim Gorki, Hyperion. Letters of a Terrorist after Friedrich Hölderlin, Romeo und Julia by William Shakespeare, For the Disconnected Child by Falk Richter, The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, Kasimir and Karoline by Ödön von Horváth, The Marriage of Maria Braun after Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Richard III by William Shakespeare, Ödipus the Tyrant after Sophocles/Friedrich Hölderlin, Bella Figura by Yasmina Reza, Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun by Milo Rau, Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler, Dead Dog at Dry Cleaners: the Strong by Angélica Liddell, Returning to Reims after Didier Eribon, LENIN by Milo Rau & Ensemble, Im Herzen der Gewalt by Édouard Louis, Italian Night by Ödön von Horváth, Youth Without God by Ödön von Horváth, Returning to Reims after Didier Eribon, and Qui a tué mon père (Who killed my father). He is a filmmaker and works as a literature critic and curates the international programme at Filmfest Munich.
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