"That both siblings are played by Dowd is a problem, and a plus. The plus is that Dowd is an endlessly and effortlessly compelling actor, apparently unafraid of any extreme of human depravity...Because Dowd is playing both, and because she is a tiny figure on Hildegard Bechtler’s giant catwalk of a stage as it branches out amid the tables, she must push both characterizations to extremes."
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"The gamified gimmick doesn’t quite make up for all that’s been stripped away, though it does offer the theatergoing set a chilling view of itself...Yet while Icke’s text disappointed me on two fronts (aesthetic and, though it makes me a pearl-clutcher, moral), I was still dazzled by his use of technologically complex mise-en-scène."
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"In essence, she’s shouting in dead space to a room of muffled ears. We hear her words, we see her image on large video screens, but her live presence is diluted through technology...If anything, the 'Our Town' via 'American Idol' shtick leaches energy and tension from the story. We slide off our headphones, confer laughingly, and vote without much seriousness."
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"It’s an illuminating exercise in both self-reflection and groupthink — and an example of how, as audiences emerge from personal hibernation, theater is seeking novel kinds of visceral engagement."
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"Icke’s modernized elements (including making the protagonist female, emphasizing her character flaws while making her brother more sympathetic, and working in internet rumors, limited healthcare and frustrations with democratic norms) work quite well – so much so that one would like to see him direct the show in a traditional theater with a full cast and without alienating video and audio effects and gimmicky audience participation."
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"While his script is a little bit too novelistic (a downside of many solo experiences), and the material a little too expansive to be conveyed by one fearless performer, I had a great time watching the moral gray areas play out in the hands of the wealthy Upper East Siders who cheered for the supermarket workers every night until they were able to flee to Sag Harbor...Unfortunately, the deck is so stacked against Dowd that 'Enemy of the People' is a losing battle for her from start to finish."
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"The net effect is ultimately more gimmicky than thought-provoking. The play supposedly moves in different directions depending on how we vote, but we have to take the creators’ word for it since we only see one version...As with so many theater pieces developed during the pandemic, 'Enemy of the People' is more memorable as an experience than drama."
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That the audience members had to spend time debating choices makes this “Enemy of the People” the exact right show for this moment. This is not because we as Americans are facing some critical choices ourselves, although we are, but because, as the city and its theaters reopen, it offers an excuse and an opportunity for people who might not have seen each other for more than a year to get together in person and actually talk.
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