I think it may be a sensory thing. I like the commentary, but the background music is so loud and repetitive and pointless that I cannot concentrate on what he is saying. the point of the exercise. I have to agree with v4nzz950. It serves no purpose but to obscure the speaking. I got no further than 30 seconds before I went all caps... TURN THE F..G MUSIC OFF. But you can't.
TLDR: I was in "An Enemy of the People" in high school opposite my own brother and this analysis of shades of grey is exactly how I see the play. One of my first "big" onstage roles was as Peter Stockmann in our high school production of "An Enemy of the People". I'm quite sure that our theater director picked this show because my older brother was also a relative thespian (we've both joined the Thespian Society), but having him as Thomas Stockmann would make an interesting dynamic. This is also the closest I've ever come to playing an outright villain (I also played Casca in our version of "Julius Caesar", which I consider a trainwreck). But what I loved about the play was that by the end, everyone who had been sympathetic towards Thomas and wanting to see him win out in the end, they all kind of feel like maybe he might be wrong. Maybe it *was* just one negative test, maybe he *hadn't* collected sufficient data, maybe he *could* actually be wrong. Maybe after everything he'd done and fought for, he might be wrong. We also excised a fair bit of the show since it was a high school production, but the major themes still came through. I especially remember one scene where Peter challenges Thomas' findings and Thomas moves towards Peter as if to confront him and his wife steps between them. One night when we were doing the show Thomas (my brother) actually got close enough to touch me and I genuinely thought he was going to beat the living hell out of me and I almost lost my place. Our mom always thought that some personal issues might come out during the performance ("The water's tainted, Peter!" "Oh yeah, well, Mom always liked you best!") but she was just glad we didn't actually ever kill each other.
I was in a production of this many years ago in college, and just found it here on RUclips! Really enjoyed this analysis. But also, I love how you look like you constantly are trying not to let your smile just get out of control. It's very cute! And then there's the accent 🥰 ~Trav
Excellent! Very succinct, clear and enlightening - so no need to embellish it with a silly, overloud music that only distracts from your words! Btw, another small point - it may have been a slip, but you confused Norwegian Henrik with Heinrich, the German version of the name. Otherwise, top notch - thank you.
Excellent delivery! Cery clear, articulate, and good pace. Bring down music vol a touch (and vary). Perhaps open with an overview of the video's contents (thread of key ideas). Perfect conceptual level. Use of paper effect fantastic in overview of dialectics. Keep it up! You're great!
Cheers, much appreciated! Really useful to have feedback like this as I'm really keen for my videos to be useful! Haha, I've definitely thought that about the music before, will endeavor to change it up a little in the future! Thanks for taking the time to post some thoughts. :)
Enjoyed this. Am researching Ibsen, Shaw, Chekhov for a lecture I'm giving, MASTERS OF NATURALISM. I trod well worn paths here I know but the new twist is that it will be an ILLUSTRATED lecture . I.e. actual scenes will be acted out by professionals including myself.Look forward to seeing your other works too.
Glad you found it interesting Peter. That sounds great, hope the idea of including actually performed scenes works out well, I can imagine it'll certainly add another level to the lecture!
I’m an old man Tom, 72. I was a professional actor in my 20’s and 30’s on B’way and off. Now in my retirement from library work after 20 some years at Columbia and NYU I am attempting to climb back on the show biz bandwagon. Like Rib Van Winkle I awake from a 20 years sleep to find all my old friends dead or disappeared. I wonder if you would allow me to contact you more privately? My email is peter.kingsley6@gmail.com. Thank you
Very nice video. I teach English as a foreign language in France and I am teaching English to one of my students using this play. I am reading it for the first time with my student so it is all new to me too. So far I can see similarities between this story and Jaws. I'm sure Dr Stockmann is the equivalent to Chief Brody. But I am yet to read the rest
Tom -- In light of this commentary, you might enjoy Lucas Hnath's Dolls House 2, set 15 years later, when Nora returns. Hnath has done an excellent job exploring the "problem" of marriage & independence of women without necessarily coming to a resolution. Plus, like Enemy, it resonates today as much as Dolls House did at its time.
Oh, awesome. Is that the one that's just about to open on Broadway? I'll have to try and check it out if it ever comes over to this side of the pond or maybe I'll try and grab a copy of the playtext. Have you had a chance to see it? I'm always really interested in plays which try to speak to other, existing plays (although I'm aware it can put some people off as it necessitates a certain amount of preexisting knowledge before going to the theatre).
I saw the play at South Coast Rep (CA), but it's also opening on B'way... not sure how that happened. Of course, it's better to know the original, but not necessary. Here's a link for more on the production here: www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-dolls-house-part-2-review-20170416-story.html
Don't think this criticism got the point. Ibsen had an existentialist background, due to his readings of Kierkegaard. The whole point of Kierkegaard's thought is to give shape to men's spirit, allowing one to be free, not being only a sheep of the flock. Therefore Ibsen wrote about people pushed to the limits of their social condition to force them to ask: 'now, without the whole social parafernalia, what's left?' Focusing on the social aspect is useful, but without this deeper layer it leads people to the common mistake of considering 'The doll's house' a feminist play.
The criticism of Ibsen not taking up the problem of the poor in 'An Enemy of the People" is a little unfair. The play is about the leaders of the village, the professionals, the elected officials, and the disgruntled older people who think they have been left behind.
I think McGrath's criticism on that front is more of a general critique on the writers of Ibsen's period who were very focussed on middle class life. I'd argue that this is reflected in an enemy of the people too. It's not that EVERY PLAY EVER should be about working class people but that, in the work of this period as a whole, they were notable in their absense.
Excellent point and well thought out. The late Sam Shepherd and John Patrick Shanley did write plays about people at the low end of resource scale including education and emotional training. There are many challenges inherent in this when inarticulate people have to reach out into the dark for the solution to their problems.
@@Tom_Nicholas I thought it was for real until you said "neither"with the long EE sound (totally like an American), instead of the long I. But, really, the rest was very convincing.
WHY IS THE RUclips BACKGROUNG MUSIC SO LOUD
WHAT?!?
I think it may be a sensory thing. I like the commentary, but the background music is so loud and repetitive and pointless that I cannot concentrate on what he is saying. the point of the exercise. I have to agree with v4nzz950. It serves no purpose but to obscure the speaking. I got no further than 30 seconds before I went all caps... TURN THE F..G MUSIC OFF. But you can't.
TLDR: I was in "An Enemy of the People" in high school opposite my own brother and this analysis of shades of grey is exactly how I see the play.
One of my first "big" onstage roles was as Peter Stockmann in our high school production of "An Enemy of the People". I'm quite sure that our theater director picked this show because my older brother was also a relative thespian (we've both joined the Thespian Society), but having him as Thomas Stockmann would make an interesting dynamic. This is also the closest I've ever come to playing an outright villain (I also played Casca in our version of "Julius Caesar", which I consider a trainwreck). But what I loved about the play was that by the end, everyone who had been sympathetic towards Thomas and wanting to see him win out in the end, they all kind of feel like maybe he might be wrong. Maybe it *was* just one negative test, maybe he *hadn't* collected sufficient data, maybe he *could* actually be wrong. Maybe after everything he'd done and fought for, he might be wrong. We also excised a fair bit of the show since it was a high school production, but the major themes still came through. I especially remember one scene where Peter challenges Thomas' findings and Thomas moves towards Peter as if to confront him and his wife steps between them. One night when we were doing the show Thomas (my brother) actually got close enough to touch me and I genuinely thought he was going to beat the living hell out of me and I almost lost my place. Our mom always thought that some personal issues might come out during the performance ("The water's tainted, Peter!" "Oh yeah, well, Mom always liked you best!") but she was just glad we didn't actually ever kill each other.
I was in a production of this many years ago in college, and just found it here on RUclips! Really enjoyed this analysis.
But also, I love how you look like you constantly are trying not to let your smile just get out of control. It's very cute! And then there's the accent 🥰
~Trav
Excellent! Very succinct, clear and enlightening - so no need to embellish it with a silly, overloud music that only distracts from your words! Btw, another small point - it may have been a slip, but you confused Norwegian Henrik with Heinrich, the German version of the name. Otherwise, top notch - thank you.
Excellent delivery! Cery clear, articulate, and good pace. Bring down music vol a touch (and vary). Perhaps open with an overview of the video's contents (thread of key ideas). Perfect conceptual level. Use of paper effect fantastic in overview of dialectics.
Keep it up! You're great!
Cheers, much appreciated! Really useful to have feedback like this as I'm really keen for my videos to be useful! Haha, I've definitely thought that about the music before, will endeavor to change it up a little in the future! Thanks for taking the time to post some thoughts. :)
This is really smart, helpful and unpretentious. I loved it. Very cool, Tom.
Enjoyed this. Am researching Ibsen, Shaw, Chekhov for a lecture I'm giving, MASTERS OF NATURALISM. I trod well worn paths here I know but the new twist is that it will be an ILLUSTRATED lecture . I.e. actual scenes will be acted out by professionals including myself.Look forward to seeing your other works too.
Glad you found it interesting Peter. That sounds great, hope the idea of including actually performed scenes works out well, I can imagine it'll certainly add another level to the lecture!
I’m an old man Tom, 72. I was a professional actor in my 20’s and 30’s on B’way and off. Now in my retirement from library work after 20 some years at Columbia and NYU I am attempting to climb back on the show biz bandwagon. Like Rib Van Winkle I awake from a 20 years sleep to find all my old friends dead or disappeared. I wonder if you would allow me to contact you more privately? My email is peter.kingsley6@gmail.com.
Thank you
Interesting. I’m thinking of going to see the Matt Smith staring production of Enemy of the People next week. Have you seen it?
Yo, i thought this was the guy who played Ramsay Bolton at first, holy cow lmao
I'm not very familiar with Brecht, but I adore Ibsen and his plays. What three plays of Brecht's would you recommend?
Excellent!
Thank you, it was very instructing, I really liked your analysis :)
Thanks Camille, glad you enjoyed it!
Very nice video. I teach English as a foreign language in France and I am teaching English to one of my students using this play. I am reading it for the first time with my student so it is all new to me too. So far I can see similarities between this story and Jaws. I'm sure Dr Stockmann is the equivalent to Chief Brody. But I am yet to read the rest
thanks for giving a glimpse
Great analysis. Lots of interesting points.
Tom -- In light of this commentary, you might enjoy Lucas Hnath's Dolls House 2, set 15 years later, when Nora returns. Hnath has done an excellent job exploring the "problem" of marriage & independence of women without necessarily coming to a resolution. Plus, like Enemy, it resonates today as much as Dolls House did at its time.
Oh, awesome. Is that the one that's just about to open on Broadway? I'll have to try and check it out if it ever comes over to this side of the pond or maybe I'll try and grab a copy of the playtext. Have you had a chance to see it?
I'm always really interested in plays which try to speak to other, existing plays (although I'm aware it can put some people off as it necessitates a certain amount of preexisting knowledge before going to the theatre).
I saw the play at South Coast Rep (CA), but it's also opening on B'way... not sure how that happened. Of course, it's better to know the original, but not necessary. Here's a link for more on the production here: www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-dolls-house-part-2-review-20170416-story.html
Oh cool. I'll have a read up on it, sounds really interesting. Cheers!
Don't think this criticism got the point. Ibsen had an existentialist background, due to his readings of Kierkegaard. The whole point of Kierkegaard's thought is to give shape to men's spirit, allowing one to be free, not being only a sheep of the flock. Therefore Ibsen wrote about people pushed to the limits of their social condition to force them to ask: 'now, without the whole social parafernalia, what's left?' Focusing on the social aspect is useful, but without this deeper layer it leads people to the common mistake of considering 'The doll's house' a feminist play.
Which recording of the play did you use at the 20 second mark? I'm looking for a good quality version for my class.
Thanks for great content. Not sure about the background music though.
Thanks, Tom! This is great!
Thanks for saying so!
Love your videos. I watched it all the times👏🖒
Thank you! Appreciate you saying so!
Music too loud, goodbye.
This play is part of Ibsen's realistic / naturalist phase, right?
The symbolist phase only begins with The Wild Duck, or am I wrong?
The criticism of Ibsen not taking up the problem of the poor in 'An Enemy of the People" is a little unfair. The play is about the leaders of the village, the professionals, the elected officials, and the disgruntled older people who think they have been left behind.
I think McGrath's criticism on that front is more of a general critique on the writers of Ibsen's period who were very focussed on middle class life. I'd argue that this is reflected in an enemy of the people too. It's not that EVERY PLAY EVER should be about working class people but that, in the work of this period as a whole, they were notable in their absense.
Excellent point and well thought out. The late Sam Shepherd and John Patrick Shanley did write plays about people at the low end of resource scale including education and emotional training. There are many challenges inherent in this when inarticulate people have to reach out into the dark for the solution to their problems.
thanks for this - its great but might be a bit hard for younger students of drama and theatre
There is an excellent adaptation suitable for younger students here havescripts.com/product/play-script-an-enemy-of-the-people/
thesis-antithesis-synthesis is not a model of the Hegelian dialectic. It comes from the classics.
Have you ever thought about talking about Emperor and Galilean?
To my own detriment, I actually haven't read or seen Emporer and Galilean. I will add it to my reading list!
Bro someone dumb this down for me please
Go through concept by concept, through Google. There's no way to dumb down such concepts and yet end with a complete comprehension of those.
Why the awful music?
If you're going to keep up that fake British accent, you need to work on the word "neither".
Erm, okaaaaaay...
@@Tom_Nicholas I thought it was for real until you said "neither"with the long EE sound (totally like an American), instead of the long I. But, really, the rest was very convincing.
huh i’m british but say neither with an ee not an i
@@heddyquinn2875 Can you prove you are British?