Matt Smith, the actor best known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who, Prince Philip in The Crown, and Prince Daemon Targaryen in HBO’s House of the Dragon, will make his West End debut in Thomas Ostermeier’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London. The limited run opens on 20 February 2024, with previews beginning 6 February, and closes on 13 April 2024.
The production marks a double debut: it is the first time Smith has headlined a West End production, and it also marks Ostermeier’s West End debut as director. Ostermeier, the artistic director of Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre since 1999, is widely regarded as one of the most influential theatre directors in Europe. His 2014 production of An Enemy of the People at the Barbican Theatre, performed in German with English surtitles, received five-star reviews from The Guardian, with critic Michael Billington calling it “like a rowdy version of Question Time.” The Duke of York’s production is the first English-language staging of Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation, with a new English version by Duncan Macmillan.
Ibsen wrote An Enemy of the People in 1882. The five-act play follows Dr Thomas Stockmann, a physician who discovers that the waters in his hometown’s public baths are contaminated. When he attempts to publicise his findings, the local establishment – concerned about the economic impact on the town’s thriving spa industry – turns against him, declaring him an enemy of the people. The play premiered at the Christiania Norwegian Theatre in Kristiania (now Oslo) on 18 January 1883, and has been performed in over 30 cities worldwide in various adaptations since.
Smith takes the role of Dr Thomas Stockmann. Joining him in the cast is Jessica Brown Findlay, known for playing Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey, as Katharina Stockmann. Paul Hilton, whose credits include The Inheritance on the West End and Broadway, plays Peter Stockmann, Thomas’s brother and the town’s mayor. Nigel Lindsay, a veteran of The Lehman Trilogy, takes the role of Morten Kiil, the factory owner. Priyanga Burford (Industry) plays Aslaksen, Zachary Hart (Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre) plays Billing, and Shubham Saraf (The Father and the Assassin) plays Hovstad.
The creative team includes set designer Jan Pappelbaum, costume designer Natasha Jenkins, lighting designer Urs Schönebaum, and sound designers Ben and Max Ringham. Wall paintings are by Katharina Ziemke. The production is produced by David Binder Productions and Wessex Grove, with Schaubühne Berlin as the originating producer.
Smith, born on 28 October 1982 in Northampton, was the youngest actor cast as the Doctor at 27 when he was announced in January 2009. He played the Eleventh Doctor across three series from 2010 to 2013, appearing in 49 episodes. He earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, across two seasons of The Crown (2016–2017). Since 2022, he has portrayed Prince Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon, the HBO prequel to Game of Thrones.
On stage, Smith appeared as Patrick Bateman in the world premiere of Duncan Sheik’s American Psycho musical at the Almeida Theatre in December 2013, directed by Rupert Goold. That production transferred to Broadway in 2016 with Benjamin Walker replacing Smith in the role. In 2019, Smith and Claire Foy starred in Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs at the Old Vic Theatre, directed by Matthew Warchus. The production returned in 2020 as part of the Old Vic: In Camera series, streamed live from an empty auditorium during the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith’s most recent London stage appearance was in Lungs in 2021, making the gap before An Enemy of the People his longest absence from the London stage in nearly a decade.
Ostermeier’s adaptation strips away the period staging in favour of a contemporary, confrontational approach. In his version, Stockmann’s climactic speech at a public assembly triggers a direct confrontation with the audience, breaking the fourth wall. The Guardian described the 2014 Barbican run as “electrifying,” while WhatsOnStage called it “an impassioned examination of society and the powerlessness of democracy to check an abuse of power.” The production has toured to more than 30 cities internationally since its 2012 premiere at the Schaubühne in Berlin.
The themes of An Enemy of the People – environmental contamination, the tension between scientific truth and economic self-interest, and the machinery of public opinion – have gained renewed relevance in the years since Ibsen wrote the play. Ostermeier has noted parallels with the Edward Snowden revelations and the broader crisis of whistleblowing in democratic societies. The Financial Times described the production as “blistering” and “full of contemporary resonances.”
Tickets for An Enemy of the People are on sale now, with performances at 7:30pm Monday to Saturday and 2:00pm matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes including an interval. For further details, see An Enemy of the People at Duke of York’s Theatre.
Sources: London Theatre Direct (26 October 2023); West End Theatre (5 September 2023); The Guardian (25 September 2014)
