Never has a nineteenth-century Ibsen drama felt so contemporary than with Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of An Enemy of the People. And while this makes a somewhat lofty play resonate more clearly with its audience, it can also add a strange, didactic clunkiness to some of Ibsen’s words.

An Enemy of the People is an appealing study of personal integrity in the face of devastating opposition. Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a town-employed engineer, helped build a system of baths with rejuvenating powers, a tourist attraction that has been rebuilding his town’s economy. Unfortunately, there’s something in the water, and the doctor has determined that the baths are poisoning, rather than rejuvenating, the patients. Stockmann expects he will be praised for his life-saving discovery, but as a naive scientist, he has yet to think of the political or economical ramifications of his discovery, so he fights against a community that demands his voice be silenced.

Besides the obvious battle of the individual’s integrity versus the thrust of the zombified masses, Ibsen ties many other ethical themes and satirical jabs into the mix, from exploring the complex relationship between a newspaper’s editorial board and its readers, to amusing ruminations on whether it is more difficult to rail against local politicians or the national government.