Matt Smith’s rebel with a cause has a slow-burn intensity in this reimagined rock’n’roll adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 drama. He is a doctor, new dad and musician who belts out a David Bowie number before launching his protest against small-town corporate corruption and the sale of contaminated spa water for public consumption.
Smith recently launched an offstage protest himself against the use of trigger warnings, though some might prefer to be alerted to the audience participation in Thomas Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer’s adaptation. This comes in a radical swivel when Thomas Stockmann (Smith) delivers his speech about the rotten core of society; the auditorium turns into a Question Time-style symposium and we become Ibsen’s townsfolk.
