Amy Herzog was swimming in Ibsen. Surrounded by biographies of the classic playwright and volumes containing his plays, Herzog was trying to crack her adaptation of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” Her version came to Broadway in 2023, starring Jessica Chastain and directed by Jamie Lloyd; the mounting earned the playwright a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. At some point in her Ibsen immersion, Herzog’s husband, Tony-winning director Sam Gold, picked up one of the books and read “An Enemy of the People.” He immediately thought Herzog should adapt “Enemy” next and that Jeremy Strong (now of “Succession” fame) would be the perfect star. The married creatives began to make it a reality.
Herzog and Gold have been steeped in Ibsen for a few years, in fact. Aside from Herzog’s “Doll’s House,” Gold helmed the 2017 Broadway premiere of “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” in which playwright Lucas Hnath expanded on the Ibsen classic. But “An Enemy of the People” has challenged both of them in new ways.
