739 - How an 1882 Play, The Enemy of the People, is Helping Communities Heal from the Trauma of COVID-19
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2024
⏱️ 21 minutes
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Summary
How can a play about rural Norway in 1882 help us process the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic? That's the question posed by Theater of War Productions, which is hosting readings of The Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen—and then is leading intense community conversations immediately following the productions. Bryan Doerries, artistic director of Theater of War Productions, speaks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how this old Norwegian play speaks to the trauma experienced by the public health field and by community members during the pandemic.
You can watch the Ohio productions live via Zoom and participate in the conversation afterwards on April 6 and 7 at 6pm. You can sign up for free under the events tab at http://theaterofwar.com.
If you missed our first conversation about the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and The Enemy of the People, you can listen here: https://johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com/132-the-enemy-of-the-people-by-henrik-ibsen-and-parallels-to-the-covid-19-pandemic
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jh.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:32.1 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:34.4 | How can a play about rural Norway in 1882 help us process the trauma of the COVID pandemic? |
| 0:40.9 | That's the question posed by Theater of War Productions, which is hosting readings of an |
| 0:45.9 | enemy of the people by Henrik Ibsen and is then leading intense community conversations |
| 0:51.4 | immediately following the productions. In this play, a local doctor |
| 0:55.9 | discovers that his town's bats are contaminated and then tries to bring the news of this danger |
| 1:01.0 | to the public's attention. It does not go well. The baths are critical to the local economy, |
| 1:06.6 | and the doctor's persistence and attitude leads him to be branded, an enemy of the people. |
| 1:12.9 | Brian Dorese is the artistic director of Theater of War Productions. |
| 1:17.1 | He adapted an enemy of the people and brought it to audiences in Washington, D.C. in late February, |
| 1:22.8 | with shows planned in rural Ohio for April 6th and 7th. |
| 1:27.3 | Today, he speaks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how |
| 1:30.2 | this old Norwegian play speaks to the trauma experienced by the public health field, as well as |
| 1:36.3 | community members during the pandemic. Just to note that our listeners are encouraged to watch |
| 1:41.6 | the Ohio productions live via Zoom and then participate in the conversation |
| 1:46.1 | afterwards. Again, that's an enemy of the people live from Ohio on April 6th and 7th. You can |
| 1:53.1 | sign up for free under the events tab at Theaterofwar.com. Let's listen. Brian Doris, thank you so much for joining me today on Public Health on call. |
| 2:04.0 | I'm going to talk about Enemy of the People, play by Hendrick Ibsen from 1882, which you |
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