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A Hero of the People
Henrik Ibsen, Brad Birch
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eBook - ePub
A Hero of the People
Henrik Ibsen, Brad Birch
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About This Book
Do you know what I believe in? I believe in us. Me and you, right here. This town was once an incredible place. We have to have courage to fight for it again. Hero or enemy? Who can actually tell the difference? Everything is going to be fine, better than fine, in fact there's nothing that can't be achieved if everyone just believes a little. That's what the town's MP, Mick, thinks. He's optimistic, positively boosterish about his plan for the town. He just wants the naysayers to pipe down. But there's a problem. His sister, Dr Rhiannon Powell, has discovered that the project appears to be polluting the town's water supply. Mick sold the town a story about the future, but what will happen when reality looks to tear that story apart? Is Mick a hero of the people, or is he in fact their enemy? Brad Birch's bold new reimagining of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People pits the personal against the political and facts against emotion. A Hero of the People is a gripping contemporary drama for our times.
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Two
Itās now four weeks later. Mickās house.
The music continues in the background, giving the sense that a party is happening elsewhere.
Mick and Elin enter Mickās office, both carrying drinks.
Mick So tell me, youāve been in Frankās chair for what is it, four months now? Really it feels like about five minutes.
Elin Not to me. And itās not Frankās chair anymore, by the way. I had it swapped out for something more ergonomic.
Mick Nonetheless itās nice to actually meet you. Face to face.
Elin Well, thank you for inviting me to your party. Must say, it came a little unexpected.
Mick Itās a chance for us to get to know each other. Build bridges. Set the record straight. Would you like a top up?
Elin No, thank you. What records need straightening?
Mick Oh, come on. Youāve been nursing that all night. You donāt want to make my other guests nervous, do you? If the only sober person in the room is the editor of the Peopleās Messenger!
Elin Must be exhausting, having such a sociable job, Mr Powell.
Mick You have to be present for all in the community. A shift at the recycling plant here, a morning at the food bank there. And then . . .
Elin Cocktail parties.
Mick The well-heeled need government too, letās not forget that!
Elin So the poor need food banks and the rich need, what was that waiter carrying around out there, five types of cheese?
Mick Oh, itās probably a bit much. You know what it is, Iām excited. This place has been quiet for too long. Katherine, my wife, used to have us host parties all the time.
Elin Oh, I donāt think Iāve met her yet.
Mick Uh, sheās not with us anymore.
Elin Oh, Iām sorry. I didnāt know.
Mick No, no. Itās all part of us getting to know each other.
As people, I mean, rather than . . .
Elin Adversaries?
Mick Youāll have to meet my daughter, though, Hannah. She actually paused her studies to be a part of this. Is that not saying something? Youth flocking back to be here. Do you really not want another drink?
Elin No, thank you.
Mick Well, I will. Weāve got reason to celebrate, after all.
Mick finds a bottle and tops up his drink.
Westra have begun work and they say theyāre encouraged by the start of the testing. Iām not a man of science but I am a man of optimism and if theyāre encouraged then I am too. As seems everybody.
Elin Must have been a surprise to Westra. Iām not sure fossil fuel companies are used to being clapped into the areas they arrive into.
Mick Thatās because weāre smart around here.
Elin Donāt you think thereās a chance weāre being taken for a ride?
Mick Do you know what that is? That instinct? Itās inherited trauma. My daughter has a book on it, Iāve read the cover. This country carries its history too heavily. Weāre too suspicious, too cynical. Still got this feeling of inferiority with them lot over the border, we canāt believe a good thing when it falls on our laps.
Elin Hardly fell in our laps, you lobbied hard for this. There have been calls for us to run a profile on you. A glossy front page. Mick Powell, hero of the people. What would you make of that?
Mick This isnāt about me. Iām not after public credit.
Elin Not until an election, anyway.
Mick I also promised to renovate the toilets in the park, and I donāt expect people to think of me every time they flush.
Elin Oh, Iām sure some do.
Mick Whatās that?
Elin So, this isnāt about your own ambitions beyond the town?
Mick What is beyond this town? Whatās out there that we canāt do here? Whatās radical today, I think, is to look closer to home. To protect what you have. This place may have a meaningful history, but it has to have a meaningful future too. This Westra deal is just the start. And it wonāt be long before youāre going to have to admit you were wrong.
Elin Iām sorry?
Mick Thatās a start.
Elin Iām serious.
Mick Oh, come on. You accused me of signing a deal with the devil. Corporate gangsters, you called them. Never mind the projected booms in employment, house prices and tax revenue, you had an agenda. You wanted it stopped. But look. We didnāt sell our souls, no black clouds yawned over our heads and rained pestilence upon us.
Elin And what if they donāt find gas. Do you have a plan B?
Mick Food has always been important in my family, Elin. My great granddad was a cook in the First World War. He found a pride in feeding people. And then when he came back home after winning the war he opened a restaurant, not far from here, in fact. That was the start of a family business, right up to my father. And something he always said to me was that there are more nerve endings in the stomach than there are in the brain. Did you know that? Itās how the nervous system works. Trust your gut, my dad would say. Itās smarter than you. Anyway, I feel it here now, wi...