Following a relatively sparse fall, Broadway is overrun this spring with new productions, from revivals to new musicals. Topping the must-see list for many is “An Enemy of the People,” which sells itself in just about every way. The revival of the Henrik Ibsen piece is once again adapted by Amy Herzog, fresh off her adaptation of the Jessica Chastain-starring Ibsen production “A Doll’s House.” The play is directed by Herzog’s husband, Sam Gold, who won the Tony for directing “Fun Home.” Then there is the cast: Jeremy Strong, in his first role post-“Succession,” Michael Imperioli, fresh off the “White Lotus” buzz, and Victoria Pedretti rounding it out.
Pedretti might be a new name to some but she is a familiar face: she starred opposite Penn Badgley in “You” on Netflix, as well as “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” both with passionate fan bases. Earlier this year she was at Sundance for her film “Ponyboi,” one of the festival’s buzziest breakouts.
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“An Enemy of the People” shows her in a very different light from any of her past work. In the play she is Petra, the daughter of Strong’s Dr. Thomas Stockmann and a teacher in the town.
Pedretti first heard about the show through the audition, and was motivated both by the casting of Strong as well as the chance to do theater again, her first time in six years.
“I knew Jeremy was involved. It’s a play I wasn’t super familiar with, but when I started reading about it, it was interesting to me. I couldn’t know how they were going to adapt it and what kind of production they were going to do, but I mean, I just wanted to do theater,” she says. “I always wanted to do theater. Whenever the opportunity came up, I wanted to do it.”
Petra’s role as a teacher was one of the things that intrigued Pedretti.
“The challenges of teachers throughout time, which this play exposes, when you have a desire to educate…there’s limitations a lot of the time to what you’re actually able to teach students,” she says. “That was definitely interesting.”
Pedretti shies away from going into any detail about her research for the role, pointing to the fact that it’s an ongoing performance.
“I don’t like talking about the work that made the thing, especially when the thing isn’t done yet. I don’t want people to watch it and think about that stuff,” she says. “And I think if I start answering questions about that, I’m kind of opening myself up to more questions.”
In that vein, she was more candid about taking on the role in “Ponyboi,” from writer/director River Gallo, in which she plays Gallo’s character’s best friend and the girlfriend of their pimp.
“I’ve been really interested in playing supporting [roles] in projects that I really believed in,” Pedretti says. “I really loved the script, loved the character; it takes place on the East Coast in [New] Jersey, very near and dear to my heart. The time period is super fun on a number of levels in terms of technology, but also visually, fashion-wise and everything. There was a lot that was really appealing about it.”
Following “An Enemy of the People,” she’s signed on to lead Alex Wolff’s psychological thriller “If She Burns” with Asa Butterfield and Justice Smith. But beyond that, “I don’t have anything on the books,” she says. “So if you know anybody who’s looking, just let me know.”