A Trial - after An Enemy of the People

Brazilian director Christiane Jatahy (Rio de Janeiro, 1968), who received the Silver Lion in Venice for her oeuvre in 2022 and was Holland Festival’s associate artist in 2024, returns to Amsterdam with her latest production. Together with actor and co-writer Wagner Moura – awarded Best Actor at Cannes this year for The Secret Agent and in the running for an Oscar – she finds a new approach to Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, in a radical, contemporary adaptation that invites the audience to take a stance.

In Ibsen's groundbreaking 1882 play, An Enemy of the People, protagonist Thomas Stockmann faces shame and exile after attempting to expose a water pollution scandal in his hometown spa. More than a century later, Ibsen’s work remains urgent, grappling with the conflict between personal integrity and societal conformity.

Jatahy’s adaption throws Stockmann, played by Wagner Moura, known for his Golden Globe-nominated role as Pablo Escobar in Narcos, into a modern-day Brazilian public courtroom to determine his fate. Lawyers and judges are noticeably absent and it’s up to you, the audience, to decide if he is innocent or whether he is indeed ‘an enemy of the people’.

Transplanting Ibsen’s themes to contemporary Brazil, A Trial offers a sharp look at authoritarianism, fake news and public judgement. In 2022 Jatahy was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for her body of work in theatre. Ever inventive and deeply political, Jatahy combines audience participation and filmed footage, creating a one-of-a-kind performance each night.

The Holland Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Festival d’Avignon, the three oldest festivals of Europe, join forces for the co-production of A Trial – after An Enemy of the People, marking the start of a multi-year collaboration leading up to their shared 80th anniversaries in 2027.

The three festivals share a common origin. In 1947, in the aftermath of the Second World War, they were founded independently of one another with the same underlying vision: that art has the unique power to unite cultures and offer a common language in a fragmented world.

Holland Festival founder Henk Reinink expressed his hope that 'combined forces would be able to accomplish something great.' There was a real hunger for art in the years following the Second World War – efforts to rebuild the country’s cultural scene were underway. With international cooperation woven into the fabric of its history, Holland Festival wished to bring together art and artists to heal a Europe that had been torn apart.

And now, nearly eight decades later, the first ever co-production between Edinburgh International Festival, Festival d’Avignon and Holland Festival, Christiane Jatahy’s A Trial – after An Enemy of the People marks the start of a historic three-year partnership to celebrate their historic 80th anniversary in 2027.

Emily Ansenk, Director of Holland Festival:

'International festivals like Holland Festival, Festival d’Avignon and Edinburgh International Festival are living laboratories of artistic exchange. Artist driven and forward-looking, we co-produce new work that challenges convention and invites risk. Born from the belief that art can bridge what politics divides, these post-war performing arts festivals have evolved into platforms for new voices, challenging ideas, and artistic collaboration that knows no frontiers. Then and now, it reminds us that to cross borders through art is to rediscover our shared humanity.’

Christiane Jatahy on the collaboration:

'For an artist to develop a research, the network of support from festivals and theaters is essential. Without it, ideas fail to take shape, time slips away, and creations never come to life. The support and partnership of the Holland Festival, the Festival d’Avignon, and the Edinburgh Festival have been – and continue to be – fundamental for my artistic dreams to materialize, to become theatre, and to meet the audience.'

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Credits

after Henrik Ibsen (Een vijand van het volk) direction Christiane Jatahy creation Wagner Moura cast Wagner Moura (Dokter Thomas Stockmann), Danilo Grangheia (Peter), Julia Bernat (Petra) dramaturgy Christiane Jatahy, Lucas Paraizo dramaturgy in collaboration with Wagner Moura scenography Thomas Walgrave light design Thomas Walgrave artistic collaboration Thomas Walgrave video system Julio Parente production coordination Henrique Mariano administration Claudia Petagna (Companhia Vertice) production Axis Produções coproduction Holland Festival, Festival d’Avignon, Edinburgh International Festival Christiane Jatahy is funded by Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d’Île-de-France

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