Wesley James Enoch (born 1969) is an Australian
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
. He is especially known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', co-written with
Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the
Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2010 until October 2015, and completed a five-year stint as director of the
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...
in February 2021.
Biography
Wesley James Enoch
was born on
North Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah in 1969, the eldest son of Doug and Lyn Enoch.
and grew up in
Brisbane. He has four siblings and is the younger brother of Queensland government minister
Leeanne Enoch. His heritage is
Nunukul and
Ngugi Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to:
*Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright
*Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer
*David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya
* J ...
(two of three
Quandamooka peoples from
Stradbroke Island), but also has a mixture of Irish, English and Scottish blood, and Danish and Spanish blood on his (non-Indigenous) mother's side, and Filipino,
Pacific Islander and
Kandju
The Kaantyu people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland. They live in the area around the present-day town of Coen. Most of their traditional tribal land has been taken over for cattle stations. ''Ka ...
heritage on his father's.
[
Enoch earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).]
Enoch is the domestic partner of past artistic director of Australian Ballet, David McAllister , since around 2008, although they have lived in different cities for much of the time.[
]
Career
From 1994 to 1997, Enoch was artistic director at Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts, where he directed a number of his own works. In 1998 he became Associate Artist at the Queensland Theatre Company, then served a term from 2000 to 2001 as resident director at Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...
. From 2003 to 2006, he was artistic director at Ilbijerri Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative, remaining on the board until 2007. During his time at Ilbijerri, Enoch directed a number of Company B (later Belvoir) productions, including his own ''Black Medea'' in collaboration with Malthouse Theatre), and '' The Sapphires'' with Melbourne Theatre Company.
From 2006 to 2008, took up the role of associate artistic director for Company B at the Belvoir St Theatre.[
Other major theatre companies he has worked with include State Theatre Company of South Australia, Black Swan Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company, ]Hothouse Theatre
HotHouse Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Albury–Wodonga on the border of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia.
It evolved from the Murray River Performing Group which was established in 1979.
HotHouse Theatre is reside ...
, Yirra Yaakin
The Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, also known as Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre, is an Aboriginal Australian theatre company, based in Perth, Western Australia in the heart of the Noongar Nation, a cultural group from the South West of Western Aust ...
, and Windmill Theatre .[
In June 2010, his appointment as the new artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company was announced, taking over from Michael Gow. He had previously directed several plays at the Company, and been an associate artist. He started in the new role firstly on a part-time basis from July 2010, and then full-time in January 2011.]
Enoch worked with Tom Wright to develop his play ''Black Diggers'', about Indigenous soldiers in World War I, which under Enoch's direction premiered at the Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
in 2014 to great acclaim[ and was later performed in other states.][
He left Queensland Theatre to become director of the ]Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...
in October 2015, and served as director from February 2017 for a five-year term, with his last festival in 2021. During his time there, he introduced many works offering a wide range of perspectives by First Nations artists.
In March 2021 Enoch was appointed to the inaugural Indigenous Chair in the Creative Industries at QUT.[
]
Other roles
* 2006 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, Director of the Indigenous section[
*2008 ]Festival of Pacific Arts
The Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific Arts Festival, or FESTPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympics, by a different country in Oceania ( map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former ...
(FOPA), Artistic Director for the Australian delegation[
*2018 Nick Enright Address at the National Playwrighting Festival][
*]2018 Commonwealth Games
The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...
on the Gold Coast, creative consultant, segment director and Indigenous consultant[
*Hothouse Theatre Artistic Directorate member][
*Former Sydney Opera House Trustee][
*Member of the New South Wales Government's Arts Advisory Council][
*Member of the external advisory panel to the Assemblage Centre for Creative Arts at ]Flinders University
Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...
, headed by Garry Stewart ()
Written works
''The 7 Stages of Grieving''
Enoch is best-known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', a one-actor play co-written with Deborah Mailman in 1995 and first performed at the Metro Arts Theatre in Brisbane by Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts, with Mailman in the solo role and Enoch directing, on 1 September 1995. The play was published in book form in 1996, and has been much studied and written about since.
The title refers to seven phases of Aboriginal history, with the words referencing Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, and author of the internationally best-selling book, ''On Death and Dying'' (1969), where she first discussed her theor ...
's model commonly known as the five stages of grief
The five stages of grief model (or the Kübler-Ross model) is popularly known as a model that describes a series of emotions experienced by people who are grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. In actuality, the Kübler ...
. The stages in the play move from the Dreaming to a future of where Aboriginal self-determination
Indigenous Australian self-determination, also known as Aboriginal Australian self-determination, is the power relating to self-governance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. It is the right of Aboriginal and Torres ...
and reconciliation with settler Australians has been achieved.[ The seven stages comprise: Dreaming, Invasion, Genocide, Protection, ]Assimilation
Assimilation may refer to:
Culture
*Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs
**Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the progre ...
, Self-Determination and Reconciliation. The concept of the seven phases of Aboriginal history were identified and named as such by Michael Williams, director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies at the University of Queensland when Enoch was teaching and Mailman was studying there during the 1990s. The linking of Kübler-Ross's model and Williams' framework that started the examination of "the concept that Indigenous history has been a long and complicated grieving process since colonisation". Using traditional cultural forms of "dance, song, music, visuals and storytelling", they workshopped their ideas for two years before first presenting a 30-minute version, and then developed it further along with dramaturge Hilary Beaton to its full length, presented in 1995. The play was during the early years of a formal reconciliation process in Australia,[ and not long after Enoch's grandmother had died on Minjerribah and Enoch had participated in some of the ancient Aboriginal rites associated with death and burial.][
There were numerous performances of the play around Australia in the 1990s, as well as being performed at the ]Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade ...
in London[ as part of the London International Festival of Theatre][ in 1997. It has had several runs in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane during the 21st century. A touring production by the ]Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...
was originally scheduled for 2020, but, interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, was postponed until mid-2021. This production, directed by Shari Sebbens
Shari Sebbens is an Aboriginal Australian actress and stage director, known for her debut film role in '' The Sapphires'' (2012), as well as many stage and television performances. After a two-year stint as resident director of the Sydney Thea ...
and performed by Elaine Crombie
Elaine Crombie is an Aboriginal Australian actress, known for her work on stage and television. She is also a singer, songwriter, comedian, writer and producer.
Early life and education
Crombie is a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman from ...
, is being staged in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
Other works
''Grace'' (1998) is a short film, first screened around Australia in a group of six short films, collectively titled "Shifting Sands".
Other works written by Enoch include:
* ''Little White Dress''
* ''A Life of Grace and Piety'' (1998)
* '' The Sunshine Club'' (1999)
* ''Black Medea'' (2000)
* ''The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table'' (2006)
* ''I Am Eora'' (2012)
Recognition
In 2002, Enoch was the recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris.[
'' The Sapphires'' (2004) won ]Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.
The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...
s for Best Production and Best New Australian Work; remounted at the 2005 Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney that runs for three weeks every January, since it was established in 1977. The festival program features in excess of 100 events from local and international artists an ...
[
His ''The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table'' won the 2005 ]Patrick White Playwrights' Award
The Patrick White Playwrights' Award is an annual Australian literary award established jointly by the Sydney Theatre Company and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' in honour of Patrick White's contribution to Australian theatre. The award was launche ...
,[
Enoch was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours in 2020, "For significant service to the performing arts as an Indigenous director and playwright".]
Productions
Works directed and/or produced by Enoch include:
* ''Appropriate'', STC
*''Bitin' Back'', Kooemba Jdarra
* '' The Sapphires'' (2004)
* ''The Cherry Pickers'', by Kevin Gilbert
* ''Stolen''
* ''Parramatta Girls'', by Alana Valentine
Alana Valentine is an Australian playwright, dramatist, librettist and Director working in theatre, film, opera and television. As a playwright, she won the Helpmann Award. Valentine first worked with Vicki Gordon Music Productions to create the F ...
* ''Fountains Beyond''
* ''Purple Dreams''
* '' Paul'', by Howard Brenton
Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Chur ...
* ''EORA Crossing''
* ''RiverlanD'', by Scott Rankin
* ''Fountains Beyond''
* ''Romeo and Juliet'', Bell Shakespeare
* ''Black-ed Up''
* ''The Dreamers''
* ''Wonderlands''
* ''Conversations with the Dead''
* ''Rainbow's End'', Koeemba Jdarra
* ''One Night the Moon'', Malthouse Theatre
* '' Mother Courage and Her Children'', QTC
* ''Bombshells'', QTC
* ''Head Full of Love'', QTC
* ''Black Diggers'', QTC/Sydney Festival
* ''Trollop'', by Maxine Mellor
Footnotes
References
Further reading
* Bollig, Barbara. ''Transcultural Appropriations of the Medea Myth: Jackie Crossland's "Collateral Damage", Wesley Enoch's "Black Medea", Cherrie Moraga
Cherrie is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*George Kruck Cherrie (1865-1948), American naturalist and explorer
*Peter Cherrie (born 1983), Scottish football goalkeeper
*Cherrie Ying (born 1983), actress
*Cher ...
's "The Hungry Woman" and Dea Loher
Dea Loher (born 1964) is a German playwright and author.
Biography
Dea Loher was born Andrea Beate Loher in 1964 in Traunstein, Bavaria, Germany. She initially used the first name Dea as a pen name, but eventually changed her name officially to ...
's "Manhattan Medea".'' Thesis for Master's degree, Zentrum für Kanada-Studien Universität Trier
The University of Trier (german: Universität Trier), in the German city of Trier, was founded in 1473. Closed in 1798 by order of the then French administration in Trier, the university was re-established in 1970 after a hiatus of some 172 y ...
2017, Chair Ralf Hertel
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enoch, Wesley
1969 births
Living people
Australian dramatists and playwrights
Australian people of English descent
Australian people of Irish descent
Australian people of Scottish descent
Australian theatre directors
Indigenous Australian writers
Queensland University of Technology alumni
LGBT writers from Australia
Members of the Order of Australia
People from Redland City