Wesley Enoch

Wesley Enoch is a Murri playwright and artistic director. He was born in 1969, the eldest son of Doug and Lyn Enoch from Stradbroke Island.

Wesley has been Artistic Director of Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts; an Associate Artist with the Queensland Theatre Company; a Resident Director with the Sydney Theatre Company, Artistic Director of Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-Operative and Associate Artistic Director Company B Belvoir St.

In both the plays that he writes and those he directs, he deals with issues of Aboriginal culture and the complexities of Australian race relations. Wesley attained prominence with his production of 7 Stages of Grieving (co-written with Deborah Mailman) and then with Jane Harrison's "Stolen", which premiered at the Playbox Theatre and went on to tour both nationally and internationally.

His most recent work is "RiverlanD", the story of artist, Ian W Abdulla. It juxtaposes the Great Flooding of the Murray River in 1956 with the lives of a contemporary urban Indigenous family. The once mighty river force and the lives of three generations of family are bound together. The production embraces a recreation of spirit and a family's sense of place in the land.

His play, "Black Medea", was a confronting commentary about identity, violence and relationships in contemporary Indigenous society.

A tale of love gone wrong, "Black Medea" is based on the ancient Greek tale by "Euripides." It’s the second time Enoch has updated the Greek tragedy, giving it an Aboriginal perspective and transporting it to an Australian setting. A young Indigenous woman leaves her desert home, denies her culture and forsakes her family to follow her wealthy, city-born lover. But her seeming good fortune soon turns bad, as her loveless marriage to the drunken and violent Jason falls apart. When Medea attempts to leave with their young son, Jason makes her promise that she will never take their child from the house.

In 2002, Wesley was the recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts Cité International des Arts residency in Paris.

Plays

* "Black Medea" (after "Euripides")
* "The 7 Stages of Grieving", (co-written with Deborah Mailman)
* "The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table", Griffin Theatre Company and HotHouse Theatre

Productions

* "Bitin’ Back", Kooemba Jdarra
* "Black Medea" Malthouse Theatre, Company B
* "The 7 Stages of Grieving"
* "The Sapphires"

* "The Cherry Pickers" , Kevin Gilbert
* "Stolen"
* "Fountains Beyond"
* "Purple Dreams"
* "The Sunshine Club"
* "EORA Crossing"
* "Riverland", Scott Rankine
* "Fountains Beyond"
* "Romeo and Juliet", Bell Shakespeare Company, Sydney
* "The Sunshine Club"
* "Black-ed Up"
* "The Dreamers"
* "Wonderlands"
* "Conversations with the Dead"
* "Rainbow’s End", Koeemba Jdarra

Persondata
NAME=Enoch, Wesley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Indigenous Australian playwright and artistic director
DATE OF BIRTH=1969
PLACE OF BIRTH=Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=