An Enemy of the People

Adapted from the Ibsen by Melissa Reeves

by arrangement with Fran Mooreis

Presented by VCA Acting and VCA Design & Production
Directed by Leticia Cáceres

Dr Katherine Stockman is the Chief Wellness Officer and local medico for The Springs. With holiday season almost upon her, Katherine is seeing patients presenting with exceptional symptoms. Katherine tests the town’s celebrated and lucrative spa water, to discover it is contaminated. In an effort of public health, Katherine proposes The Spring's spa shutdown. Doing so she puts herself at the centre of a storm; caught between public health and toxic commerce.

A fight ensues between prosperity, expediency, complacency and expertise. The cost is not only borne by the whistle-blower, but also by Katherine's family and community. Katherine must take a stand, but is the price too high, and are her motivations untainted?

A searing, resonant and funny modern, local adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 masterwork by Melissa Reeves. A play about opportunity, responsibility, silence, legacy, the environment, ego and courage. It asks what form protest should take and, how is it that telling the truth can make you public enemy #1?

Content Information:
This performance contains:

• haze and fog effects
• blackouts and strobe lighting
• sudden and sustained lous noises
• depictions of violence
• references to animal abuse
• depicted home invasion, theft and robbery
• depictions of smoking
• mentions of terminal illness and the death of a lovd one
• elements of audience interaction and participation, with actors moving through the seating banks
• the use of live cameras in which audience members may briefly be seen on screen
• the use of food items on stage, including real eggshells and prop egg fluid, and in interactions with the audience
• Explicit language, including derogatory and hateful language, references to suicide and mature themes

This production will run for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes. Any latecomers will be admitted at the discretion of front of house.

Director's Note and Complete Credits

banner image: Tessie Yu, 2026.