In Avignon, the audience becomes the court: Wagner Moura in “A Trial”

Avignon – 19/07/2026: No verdict from a real court will be delivered at the Gymnasium of Lycee Aubanel this Sunday evening. And yet the audience is not sitting in the dark merely to watch. In “A Trial – after An Enemy of the People”, it takes on the role of a jury. On stage, Brazilian actor Wagner Moura plays Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a man whose warning about contaminated water turns an entire town against him.

Christiane Jatahy’s production draws on Henrik Ibsen’s drama “An Enemy of the People”, written around 150 years ago. In it, Stockmann discovers that the water at a spa resort is contaminated. Instead of receiving gratitude for his warning, he is publicly discredited: according to the logic of his opponents, his criticism threatens the economy, jobs and the town’s reputation. In Jatahy’s version, the town meeting becomes a trial in which the doctor must defend himself.

The production combines stage action, video and statements with a documentary feel. The audience is not merely the backdrop to a predetermined verdict, but participants in a deliberately uncomfortable question: What happens when scientific findings, economic interests and political power collide? According to the festival, the decision on Stockmann’s guilt or innocence rests with the audience.

Moura, internationally best known for his role as Pablo Escobar in the series “Narcos”, developed the project together with Jatahy. The text was written by Jatahy, Moura and Lucas Paraizo. Julia Bernat and Danilo Grangheia appear on stage alongside Moura. It is the first collaboration between the Brazilian director and the actor; the production premieres in France at the 80th Avignon Festival.

The real case of a whistleblower is not recreated here. Yet it is precisely this separation between fiction and the present that makes the evening so relatable. Thomas Stockmann is a literary character, but his conflict touches on experiences familiar to many societies: Who has the right to raise the alarm? Whose voice is considered credible? And how quickly does a warning become an accusation of harming the community?

The performance runs for two hours and 15 minutes and is performed in Brazilian Portuguese; French and English surtitles are provided. Following the performance on 19 July, further dates are scheduled for 20, 21 and 22 July 2026, each at the Gymnasium of Lycee Aubanel in Avignon. The festival continues until 25 July. The evening presents theatre not as an escape from reality, but as a place where an auditorium must briefly share responsibility.