Arts Club's Saint Joan is a stellar production

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      By George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Kim Collier. An Arts Club production. At the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage on Wednesday, October 29. Continues until November 23

      The production had me from the get-go. It took longer for George Bernard Shaw’s script for Saint Joan to win me over, but when it did, it had me in tears.

      Most people have a vague notion of the story of Joan of Arc, the cross-dressing teenager who claimed that saints spoke to her. The Maid of Orléans, as she was known, led French forces to several victories during the Hundred Years War before being tried by the English and burned at the stake as a heretic.

      Shaw’s play starts off in the shallow end. In Act 1, we meet a 17-year-old Joan as she’s working her way into the court of the Dauphin. Other characters keep saying, “There’s something about that girl”: it’s like they’re in a sitcom. And Joan’s success is just that simplistic: she wins people over because she’s perky; she believes in herself and she believes in them. This dynamic plays out repeatedly and it’s easy to dismiss Joan’s visions as hallucinations.

      Still, thanks to director Kim Collier’s dynamic staging, the 55 minutes of Act 1 fly by. Shaw writes notoriously talky scripts, but Collier is a visceral director. Every time Joan enters the rooms of Captain Robert de Baudricourt, her first step on the ladder to the Dauphin, she runs eagerly around the ascending planes of the set, as if scaling the stairs of a castle.

      And the acting is exquisite. The script doesn’t give her a lot of notes to play in Act 1, but Meg Roe’s Joan is charismatically openhearted. In contrast, Haig Sutherland’s Dauphin is wonderfully spineless, and the scene between them is so fully realized that it’s a joy to watch.

      Then, at the top of Act 2, in an extended exchange between the Earl of Warwick, Bishop Cauchon, and Chaplain de Stogumber, Shaw’s exploration of institutional power grabs hold. Warwick is afraid that Joan’s championing of the authority of kings will wipe out the aristocracy, leaving him impotent. And because Joan claims direct contact with saints, without the intercession of the Catholic Church, the Bishop labels her a heretic. In the face of these monolithic forces, Joan’s visions become more than hallucinations; they become emblems of her right to individual consciousness and expression. If you think that’s not relevant, consider the Conservative government’s interest in your Internet activity. Looking like Henry VIII, oozing malignant intelligence and charm, Dean Paul Gibson’s Warwick is perfect. By Act 3, Joan is on trial in a pro-English court.

      Listening to the Inquisitor (Tom McBeath) speak duplicitously of mercy is a lot like listening to Stephen Harper pay lip service to freedom. And who could ignore the horror of executions and the paradoxical capacities of religion in the age of ISIL? Roe’s Joan is so fully and physically present through the abuse she suffers that I felt like I was watching a beating that I couldn’t stop.

      The entire cast is stellar. Pam Johnson’s massive black machine of a set speaks eloquently to the weight of societal norms. And Alessandro Juliani’s music contributes enormously to Collier’s vivifying vision.

      Collier ends the evening with a surprising gift. I won’t give it away, but I will say that it’s an invitation to compassionate presence.

      Comments

      8 Comments

      AH

      Oct 30, 2014 at 4:18pm

      Dear Colin,

      Why do you need to riddle your THEATRE REVIEW with political critique? I don't disagree with your claims, but you're painting some pretty braod strokes with the conservative government. Sure, this whole piece is an opinion. But you're saying some contentious things as though they are fact. And, no it's not doing any harm, but it makes it harder to read your article and take it seriously; it makes it harder to say "wow, that's an interesting insight into the play, I am empowered now to go see the play and either agree or disagree with the review". Instead, it makes your entire piece seem rather immature and 'cheapshot-ty'.

      Again, I don't disagree with what you say. I'm critiquing your presentation of it. If you don't want to take the care to elaborate the relation between this play and the "big bad evil" government, then perhaps it's best not to present that part at all.

      Why do I say this? Who on earth would disagree? Not me. But I also come from a country where my relatives currently suffer true dictatorship and suffering; where people I know are actively being killed. It's your privilege to be able to compare the suffering of St. Joan to the comparably petty "sufferings" we have. Especially when parts of the world actually suffer those sufferings, and readers of your piece have experienced them 2nd hand.

      AH

      Oct 31, 2014 at 12:49am

      And also you are comparing the contention over Joan's hallucinations/visions, and her subsequent persecution and torture, with INTERNET MONITORING by the CANADIAN GOVERNMENT? Are you kidding me? Joan is one of the figure heads of female empowerment and strength, and you're shamelessly reducing the stakes of her predicament. "Listening to the Inquisitor (Tom McBeath) speak duplicitously of mercy is a lot like listening to Stephen Harper pay lip service to freedom"... Yes, in the same way being burned, tortured, and humiliated is a lot like spilling coffee on your pants on your way out the door.

      Kaye

      Oct 31, 2014 at 2:49am

      For me, this is a very engaged, energetic review. Seems like the play really grabbed him and he's deking between summing up the show and sharing his own thoughts, feelings, and opinions, political or otherwise. One might argue that's the point of going to the theatre.
      Write on, Colin!

      Hazlit

      Oct 31, 2014 at 10:28am

      A superlative production!

      tf

      Nov 2, 2014 at 2:11am

      AH - bullying behaviour designed to stifle political content. Stop with the chastisement and go to see the play.

      BillF

      Nov 3, 2014 at 6:49am

      Absolutely a must see. Engaging for the whole 3 hours. With regard to the political allusions, while stated a bit bluntly here, our present government was certainly on my mind during the production. Alejandro Juliani's soundscape and the two singers deserve to be mentioned.

      Why Harper Matters Here

      Nov 3, 2014 at 11:02am

      "...a third peculiarity that makes our systems different from other modern dictatorships: it commands an incomparably more precise, logically structured, generally comprehensible and, in essence, extremely flexible ideology that, in its elaborateness and completeness, is almost a secularized religion. It of fears a ready answer to any question whatsoever; it can scarcely be accepted only in part, and accepting it has profound implications for human life. In an era when metaphysical and existential certainties are in a state of crisis, when people are being uprooted and alienated and are losing their sense of what this world means, this ideology inevitably has a certain hypnotic charm. To wandering humankind it offers an immediately available home: all one has to do is accept it, and suddenly everything becomes clear once more, life takes on new meaning, and all mysteries, unanswered questions, anxiety, and loneliness vanish. Of course, one pays dearly for this low-rent home: the price is abdication of one’s own reason, conscience, and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority. The principle involved here is that the center of power is identical with the center of truth.
      "...If ideology was originally a bridge between the system and the individual as an individual, then the moment he steps on to this bridge it becomes at the same time a bridge between the system and the individual as a component of the system. That is, if ideology originally facilitated (by acting outwardly) the constitution of power by serving as a psychological excuse, then from the moment that excuse is accepted, it constitutes power inwardly, becoming an active component of that power. It begins to function as the principal instrument of ritual communication within the system of power."
      Vaclave Havel "The Power of The Powerless"

      K. Hall

      Nov 23, 2014 at 1:46am

      The acting in this show was not good. I've seen amateurs give a better performance, not to mention, project their voices in a proper fashion.

      What a waste of money.

      I'll never read Colin Thomas again.