George Bernard Shaw‘s play of Saint Joan runs about four hours and was truncated to 110 minutes for the 1957 film. This version at Arches Lane Theatre runs at under 90 minutes (I was back on the tube at 8.33 after walking back to Sloane Square).
Ruthie Black’s adaptation, directed by Peter Hinton-Davis, is a two-hander, with Black herself as Joan and James Saxby as all other parts – I counted four, there may have been more.
It’s an extraordinary performance from Black, a woman of colour who opens the play in song. It is set in a modern trial room dominated by a cross and mirrored windows; Joan’s garb is more leather and grunge than traditional armour.
As Joan makes her transition from the farm girl who hears voices as a ‘child of God’ to sainthood, we see her unfaltering devotion to the commands she receives, even if they contradict those of church and state.
We see her convincing an army commander to let her lead the Siege of Orleans. We witness her meeting with a Dauphin who has no appetite for the power he was born for. And we see her fear of the flames that will consume her.
Shaw’s play has six scenes and an epilogue, and Black retains this basic structure, capturing the key points. Joan as woman, as warrior, as witch? Saxby’s parade of male characters are well-portrayed, from the Dauphin to the Interrogator.
The staging allows for both intimacy and grand gestures. Whether Joan is rebel, fanatic, or simply devout, is left up to the audience to decide. There are no villains in this piece, and the situation is complex.
Black, Saxby and Hinton-Davis (a prolific Shaw director) collaborated on this production, described in the programme as “sometimes court-room reality documentary, sometimes confessional Tik-Tok – sometimes a movie playing in their minds.”
Joan and Robert, her friend, Face-Time early on, but few technological innovations are included later. It seems unlikely a Joan would ever exist in our modern world, influencer or not.
I found this Saint Joan an engrossing and inspirational experience.
I’m giving it 4 stars.
Saint Joan continues at Arches Lane Theatre until 12 Apr – details here.
Photo credit: HAUI