James Karas
The Shaw
Festival has a new season, a new Artistic Director and a new production of Saint
Joan. The first is the result of
the orbits of the planets and a habit that sprang in Niagara-on-the-Lake in
1962. The second is as a result of the
appointment amid some controversy of Tim Carroll as Artistic Director. The new
production of Saint Joan is the choice of Carroll to direct the play.
I will refrain
from commenting on the movements of the planets or on the appointment but will
say a few things about his first directorial foray at the Festival. Carroll’s
approach to the play and the superb performances are outstanding.
Andrew Lawrie as Brother Martin Ladvenu, Sara Topham as Joan and Jim Mezon as the Inquisitor
in Saint Joan. Photo by David Cooper.
Let’s start with
something that may appear inconsequential: laughter. I don’t expect to get too
many laughs from Saint Joan but Carroll has found a significant number. Take
the opening scene where Robert de Baudricourt (Allan Louis) is bullying his
Steward (Andrew Lawrie) about the lack of eggs. His blustering is toothless and
when Joan appears she has no difficulty cutting him down to size and getting
her way.
Joan as played
by Sara Topham is a vivacious, pleasant girl with a smile on her face who
expresses her convictions without being sanctimonious or overbearing. She
conquers de Baudricourt and we are treated to several good laughs in the
process. A very good beginning.
The cast of Saint Joan. Photo by David Cooper.
Let’s jump to
the end. Posthumously, Joan meets her tormentors and Carroll again manages to
evoke some laughter. The Soldier’s (Allan Louis) description of hell and the
fate of all the self-important people, the kings, captains and lawyers, who are
all “down there.” We laugh at the reaction by the latter personages at the
thought that Joan may return to earth. A brilliantly done scene.
Joan is caught
up in a war between France and England and between the overpowering force of
the Church Militant and political necessity. The most important forces are
those of hypocrisy, arrogance, self-righteousness and expedience. She maintains
her equilibrium almost throughout and when she breaks down she is dramatic
without being sanctimonious except perhaps in her last sentence.
The wily and
cynical Earl of Warwick (played with suave brutality by Tom McCamus) expresses political
expediency and polite ruthlessness. Benedict Campbell is the arrogant and
authoritarian Archbishop of Rheims. Jim Mezon expresses the ultimate and
merciless authority of the Church in a lengthy
speech at the trial. He faces the audience and speaks directly to us in a
vision of the Church that should frighten even the most devout.
The production
is acted on a raised platform on the stage. All wear modern costumes and the
emphasis is on black. there is one scene that is mercilessly ironic where the men wear white jackets and black bow ties as if attending a high class reception.There is a plexiglass glass that is lit inside and lights
stream on the stage from above. Highly effective work by Designer Judith Bowden
and Lighting Designer Kevin Lamotte.
In the end, we
get a brilliant production that gives us the drama, the intellectual content
and the humour of the play.
__________
Saint Joan by Bernard Shaw opened on May 25 and will run in repertory until
October 15, 2017 at the Festival Theatre, 10 Queen’s Parade, Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ontario. www.shawfest.com
Interesting that you have no issue with this Joan production having the cast dressed in modern clothes and a set that has a giant cube (what does it represent?) but had issues with Pinafore in Stratford because it was set in a naval hospital in 1917. A choice that Richard Ouzounian thought was a good choice. I find it curious that Richard's successor at the Star and his former counter point at the Globe disagreed with him, as did you.
ReplyDeleteI guess you and I just have different tastes because when I saw the scene with the men in tuxes I thought I was watching something from a James Bond movie. lol.
This is what I love about theatre it stirs conversation.
I saw this over Memorial Day weekend and agree that it was brilliant---for the first time in years, the Shaw portrayed the message that Shaw intended to convey rather than playing it straight and usually for laughs. Joan was a Chauncey Gardiner type of character with the honesty and inability to understand the abstraction of the educated politicians of the Church and State---and properly so as an uneducated peasant girl. McCamus was great as the English noble who regretfully notes that the woman must be burned so as to protect the church and state from that kind of honesty. Just a great performance, and the staging was of no consequence to me other than as a plus in its symbolic use of the box to characterize those inside and outside of the seats of power. If you haven't seen this yet and can get there by 10/15, you should do so.
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