Joan's
earliest appearance on stage was in the mystery play, The Siege of
Orléans. It was first performed as part of Orléans'
public festival of thanksgiving for their delivery from the English soon
after the event - by 1435 at the latest. The people of Orléans
were apparently not impressed by the heresy conviction: the play makes
it clear that Joan's instructions come directly from God. It is an epic
pageant - 20,529 lines long, with 146 speaking roles, and 201 scenes;
it probably took at least two days to perform in full. The version of
the text shown is the first printed edition, based on the sole manuscript,
Vatican Library 1022.
Joan
has graced the stage in at least a hundred published dramatic works. Some
are deservedly forgotten; some are examples of a great playwright's ability
to make something that lives on. This is the earliest edition of Schiller's
soaring drama, printed soon after it was first performed in Leipzig in
September 1801. The work achieved iconic status as poetry, but is far
removed from the facts: Joan has an enchanted helmet and falls in love
with an English soldier. Captured by the English, she rips off her chains
by (miraculous) main force and dashes back into battle, only to be wounded.
Her apparently lifeless body is brought before the king, where she revives
long enough to rise, raise her banner, and see
the Blessed Virgin welcoming her to heaven before she finally falls.
D'Avrigni's
tragedy, first performed at the Comedie Française in 1819, is only
slightly more firmly bound to the historical facts. The Duke of Bedford
tries to persuade Joan to go to England; the Duchess
of Bedford and Talbot try to save her life. She is actually burned, although
by mistake, but she manages several patriotic speeches while the confused
arguments swirl around her. Bedford has the last word, bewailing the eternal
blot on his honor.
George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan is probably the best known work
on Joan for the stage. In this extraordinary drama centering on "the
most notable Warrior Saint in the
Christian
calendar, and the queerest fish among the eccentric worthies of the Middle
Ages," Shaw created a group of thoroughly human characters. With
dialog, especially in the trial scenes,based to a great extent on historical
records, Joan emerges as a pious patriot, struggling against both church
and state. At right, Siobhan McKenna in the title role, 1956.
The
Lark is the foremost drama about Joan since Shaw's. Her history is
staged as a series of flashbacks out of sequence, to emphasize the message
of her story, rather than its events. The execution is interrupted, for
example, so the play can end with Charles' coronation, and Cauchon, the
bishop who led the interrogation is given the last word, "Joan of
Arc: a story which ends happily."
As well as presentation on the legitimate stage, Joan has a long history of appearing in plays and pageants mounted by amateur theatrical troupes. Bryn Mawr College is no exception: Joan, described as "Saint" before she was beatified, was the subject of the 1905 Junior-Senior Supper Play.
