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Dramatic Arc
Joan' remains relevant study of individuality and authority
Courtesy: G. Allen Aycock
Molly Carden will play the title role in UNCSA’s production of Saint Joan.
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Published: November 8, 2009
George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, first staged in 1924, was inspired by Joan of Arc, who lived in the 1400s. But as far as director Gerald Freedman is concerned, there's nothing dated about it.
"It's about right now," he said, introducing the production that his students at UNC School of the Arts will present beginning Thursday in Thrust Theatre on campus.
"Nothing has changed since Joan's time," he said. The individual still resists the demands of establishment institutions, and, when that happens, the consequences can be as fatal as death or as dire as a reputation destroyed. In Joan's case, she refused to "submit herself to the authority of the church" and chose, instead, to "submit to the authority of God," Freedman said.
Molly Carden will play the title role. Her thinking about Joan seems in line with Freedman's.
"If Joan were alive today, she would still be burnt," she said.
To drive home just how contemporary Joan is, Freedman will have everyone in his cast, except Carden, dressed in clothing of today. The set design was inspired by Franz Kline, an abstract-expressionist painter. And the music of John Coltrane will be heard throughout the show.
Freedman said that like Joan, Coltrane "pushed boundaries and challenged expectations."
One thing that audiences will not see in the UNCSA production is anything like a religious play.
"They call her Saint Joan, but nobody treats her like a saint today," Freedman said. "She does things that might seem miraculous. Or are they coincidences of the moment? Forget that
she's a saint. She's an annoying, stubborn, persistent, charismatic young woman."
And she's a woman "whose power offends politicians and puts their power at jeopardy," said Andrew Jernigan, who will play Jack Dunois, the young commander of French forces resisting English occupation.
"It puts politicians in jeopardy, religious figures in jeopardy and the army in jeopardy," he said. "She's involved in all three of these institutions."
Carden seemed thrilled to be playing Joan, as difficult and challenging a role as she has encountered.
"I hope that I can play it again some day," she said. "I'm never going to get to the point where I say: ‘I got it. This is it.' "
Freedman suggested that that's unlikely to happen.
"All the great actresses in the past, up to about 20 years ago, all wanted to play (Joan)," he said. "This was the Hamlet of parts for young women."
In time, however, Joan has become too expensive for most companies to take on: The cast consists of more than 30 men and one woman.
"And Shaw is kind of out of fashion," he said.
But that doesn't make Joan any less worthy of revival.
"It's a play of ideas, enormous ideas," Freedman said.
kkeuffel@wsjournal.com
727-7337
The acting students in Studio III and IV (college juniors and seniors) at UNC School of the Arts will present George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan beginning Thursday in Thrust Theatre of Performance Place on campus. Evening shows will be at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Nov. 18-21, and 2 p.m. next Sunday and Nov. 21. Tickets are $12, $10 for seniors and students. Visit www.uncsa.edu/performances or call 721-1945.
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