Saint Joan still best, worst of Shaw
Pygmalion may have been Bernard Shaw’s most popular play, but ask which was his greatest and there’s never a clear answer. The surrealism of Heartbreak House? The comic charm of The Philanderer? The wartime hypocrisy of Major Barbara?
Saint Joan
(out of 5) Director: Tim Carroll Starring: Sara Topham, Gray Powell and Tom McCamus At the Festival Theatre until Oct. 15.
And then there’s Saint Joan, his timeless gut punch which is all things to all of Shaw’s admirers. And detractors. It opened the Shaw Festival’s 56th season Thursday, and it’s still an emotional enigma. What should be devastating scenes are undercut by weird moments of humour. Passages that are powerful veer into preachy. There are no characters to root for — it’s debatable whether Joan herself really is a Saint or a warmonger touched by madness.
And yet, that hard-to-peg quality is what makes it — for the most part — riveting theatre, nearly a century after it debuted. As Shaw himself noted in his preface, it’s a tragedy without villains, just people with good intentions doing the wrong thing.
For this, the Shaw’s fourth production of the play, new artistic director Tim Carroll brings a bit of the uncanny to the table. Unlike the lavish 1993 production which felt like an IMAX movie, or the previous attempt in 2007 that stripped the set down to its grimy basics, Carroll has his cast operate on a noir, almost futuristic set designed by Judith Bowden. The floors and walls shine, the blackness overwhelming, and much of the lighting stems from an odd, glowing cube which hangs over everything, at times containing the cast.
I’ll confess, I’m not sure of its significance — without reaching for some 2001: A Space Odyssey symbolism — but it was hypnotic to look at.
It’s the one leeway Carroll takes, as for the most part the focus is purely on the characters and their flawed idealism. No sooner is Sara Topham introduced as peasant girl Joan than the seeds of her demise are planted. She’s adamant that God speaks directly through her, and she’ll prove it if the French let her lead some troops into battle against the invading English.
She can’t lose, she insists. No army can match a woman with The Almighty on her side. “Not a man will follow you,” says the doubting Dunois (Gray Powell). “I will not look back to see,” she responds.
A few miracles convince the French she has God’s ear, and before long she has the English reeling. Naturally, they want her dead, but the French are also uneasy about this teenager and her cult of personality. She can save the country, but after that she’s got to go.
Despite too many long-winded rants getting there, the play’s concluding trial scene — with Joan squaring off against the church — still pierces. Even with apparent proof she’s blessed, The Inquisitor (Jim Mezon) and Bishop (Graeme Somerville) insist God speaks only through the church. To claim otherwise means a date with the fire pit.
Isn’t it great we live in a world without that sort of extremism now?
Topham, like every Saint Joan before her, has multiple paths to take with the character. Is she a born military leader? An angel on earth? An utter loon? It’s tough to instill all three into the character, though Topham could have brought a bit more of Joan’s unhinged aspects to her fateful trial. She operates on a different plane than anyone else, hearing voices piped in from heaven, but for the most part seems just mildly quirky.
It only slightly dilutes what is a gripping finale, and the reason this play will be performed while there are still theatres to perform it in. Like the woman herself, Saint Joan is frustrating but fascinating, and a fitting note for the Tim Carroll era to get underway at Shaw.