St Joan by Theatre Alba tonight, in the gardens of Duddingston Kirk Manse.
I've seen several Theatre Alba productions in the same place. It's a beautiful garden with a view across the loch and over to the hills. The shows start at 1930 when it's still daylight and twilight falls and then proper night arrives while the show goes on, and by the time the shows finish at the back of 10, it's full dark. This year, for the first time ever, I did have enough layers with me so I wasn't cold. Next year I'm going to aim for enough layers
and insect repellent, as the tiny bits of me poking out were gradually nibbled away by the midgies. I have no head any more, just a bleeding stump on my neck.
Anyway, the production. St Joan, by Bernard Shaw. The blurb in the programme says that the play is complex and brilliant in its depth of study, precariously balanced between the politics of the day, whether within the Church or the Nobility, and that he dwells probably more on the politics than on the spirituality within the piece. Then it goes on to say that Theatre Alba's production, while in no way ignoring the political struggle and intellectual arguments, has placed itself very firmly towards the spiritual aspects of the play.
The play starts with dead Joan speaking to the Dauphin-now-the-king about being burned to death and asking him about what has happened in France after her death, and then moves on to tell of her battle to get the nobility and church to believe that she was doing God's work, her success in battle, the army's refusal to let her lead them to take Paris, then her trial and execution. Anna Guthrie played Joan and she was excellent. I'm not sure that I agree with the programme blurb - I didn't find it a particularly spiritual production. I thought it was feminist, it spoke clearly against the patriarchy of the church and their dismissal of Joan because she was a woman, and I think the politics of and between the nobility and the church were very clear, but the spiritual aspects less so. Joan appeared to be used a pawn by the nobility, the army and the church in their battles against each other - France not being a united country so much as a series of dukedoms and earldoms etc, various of those dukedoms being held by Englishmen, those Englishmen believing themselves to be superior to France (no change there then) and that God sent them there to rule France because it wasn't capable of ruling itself, Joan disputing that and believing that God sent her to rout the English, the church believing that the only country on earth which matters is the holy Roman empire and that nationalism set nations above the church and was therefore wrong... There was a lot going on, and I think the spiritual aspects, and whether Joan was truly guided by God or just barking mad, were the least of it.
It was an interesting production, well acted - they're a good company - and cleverly staged. It can't be easy to light a production in a garden where the first hour or so is more or less daylight which has turned into proper night by the end. And it managed to hold everyone's attention, even though we were being turned into headless bleeding stumps by the midgies. The one thing which was really off putting was Gilles de Rais, Bluebeard, who was actually wearing a comedy fake blue beard. It was completely unnecessary and made him look half noble, half Muppet. It was
the topic of conversation in the queue for the toilets during the interval.
8/10
Cycling home was interesting though - I came through the park rather than the Innocent path. I hadn't realised the road through the park isn't lit (although I was well lit with 2 front lights, 2 back lights, hi-viz vest, hi-viz reflective trouser clips and white pannier with reflective bits on), and it's very narrow - it's not possible for cars to overtake a bike if there is traffic coming the other way; there just isn't space. Didn't stop them trying though. *fear*
No shows now until Friday, and I'm really looking forward to that - Romeo and Juliet at Roslin Chapel.