A small theater-in-the-round, the Circle Theatre below the renovated Golden Bough Playhouse is Pacific Repertory Theatre’s space for experimental plays and original material – fitting, as it is located on the site of the Arts & Crafts Clubhouse, which opened in 1907 as the first wave of bohemians settled in Carmel.
It opens with 1923’s Saint Joan by Irish modernist playwright George Bernard Shaw, directed by Kenneth Kelleher. With minimal stage setting, an emphasis on song and only six members of the cast, the play has not lost any of its power.
Saint Joan sought commentary on early 20th century Western societies through the 15th century tale of Joan of Arc, where history, religious experience and legend meet. Through this, the politics of war and the general abuse of ideals within political and military institutions – even a necessary demoralization of a common soldier – is revealed. It was also Shaw’s chance to condemn the English, choosing France to say what he thinks about an English army fighting in a foreign land.
Seaside actor River Navaille is a perfect pick for the role of Saint Joan, the maid who was a soldier, humble but charismatic. Navaille, a nonbinary performer, is accompanied by five male actors, each playing multiple characters – Michael Ray Wisely (French military commander LaHire, squire Baudricourt, English nobleman Warwick and the executioner); Brian Herndon (Steward, Charles, De Stougumber); Howard Burnham (priest, archbishop of Rheims, inquisitor and soldier); Matt Kropschot (Poulegney, DeRais, Dunois, Ladvenu); and James Brady (Tremouille, Cauchon).
This casting solution fits, since in many ways they play the same man, struggling for power, political or even physical survival, who will – in so many ways and through so many lines of reasoning – betray and send to her death a village girl who is not even 20 years old.
As mentioned above, music and songs play a special role in Kelleher’s Saint Joan, from Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to “Non, je ne regrette rien” by Edith Piaf, delivered by Navaille in a striking finale and proving that PacRep’s Circle Theatre reaches a demanding audience.
Saint Joan plays 7:30pm Thursdays-Saturdays; 2pm Sundays until Sept. 21. The Golden Bough Playhouse’s Circle Theatre, entrance from Casanova Street between 8th and 9th, Carmel. $43; $33/senior; $23/teacher, military; $16/ages 13 and under. 622-0100, pacrep.org.
(1) comment
Historians have long noted that Shaw's play "Saint Joan" is erroneous even on very basic points such as the nature of the war, the well-documented partisan allegiances of the people who put her on trial, the personality, behavior and motives of Joan herself; and many other points. The choice of a non-binary actor seems to be a repetition of the claims made in the play "I, Joan", which are refuted by Joan of Arc's own statements since she routinely identified herself as the "maiden from the boundaries of Lorraine" from a prophecy which she often recited about a girl who was predicted to save France, proving that she identified as that specific girl and therefore as female beyond any doubt. Her hair wasn't cut nearly as short as the person in the play since even the transcript doesnt go that far, and its claims are debunked by the fact that she couldn't possibly have kept her hair cut during a year in prison since prisoners were never allowed sharp utensils. The tribunal was either making up nonsense or cutting it themselves and then blaming her.
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