Joan of Arc becomes non-binary icon in London play

Agence France-Presse
September 29, 2022

France's sainted Joan of Arc has been reimagined as a non-binary icon in a controversial new play in London Joël SAGET AFP

A new play in London has reinvented France's sainted Joan of Arc as a non-binary icon, who rejects female identity as they struggle to find a place in a man's world.

"I, Joan" had not even been performed at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in August when Time Out magazine called it "the most controversial play of the year".

The first images, showing Joan with breasts bound, were enough to set social networks alight.

Hardly a month goes by in Britain without a battle about gender identity and the play has given all sides in the debate fresh ammunition.

The play about France's patron saint, the 'maid of Orleans' who repelled the English in the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, was written by Charlie Josephine, with Joan played by Isobel Thom.

Both Josephine and Thom were born female but define themselves as non-binary.

The staging of the play at the landmark theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames is firmly contemporary, with no period costume.

The wife of the king's eldest son or dauphin, the later king Charles VII, is played by a black woman. Modern choreography defines the fight scenes.

But Joan's story is still told -- from meeting the dauphin and fighting battles to standing trial and being burnt at the stake in 1431.

The question of gender runs throughout.

"To be born a girl and you are not a girl. God, why did you put me in this body?" a short-haired Joan asks at one point, wearing men's clothes.

Joan rejects the dresses that people expect them to put on.

"I am not a woman. I do not fit that word," they say. One of her friends suggests: "Maybe your word has not been invented yet?"


Her allies then suggest she uses the pronoun "they", prompting huge cheers from the audience. Opponents in the play call her "she".

At Joan's trial for heresy, one sentence is repeated by the judges: "Do you think it is well to take men's dress? Even if it is unlawful?"

"What are you so afraid of?" Joan replies, laughing.

"I am not a woman. I am a warrior."

Controversy

Feminists such as Heather Binning, founder of the UK-wide Women's Rights Network, are against the portrayal.

"She experienced what she experienced because she was a woman. You can't change that," she said.

"This lobby group is hijacking all our inspirational women from history. This ideology is insulting to women.

"There's a lot of women we don't know about because history was written by men for men."

But Josephine and Thom defended the play.

"I forgot I was blaspheming a saint," Josephine wrote in The Guardian.

"Nobody is taking historical Joan away from you," insisted Thom on Twitter. "Nobody is taking away your Joan, whatever Joan may mean to you...

"This show is art: it's an exploration, it's imagination."

Shakespeare's Globe took the same approach, likening the interpretation in "I Joan" to the approach of the celebrated English playwright.

"Shakespeare did not write historically accurate plays. He took figures of the past to ask questions about the world around him," it said.

"Our writers of today are no different. History has provided countless and wonderful examples of Joan portrayed as a woman.

"This production is simply offering the possibility of another point of view. That is the role of theatre: to simply ask the question 'imagine if?'"

Zeitgeist

Re-examining Joan's life through a contemporary lens is also taking hold in her native France.

"It's the Zeitgeist," said Valerie Toureille, a university professor specializing in the Hundred Years War and the author of a 2020 book on Joan.

"It doesn't shock me. There are women who decided to take a different path from both men and women. That's the case with Joan of Arc," she added.

Asked about Joan's wearing of men's clothes, she said: "It was for protection against rape and it's much easier to ride a horse as a man than looking like an Amazon."

Nevertheless, for Toureille, men's clothes on Joan was the key issue at the heresy trial.

"This is material proof that backs up the religious argument. For men of the Church, Joan in these clothes went beyond her status as a woman."

© 2022 AFP

 

  

 

 

 

In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War against England. The fourteen years old farm girl Joan of Arc claims to hear voices from Heaven asking her to lead God's Army against Orleans and crowning the weak Dauphin Charles VII as King of France. Joan gathers the people with her faith, forms an army and conquers Orleans. 1948, Director: Victor Fleming, Writers: Maxwell Anderson, Andrew Solt, Stars: Ingrid Bergman, José Ferrer, Selena Royle,

   

 From Columbia Pictures and internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson comes the story of Joan of Arc, the woman who followed her own path and changed the course of history. © 1999 Gaumont.

   

Stars Leelee Sobieski in this one full movie from 2 parts, edited in high definition. 

I hope you'll enjoy this epic production from Alliance Atlantis.

   

 The Passion of St. Joan of Arc Premiered May 29, 2022 

 HM Television (English) The Passion of Saint Joan of Arc is a documentary that has been released on the centennial of the canonization of the Maid of Orleans (May 16, 1920). This brave young woman with a unique mission reminds us just how important it is that Jesus Christ be the King of our nation, of the entire world, and of our hearts. She carried out her mission in absolute fidelity and confidence in God’s will, revealed to her by her “voices”. Hers is not a life of mere heroism, but rather a model of holiness, of complete surrender to God’s will to the point of sacrificing her own life at only 19 years of age. The Passion of Saint Joan of Arc is presented by Javier Paredes, Professor of Modern History. The documentary also features contributions from: His Excellency Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne (France); Sr. Marie de la Sagesse, author of “Santa Juana de Arco. Virgen, Reina, Mártir”; Alain Olivier, President of the Our Lady of Bermont Association (France); Philippe de Villiers, Founder of “Puy du Fou” Theme Park; Margarita Torres, Professor of Medieval History; Fr. Jacques Olivier, Author of Prophéties et prédictions de Jeanne d’Arc; Jorge Fernández, Former Internal Affairs Minister (Spain); Jacques Tremolet de Villers, Lawyer and author of Jeanna D’Arc: le procès de Rouen.