" Saint Joan " April 18th - 22nd, 1959

THIS occasion will be remembered with delight by all who participated in it; and since the whole production was mounted with little or no outside help, the satisfaction will be shared by far more than a small nucleus of actors. Settings, makeup, costumes, were entirely produced by the school; the cast numbered fifty-nine; backstage helpers, set architects and builders, lighting assistants together numbered almost as many, and the mothers of the cast who helped in turn were innumerable. All are to be congratulated on a fine performance, and particularly Mr. Chalmers in being able to give the pleasure of sharing in a successful project to so many.

The play was produced on an open stage rising from floor level in a series of steps and platforms. The single setting, a solidly built arrangement of three gothic arches across the back of the stage, was varied as tent, palace, chapel or court by curtains, portable stage furniture, and such simple devices as a hanging cross banner, a stained glass window, or a picture. This proved a bold and completely successful solution; the furniture was changed, in most cases unobtrusively and swiftly, during black-outs or more naturally by the people about to use it in a scene.

Costume was similarly simple and effective. The plain dress of the monks was well done, but when simplicity would be out of place, as in the case of Warwick, and the coronation dresses of Joan, the Archbishop and the Dauphin, the costumiers excelled. Perhaps in the trial scene, with so much Dominican black in evidence, Joan needed differentiating visually in some way, although symbolically the black was undoubtedly appropriate.

In performance, although the actors were easily and clearly audible, the chief weakness was a marked lack of variety in the way the lines were spoken, as if the actors knew and understood their lines themselves and did not feel the necessity to project them. The result was a loss in impact, especially in the longer speeches, where variety is most important. This was more apparent in the first half of the play; the West Wind scene, for instance, did not have the full miraculous effect Shaw hoped for. The second half was the more absorbing, and perhaps the more rehearsed, for both actors and audience were able more sincerely to lose themselves in it. The opposite fault, of overacting, was avoided; gesture, movement and grouping were unobtrusively effective.

That there were individual excellences is indisputable. Stephen Linstead as the Bishop of Beauvais and David Cartwright as the Inquisitor were relaxed, sincere, and lent enormous strength to the scenes in which they appeared. The Bishop was totally credible as a subtle, ascetic looking, and zealous churchman in whom sincerity is so important if the trial scenes are not be be overbalanced in favour of Joan. Similar undoubted sincerity, for dramatic reasons, is required of the Inquisitor; Cartwright gave us a bland, firm yet just portrait with some originality in interpretation; he carried his long speeches extremely well.

It is difficult to remember that Joan was played by a thirteen-year-old boy with hitherto small experience. David Mingay's performance was such that we must judge him by mature standards. He showed us Joan's diabolical pride and natural humility without slipping too far into adolescent pertness or conceit, and the balance here is difficult to strike. He was at his best in the second half, in the cathedral scene, the climax of the trial, and the epilogue. One felt that he would deepen his faith and improve the variety of his speech as the run proceeded. His natural fineness of accent was perhaps a little too fine for Shaw's near-peasant girl (when she calls the Dauphin " Charley " she is using language comparable in its undiscriminating warmth to the " love " of a Sheffield bus conductress). It is a part of her humility that cannot be overlooked. Life is so simple to Joan; her accent cannot be sophisticated.

Warwick was played with diplomatic polite determination, as the one man who knew exactly what he wanted and felt about Joan, by P. Johnson. D. Rodgers as the Chaplain de Stogumber gave us a bluff patriotic portrait which was the light relief intended without being too ridiculous; and J. Thorp as Ladvenu had a belief in Joan which made us quite forget the actor behind it. Philip Kenning's Dauphin succeeded from the start in showing us a weakling who grew strong as the play progressed, and Michael Sara's swift portrait of an English goddam was a delight. Michael Lodge, as the frank friend Dunois, had a good voice and stage presence.

The handling of the crowd scenes was good, particularly in the way such large numbers of monks found conversations to make with one another and appropriate but dramatically tidy reactions in the court scenes. It is a marvel how such numbers were quickly manoeuvred on a small stage; the exit with drawn swords " to Orleans ! ", using the floor area in the open-stage tradition, was most effective. Some difficulty, however, was found in the adaptation to an open stage of a play designed for proscenium production. The smooth flow from scene to scene, which one expects in these conditions, was not always apparent, and one could not always see the reason for pauses. When Shaw himself had to foil criticism that the whole play is too long, this matter becomes doubly important. Three hours is a long time anyway, and long scene breaks are a serious disadvantage.

Having said this, however, on recalling the pleasure St. Joan gave so successfully to so many participants, criticism seems rather redundant. As a whole it was certainly a most ambitious and rewarding production.

DAVID PEARCE.

[KES Mag May 59]