NY Review: 'Saint Joan'

Even an ardent fan of George Bernard Shaw must concede his loquaciousness. Words pour from his pen—and his actors’ mouths—like oil from a burst well, making it heroically difficult to keep his plays from becoming exercises in endurance. The surprising achievement of Bedlam’s new staging of “Saint Joan,” at Access Theater, is that it gives us a “Joan” with enough driving, ferocious energy to keep up with its heroine and sufficient gravitas to match the mark she left on history.

Bedlam’s four-person ensemble accomplishes this not by hiding Shaw’s long-windedness but by cashing in on it. They race through the entirety of his text, and without the distraction of large set pieces, cumbersome costume changes, or an unwieldy cast size they harness Shaw’s skill at turning language into agency. Joan herself, with the charisma that comes from divine conviction, is among the play’s most persuasive orators. As portrayed by Andrus Nichols, who shrivels skeptics with her eyes and stalks the stage like a Roman general, she’s hard to argue with.

Flanking Nichols are Ted Lewis, Tom O’Keefe, and Eric Tucker (who also directs). The three split Shaw’s exorbitant cast list, often playing multiple parts in the same scene and sometimes sharing the same part to keep things fluid. O’Keefe and Lewis are the more flexible performers, while Tucker has a slight advantage in stage presence. With a minimum of fuss they represent medieval Europe in crisis while stepping out of character to usher the audience to multiple locations in the small theater. By choosing the right point of view to witness each stage of Joan’s passion, the company evokes the quiet awe that the real Joan’s audiences felt in her presence.

More than an eccentric leader-cum-madwoman, “the Maid,” as Shaw presents her, was a martyr to the spirit of what would become Protestantism, or more specifically “the protest of the individual will against the interference of priest or peer.” In the secular society that is, ironically, Joan’s legacy, no one’s word is irrefutable, leaving even the most righteous to depend on rhetorical prowess. The verbal pyrotechnics of Bedlam’s production, then, do honor as much to Joan’s unquenchable spirit as to the world she left in her wake.

Presented by Bedlam and Access Theater at Access Theater, 380 Broadway, NYC. April 24–May 13. Tue.–Sat., 7 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (Thu.–Sat., May 3–5, performances are at 8 p.m.) (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.theatrebedlam.org.