He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, two years after the play’s premiere. However, Saint Joan is still regarded as one of the playwright’s greatest works. Shaw’s play, written three years later, was based on the detailed records of Joan’s trial, but Shaw was criticised by historians for giving what they considered to be an inaccurate depiction of the period. She was canonised by the Catholic Church in 1920. Shaw’s play is based on the life, death and trial of Joan of Arc, the French soldier and national heroine who was burnt at the stake by the English in Rouen in 1431, at the age of 19. In London, Thorndike took the role she was meant to play, with her husband, Lewis Casson, directing her under Shaw’s instruction at the New theatre. In fact, Shaw had written the play with the actress in mind, though it had received its world premiere on Broadway a year earlier with Winifred Lenihan in the role of Joan. The first to tackle this now famous role on the London stage was Shaw’s friend, the great actress Sybil Thorndike, who opened in the UK stage premiere of Saint Joan on 26 March 1924. The role of Joan of Arc, as depicted by George Bernard Shaw in his play Saint Joan, is considered one of the most challenging parts an actress can play.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |