The "story" is much more centered around the men and their opinions of Joan than Joan herself. The epilogue felt gutting, as they all excused their actions toward her, as they had when she was alive. However, excited to see it performed because we're adding swordfights (thank Jesus).

Joan of Arc is one of those figures from history who is hard to categorize. I have long been fascinated by her and whilst in France I visited Rouen and the Church of St. Joan of Arc. Nearby the church is the spot where she was burnt at the stake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_...I find Joan to be a very moving historical figure and one who if alive today would have had great impact on the world. A woman who took her value not from the standards of the day, but the standards of heaven. A w...

Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue, George Bernard Shaw Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the concerned people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. He wrote in his preface to t...

“Don't think you can frighten me by telling me that I am alone. France is alone. God is alone. And the loneliness of God is His strength.” Thus spoke Joan when her allies, those she had made great, abandoned her to death. Such loyalty they showed her in life. Without her they literally would have got nowhere. Joan was a solider, and in the end they treated her like a solider; they pointed her at France’s enemies and when her work was done they cast her aside. She was expendable to them, a me

George Bernard Shaw took theater patrons in 1923 back to the Fifteenth Century in his drama "Saint Joan". Joan of Arc declared that she heard voices from God and the saints directing her to save France in the Hundred Years War, and have the Dauphin crowned as the king of France, Charles VII. The teenage Joan, dressed in men's clothes, led the soldiers in the Siege of Orleans in 1429. She was later convicted as a heretic by the Inquisition, and burned at the stake. After papal investigations she

I listened to this excellent audio performance of George Bernard Shaw's great play Saint Joan. Amy Irving is fantastic as Joan. I had an old reading challenge that required listening to an Audie Award winner, which this rightly was in 2010.Scene 4 is my favorite section as the churchmen and feudal generals argue the nature of the triple threats they face from Nationalism, Protestantism, and Mohammedism.

Hold on before you read this. When you buy a suspiciously cheap item you sometimes get a disclaimer...Well, here’s MY disclaimer (cause I’m cheap, but I’m not easy)! ...For all the quirky reviews I always write - like this one.Now, you guys all know I’m a slow reader (that’s my excuse on my GR Homepage) so what gives with my prodigious rush to review books? There are at least two reasons for this that I can think of now:First off, because Mom was a chief librarian, I’ve read a lot of books in se...

Shaw usually gets tagged as a liberal, progressive, left-wing type, but he was a very idiosyncratic one: you often find things that don't fit the stereotype. In particular, he thought that nationalism was a good thing, and that wars between countries were sometimes good too. This led him to support strange positions. In Major Barbara, he ends up arguing that what we would now call the military-industrial complex is positive, because it creates the wealth needed to rescue people from poverty. I t...

Meh. I’m usually not into books/plays of this ilk where a writer takes a real person and puts their spin on the person and events. I would much rather read a biography of Joan of Arc which I will probably do.

Chronology of the Life and Times of Bernard Shaw'On Playing Joan', by Imogen StubbsIntroduction, by Joley WoodPreface--Saint JoanPrincipal Works of Bernard Shaw

One of my favorite interpretations of Joan D’Arc. Eloquent and clever, brave and unyielding, seeing Joan come to life in this way is a riveting experience. A witty and provocative exploration of politics, religion, judgement, and justice.

"If only she had just remained quiet!"--one of the Church leaders before they all vote to allow her to be burned at the stakeI have read this play a few times and seen this play performed in the stage and in film, but reread it because I am reading or rereading many of Shaw's great plays. And this is one of his four or five best, surely. It lacks the pontificating male I have this time around become so tired of hearing, but it features what we find in other plays, a strong woman character, a wel...

Joan. 'Minding your own business is like minding your own body: it's the shortest way to make yourself sick. What is my business? Helping mother at home. What is thine? Petting lapdogs and sucking sugar-sticks. I call that muck. I tell thee it is God's business we are here to do: not our own. I have a message to thee from God; and thou must listen to it, though thy heart break with the terror of it'.This is my favorite play of all time. because let's face it.I love everything Shaw writes.and Joa...

If you missed the last 600 years, let me tell you about the famous Jeanne d'Arc. Joan, as you're more likely to know her, began as a young farm girl, but when she heard the voices of her Lord and myriad saints beseeching her to take action against the horde of English soldiers encroaching upon her French homeland, she showed up on the doorstep of the uncrowned King Charles VII with a divine mission. King Charles was so impressed by her ambition and confidence that he gave her charge of a battali...

The first scene of this play is one of the most perfect, most hilarious things I've ever read; it's probably my favourite single scene of any play, or at least my favourite comedic scene. The interplay between de Baudricourt and his squire -- "Positive! Now see here. I am going to throw you downstairs," -- never stops being funny.I was hesitant to actually read through the whole play, lest it somehow disappoint me and tarnish my love for Scene I, but I did, and it didn't.

For decades I have believed that the only reason I did not love this play was because I encountered it too early in my education. It was assigned in high school, when I was devoutly Catholic, and I bristled at Shaw's clear lack of sympathy for my religion. This was also the first rhetorically heavy play I had read. It was most definitely beyond me intellectually. Well, I'm older now, better educated, and no longer Catholic and...I am still not in love with it, but for very different reasons.Shaw...

Images of Falconetti burned into my mind as I read, perhaps music of Messiaen. Fete des belles eaux? This is a very orthodox tale of moral and legal convulsion. Add a dash of divine nationalism and voila. This Joan was rather quick witted, other representations have as a nascent martyr. Her oppressors, oppressively oafish--while Bluebeard muses of the Divine Rights and the souls of lumpen children (entertaining something ghastly--only Allah knows. GB Shaw has impressed me this week, not only for...

I love reading an enthralling play in between novels, it zaps the brain awake it seems! I had not anticipated being so captivated by this tragic retelling of Joan of Arc's final demise, but really, it was thrilling and a true page turner...I loved this section:"Joan: Aye lad but you cannot fight stone walls with horses, you must have guns, and much bigger guns too. Dunois: Aye lass, but a good heart and a stout ladder will get over the stoniest wall. Joan: I will be first up the ladder when we r...

Now I get to know how this fantastic play has given fame and name to G.B. Shaw.

An interesting and entertaining take on Joan of Arc – historically very controversial (especially Shaw's insistence on Cauchon's political impartiality), but that needn't worry us. Historically justifiable or not, the acid exchanges we get between this Cauchon, principled upholder of canon law, and Warwick, who simply needs whatever PR cover he can get for Joan's politically imperative disposal, are one of the best things in the play.There are many other good things too - notably the opening com...