Image: Janie Gibson in The Voices of Joan of Arc; photograph by Daniel Han.
The piece opens with a woman and a flame. She climbs a ladder and lights the four candles of an old chandelier, whilst singing softly. This is Joan of Arc. Played by Janie Gibson, she is compellingly soft, quietly confident, a girl on the cusp of womanhood or a woman who has kept her inner child’s flame and passion.
But the strange energy of Gibson’s presence is about as compelling as this piece gets. We are told in the program that Joan’s story resonates with that of silenced women throughout history, and that we will be hearing the (apparently multiple) voices of Joan. Why, then, are we presented with just the one image, one voice, one tone in the piece from start to finish? The script of this piece is allegedly constructed from detailed transcripts of Joan’s trial, but the piece doesn’t seem interested in doing anything other than presenting a staged reading of these transcripts. These may have been the true words spoken back in 1431, but in this moment, in 2016, in the Northcote Town Hall, in the middle of the Next Wave Festival, these once-vital words fall with a resounding thud.
There is nothing in the criticisms of Joan’s behaviour as a woman that cannot be found in more recent, relevant examples. But ultimately, Joan’s gender and her struggle as a silenced woman are lost amongst the details of French sectarian theological arguments. The best of historical art can reach into the past and uncover the still-beating heart of those long-ago battles; a pulse that keeps time with the issues of the contemporary moment. Joan is not a forgotten figure, and her impact upon the course of history has been noted time and again. But much has happened in gender, in Christianity, in France and in the world that makes this (somewhat) faithful reconstruction feel irrelevant.
This piece is strongest in its images and its music. There are moments of bodies interacting, of flames lit and quenched, that come closest to opening up that vital passage to the past. And Xani Kolac striking live score helps here, feeding the timeless beauty of voice and violin through processes of reverb and distortion to create a sustained atmosphere of anguish and unease.
In a piece entitled The Voices of Joan of Arc I wanted to hear more than one voice. And I don’t mean anything as literal as multiple performers. Just as Joan was visited by the many voices of God and his attending angels and saints, so too should we be visited by many different Joans; many different imaginings of who this woman may have been, and what she might have to say to us now.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
The Voices of Joan of Arc
Lead Artist/Actor/Author: Janie Gibson
Musican & Composer: Xani Kolac
Actor & Devisor: Daniel Han
Producer: Piper Huynh
Dramaturg: Amelia Evans
Lighting design: Rob Sowinski & Bryn Cullen
Costume Design: Jacinta Anderson
Poetess and text consultant: Raven Moon Eyelander
Access Consultant: Belinda Locke
Live Audio Description: Rachel Edward
Next Wave Festival
Northcote Town Hall
3-14 May 2016​
