Four-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad (A Doll's House, Part 2) stars as one of history's greatest heroines in a major new production of Bernard Shaw's epic work directed by Daniel Sullivan (Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes).
Set in 15th century France, Saint Joan follows a country girl whose mysterious visions propel her into elite circles. When the nation's rulers become threatened by her popularity and influence, they unite to bring her down and she finds herself on trial for her life. This timeless and powerful play dramatizes the limits of an individual in a society dominated by overwhelming political and religious forces.
Any production of the play thus hangs on how the director and star decide to deal with the negatively defined presence at its center. In Daniel Sullivan's thoughtful if mostly becalmed staging at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater on Broadway, he and Condola Rashad, his chipper Joan, stick close to the author's brief. Their Maid of Orleans is, as Shaw writes in the play's preface, 'a born boss.'
The 1923 vintage of Shaw's play hardly shows its age in Scott Pask's staging (though his rich, gold-tinted set does lean toward the Art Deco) or in the loose, slightly winky direction by Daniel Sullivan (The Little Foxes). But color-blind casting and the occasional 20th-century colloquialism feel mostly like modern window-dressing on a story that's been marinating in the collective psyche for more than half a millennium.
1923 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1936 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1951 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1956 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1968 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1977 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1993 | Broadway |
Broadway |
2013 | Off-Broadway |
Theatre Bedlam Production Off-Broadway |
2018 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Condola Rashad |
2018 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Condola Rashad |
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