Sydney Theatre Company and Commonwealth Bank present
SAINT JOAN
By George Bernard Shaw

The fight of her life

A common girl with uncommon conviction, Joan of Arc has stood as an icon of protest throughout the ages.

Her faith and her visions, which inspired an entire army to victory, were both her greatest strength and her downfall. Burned at the stake as a heretic at the age of 19 and later canonised, her story has been re-written and co-opted in every generation by writers, theologians, film-makers and artists.

George Bernard Shaw’s dynamic classic, written in 1923, three years after Joan’s canonisation, was a key factor in his receiving the Nobel Prize in 1925. Based on records of her trial, it follows the true story of Joan’s life as she fights – first for her country, then for her life. Taking us from battle field to court room, Shaw’s text is thrillingly alive with political machinations, moral questions and the fatal betrayal that made Joan an icon.

In the role, we welcome back the extraordinary Yael Stone (Netflix’s Orange is the New Black) together with a distinguished ensemble of actors including John Gaden (Orlando) and Socratis Otto (Foxtel’s Wentworth) playing the men who follow Joan and then destroy her. Resident Director Imara Savage will foreground Shaw’s text in a stripped-back, modernist production.

“Topical, fresh and deeply moving… If there were ever a play for our times, it is surely this one.”
The Telegraph, UK