St Joan | Alabama Shakespeare Festival
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Saint Joan:

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The script is the story of  peasant girl, who fights for France, claiming that God is guiding her actions. She is executed as a heretic when she refuses life in prison.

Language

  • The words “bewitched,” “devils,” “slut,” “curs,” “damn,” “blockhead,” “dithering,” “goddam,” “imbecile,” “hell,” “wench,” “bastard,” “ass,” “strumpet,” “harlot,” “witchcraft,” “sorcery,” “witch,” “the Prince of Darkness,” Satan,” “naked,” and “backside” are used in the script
  • A character is named the Bastard of Orleans
  • Phrases: “Christ in Heaven, she did come from God,” “By all the devils in Hell”
  • Some characters dismiss the power of prayer
  • Talk of violence and racism toward Jews and Mohammed

Sexual Innuendo

The queen denying the legitimacy of her own son; “I know the sort of girl that is always talking to soldiers”; “the common lusts of the flesh”


Drugs & Alcohol

Some mention of drink and being drunk


Violence

  • Threats of breaking a servant’s neck, kicking a man out of the castle gate, throwing a man downstairs
  • Mention of burning witches, hanging thieves
  • A man is seized by the scruff of his neck
  • Phrases/Threats: “Shove her along quick”; “Thrash the madness out of you”; “He has fallen into a well and been drowned”; “I have a mind to pitch you into the river”; “think of my boot, and take your backside out of reach of it”; “I will put you in the iron cage for a month”; “I will strangle the accursed witch with my own hands”; “We shall burn the witch and beat the bastard”; “This woman had her throat pierced by an English arrow”
  • Banging fists on the table, raising of fists
  • Mention of murder, torture
  • There are many graphic references to burning Joan as a witch
  • Joan is brought to court in chains


Mature Content

  • The issue of punishment by burning at the stake
  • War and killing