Review: Politics of Quintessence's 'Saint Joan' resonate even today

Quintessence Theatre Group wants to contemporize classic plays? Well, for the first time since its 2010 Measure for Measure, the group has done it with a powerhouse, actor-driven production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.

Like Shakespeare's political drama, like Sophocles' Antigone or Brecht's Mother Courage, Quintessence delivers the full force of and timelessness of Shaw's play in a show that echoes the actions of Edward Snowden as much as Donald Trump, and moved me like no other Philadelphia production this season.

The episodic script depicts events in the life of Joan of Arc (Leigha Kato) during the Hundred Years' War between France and England. The former faces dire straits, as the English own more than half the country, including Paris, and cynical, corrupt, and weak-willed politicians squabble over what remains. France needs a miracle, and gets one in Joan, who at 17 initiated a military campaign that led to French victory two decades later.

Shaw being Shaw, he filled Joan's life and that of her contemporaries with his own views and interpretations of history. But these additions enliven the intrigue and universalize the themes of justice vs. mercy, the will of the individual against the mandate of the state, problems with the death penalty, and social and political unrest that ended one era and embarked upon another.

In Joan's time, the Catholic Church crowned kings and dictated policy, and this unhesitant, yet uncritical, production mirrors the film Spotlight in highlighting that institution's continued failings. Joan's argument for French unity sounds eerily similar to Trump in her political statements (England is for the English, France for the French, that's what separate countries are for!), and shows the appeal of his views both in her time (when the nation state was nascent) and in ours (when it withers into irrelevance).

Rebecca Wright's sterling direction illuminates this play's heady themes and ideals in a production that nonetheless teems with humanity. Quintessence regulars Sean Close, Josh Carpenter and Alan Brincks captivate with their versatility in multiple roles (what a boon that Quintessence brought to this region with these three).

Wright's staging takes Alexander Burns' walkway set and, with Brian Sidney Bembridge's lighting, transforms it into cathedrals, battlefields and the backroom dealings that led to Joan's doom. Adriano Shaplin's sound design amplifies each episode with a holy or militant score.

Kato's Joan inspires, her simple eagerness convinces, her confidence and hope elevate all who watch her performance. I would call it a tour de force from this young woman (whom I've seen twice on stage now), but it is beyond compare, a singularity of passion and energy, like Joan herself in history, and her dissident role remains just as relevant today as ever.