Scotland and Wales 1995

The Lark

By Mark R. Leeper

"Rouen, 1431. The trial of Joan of Arc. Anouilh's powerful play, translated by Christopher Fry. From mysterious hillside 'voices' to triumphant coronation a politically, spiritually and sexually charged production as much about 'playing' history as history itself."

I am really impressed with a young actress I have seen here. When Justine Waddell is on the stage it is hard to tear attention away from her. I think she is just a student actor, but I want to see her in something else again soon. She listens with better acting talent than most actors can muster to speak. She give a performance of incredible intensity and hypnotic power. I have seen actors better paid at the Fringe, but nobody has given a performance of strength that has even come close.

This play by the playwright of Becket tells of the trial and persecution of Joan of Arc, recounting her story. As with Becket, the story is told in flashback. Joan is given a double nature of the innocent country girl led by her voices and an almost too clever manipulator of people. She makes it believable that people would follow Joan. Her ability to make people do what she want belies her supposed origins but seems completely believable. She find the Dauphin Charles a weak child lacking self-esteem and makes him believe in her with her enthusiasm. Late in the play it bogs down a bit in philosophical discussion, but Waddell's high-energy performance makes every instant watchable. I do hope we hear from her again. It is hard to see someone as young as she is give so mesmerizing a performance and not expect her to have an impressive acting career ahead of her.

Back at the room we wrote, and watched an episode of Michael Moore's TV Nation, which had among other things a story about a boy who had gotten school credit for gay-bashing. We mostly wanted wait up for Kate to hear how she liked what she saw. She was seeing The Lark and 3. Generally Kate's taste is not very much like ours. After I recommended The Lark, I wanted to see if Kate liked it as much as I did. More. She said that Justine Waddell gave the best performance she had ever seen on a stage. Kate was crying toward the end of the play. I wish there was some way to buy stock in Justine Waddell's career.