“Don’t think you can frighten me by telling me that I am alone. France is alone. God is alone.” –George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan
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BEDLAM
Saint Joan
NYC 2012–2014 | National 2013–2019
written by George Bernard Shaw
directed by Eric Tucker
Four actors perform all 24 roles in Bedlam’s production of Saint Joan, declared “Irresistible! Ferocious!” and “A force of nature!” by the New York Times, Best of Theater 2014 by Ben Brantley of the New York Times, and a Top Ten Play of 2013 by Time magazine. In this epic story, Shaw paints Joan of Arc not as a saint, witch, or madwoman, but a farm girl who is an illiterate intellectual, a true genius whose focus on the individual rocked the Church and State to their core.
Meet the cast
Creative
PRODUCTION HISTORY
2019
Alabama Shakespeare Festival
Montgomery, AL
September 3–October 6, 2019
(in rep w/ Hamlet)
The Gulf Shore Playhouse
Naples, FL
October 14–November 3rd, 2019
2018
Folger Theatre
Washington, DC
May 12–June 3, 2018
Glaize Studio Theatre | Shenandoah University
Winchester, VA
February 15–17, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
Duke Performances | Duke University
Durham, NC
February 19–25, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
Flynn Performing Arts Center
Burlington, VT
February 28, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
2018 (cont.)
Wright Memorial Theater | Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
March 2–3, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
ArtsEmerson
Boston, MA
March 7–25, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
Williams Center for the Arts | Lafayette College
Easton, PA
March 29–31, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
The Broad Stage
Santa Monica, CA
April 5–15, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
Campbell Hall | UCSB Arts & Lectures
Santa Barbara, CA
April 19–20, 2018
(in rep with Hamlet)
2017
McCarter Theatre
Princeton, NJ
January 13–February 12, 2017
(in rep with Hamlet)
2016
Stark Naked Theatre Company
Houston, TX
June 3–June 18, 2016
2015
Central Square Theater
Cambridge, MA
January 15–February 8, 2015
2014
The Lynn Redgrave Theater
New York, NY
November 9, 2013–March 9, 2014
(in rep with Hamlet)
2013
The Access Theater
New York, NY
March 6–April 6, 2013
(in rep with Hamlet)
Olney Theater Center
Olney, MD
September 4–October 20, 2013
(in rep with Hamlet)
2012
The Access Theater
New York, NY
March 9–April 1, 2012
April 24–May 13, 2012 (Extension)
Reviews
What the critics say about Bedlam's Saint Joan
Every member of Bedlam hears voices. Not of God and his saints, but of Shaw (who probably would have said that’s the same thing) and Shakespeare. And I mean they believe they hear these playwrights, in all their sonority, telling them what to do…anyone who listens to the eminently sane and persuasive voices of Bedlam is destined to become a convert.”
Ben Brantley, The New York Times
Do you have three-plus hours for Joan of Arc, i.e., the George Bernard Shaw liberal-individualist version? Believe me, you do… This doughty quartet, armed with minimal costume and light and no set to speak of, burn like meteors through Shaw’s meta-historic epic. Oh, for a muse of muslin! Without a flat or a caster, the Bedlam theater company works genuine miracles… In this brisk, lucid, and (for once, appropriately) declamatory production, Shaw’s uncompromising humanism and unshakeable faith in the power of ideas take the field in glory… Together, these four raise siege engines and battlements of language and argument, and from the top, you can see not only the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Shaw was addressing, but misty points beyond. “Must I burn again?” Joan asks History. Alack, only for another week or so, Maid. Act now, serfs.”
Scott Brown, New York Magazine
It’s an audacious concept for the production, one that showcases both the human drama of the piece as well as the philosophy that abounds in the text about the nature of warfare, the church’s role in man’s life and so much more. And though director Eric Tucker’s conceit of shuttling the audience from the theater to the lobby for various scenes may strike some as a mere gimmick, there’s little question that he has a superlative sense of stagecraft. The way in which he allows us to sense a wind-changing direction by virtue (pun intended) of Joan’s presence is nothing short of genius…”
Andy Propst, Huffington Post
Let’s just get right to it, shall we? Go see this show. Better yet, go see the show, and if you happen to be a theater supporter, donate to this group… a minimalist powerhouse… Tucker has taken the written word, garnered great actors, and shot a theatrical spear through the off-Broadway scene… when something is well written, and well interpreted, and the right talent is found, there is no need for the formulaic marketing structures found on Broadway today. There is no need for a star to carry a show, no need for grand theatrics. Just real talent, doing the real thing.”
Showbusiness Weekly
One of the richest and most exhilarating nights you’re likely to spend at the theater for a long time… A general admission ticket for SAINT JOAN is $30, and given that its full-blooded exuberance will renew your faith in the possibilities of epic theater, it’s worth much more.”
nytheatre.com
Great theatre made only by force of talent, ideas, and text”
teatroteatro.it
What a rare and rich treat to see a group of performers stretch the classics as far as possible and not one inch further. That’s what the misleadingly named Bedlam company has done with its taut, maraudingly high-spirited take on George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan at the Access Theater. A protean quartet has created a production to be treasured: just three gifted men play the 23 fighters, schemers, moralizers and executioners surrounding Joan of Arc (the no-less-gifted Andrus Nichols). Just as St. Joan lured the multitudes to her cause, this production of Saint Joan soon has audience members all too happy, even grateful, to clamber after it.”
Eric Grode, The New York Times (CRITICS’ PICK)
Unforgettable… the most exciting George Bernard Shaw revival I’ve ever seen, bar none… Mr. Tucker’s vest-pocket staging, mounted in a house so small that one scene is played in the lobby, fuses Shakespearean speed with Brechtian directness. Stately it isn’t, but thrilling. it most definitely is: Ms. Nichols’s acting is so intense that it makes the Access Theater seem 20 times bigger, and her colleagues support her to galvanizing effect.”
The Wall Street Journal *BEST REVIVAL OF 2012*
The surprising achievement of Bedlam’s new staging of Saint Joan, at Access Theater, is that it gives us a “Joan” with enough driving, ferocious energy to keep up with its heroine and sufficient gravitas to match the mark she left on history….the company evokes the quiet awe that the real Joan’s audiences felt in her presence. The verbal pyrotechnics of Bedlam’s production, then, do honor as much to Joan’s unquenchable spirit as to the world she left in her wake.”
Backstage (CRITIC’S PICK)
Completely Riveting… Boldly stripping away pretenses of theatricality results in a deeply engrossing production that presents Shaw’s fabulous play in an almost pure form. The star of this production is SAINT JOAN, and the play shines in that role with a newfound luster…uniformly strong performances, each traversing an impressive range… BEDLAM’s SAINT JOAN captures the soul of Shaw’s play, and puts it before us in a stripped-bare, unpretentious, and completely riveting production.”
Stage Magazine
Andrus Nichols’ performance is tremendous, illuminating every stage of Joan’s journey from country lass to soldier to hero to scapegoat, and finally to saint… Bedlam’s Saint Joan is so impressive… it deserves to be seen by as many people as they can cram into that tiny lobby.”
Theater is Easy
Gallery
A look into various productions of Bedlam's St. Joan
