Think you know the story of Joan of Arc?
Douglas College may have you thinking again.
The Douglas College theatre and stagecraft departments are staging Jehanne of the Witches, running Nov. 12 to 19 at the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre at the college's New Westminster campus.
The play, written by Sally Clark, tells the story of Joan of Arc through Gilles de Rais, a knight who served alongside Joan whom Clark identifies as Joan's best friend. In nearly all historical accounts of Joan's life, de Rais - who is most famous for being an alleged serial killer of children - is mostly absent.
"He's been taken off the books," says Thrasso Petras, who's directing the production. "He's as much as possible been removed from the story because it doesn't sound like the Catholic Church's version of what happened. Editing out her relationship with de Rais takes away the complexity of Joan's story."
Petras says the Jehanne production looks at Joan not as a virgin saint and martyr but as a real girl in the process of becoming a woman, and one who is struggling with her faith at a time when the pagan world was on the wane and the Christian world on the ascent.
It also portrays de Rais as a man obsessed with Joan.
"The important thing is that it's about this man's obsession and his fantasy about who this woman was to him," Petras says. "He's telling this story through his need for her. It's as much about him, if not more, than about her."
Despite the serious subject matter, Petras describes Jehanne of the Witches as a black comedy.
"It's quite irreverent," he says. "It takes jabs at the church, but at the same it's a realistic investigation of faith, of where one's allegiance lies, and what causes this desire to seek out that faith or need that faith. So it's taking pokes at the Church, but not at faith."
The theatre is at 700 Royal Ave.
Tickets are $8 to $12, available through the Massey box office at 604-521-5050.
