A famous London theatre is facing criticism over a forthcoming production about St Joan of Arc which presents the Catholic heroine as a as a non-binary “queer” who refers to herself using “they/them” pronouns.
The Shakespeare’s Globe will stage “I, Joan” from August 25, promising to tell St Joan of Arc’s “story anew”.
It envisages a revolution brought about by young and poor people after Joan questions “the gender binary”, unleashing power and a belief which “spreads like fire”.
It has been written by Charlie Josephine, a “non-binary” person who promises a “big sweaty, queer, revolution, rebellion, festival of like joy” and it comes amid a broader global drive to promote LGBTQ themes in the performing arts.
The play has already drawn criticism from such women as Ann Widdecombe, the Catholic former Conservative Minister, who accused the Globe of “de-womanising” St Joan.
Harry Potter and Cormoran Strike author JK Rowling also attacked the production as “insulting and damaging” to women.
Far from championing 21st century gender ideology, St Joan in fact consecrated her virginity to God before leading the liberation of France from English domination in a military campaign that lasted just two years.
She was motivated by heavenly apparitions of St Michael the Archangel and of St Margaret and St Catherine.
Joan was burned in Rouens in 1431 by the English after a show trial in which she was condemned as a witch but she was exonerated by the Catholic Church some 30 years later. She was canonised by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and named co-patron saint of France.
The production follows the recent announcement by Roundabout Theatre on Broadway of an international tour of the celebrated musical “1776” but this time with the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution portrayed exclusively by “actors who identify as female, transgender, and non-binary”.
Michelle Terry, the artistic director of the Globe, defended “I, Joan” by arguing that “historical reality” did not matter in theatre.
“Theatres produce plays, and in plays, anything can be possible,” she said. “Shakespeare did not write historically accurate plays. He took figures of the past to ask questions about the world around him. Our writers of today are doing no different, whether that’s looking at Ann Boleyn, Nell Gwynn, Emilia Bassano, Edward II, or Joan of Arc.
“The Globe is a place of imagination. A place where, for a brief amount of time, we can at least consider the possibility of world’s elsewhere. We have had entire storms take place on stage, the sinking of ships, twins who look nothing alike being believable, and even a queen of the fairies falling in love with a donkey.”
She continued: “Shakespeare was not afraid of discomfort, and neither is the Globe.”