Voices of Joan

Supported By

New Annual festival
the City of Newcastle
Arts on Tour
Create NSW
TAIKE Arts Promotion Centre Finland
L’Escorxador Cultural Centre Elche, Spain

A radical retelling of the story of Joan of Arc

Voices of Joan is a feminist punk ritual unravelling the history of misogyny through a radical retelling of the story of Joan of Arc. In an intimate solo performance, Janie Gibson searches for Joan’s voice in fragments of words throughout history; words spoken at her trial, translated in textbooks, imagined in poetry and illuminated in drama. What is revealed is an ancient story about gender, truth and power with startling reverberations today.

With direction by Anu Almagro (Song Of the Goat Theatre), Gibson transforms into the multitudinous voices of Joan: from the teenage warrior, to the fervent revolutionary, to the bishop that tried her. Using wit, humour and multiple on stage costume changes Gibson pokes fun at the patriarchy, rallies the crowd from behind her megaphone and invites the audience to build Joan’s pyre with her. With a wireless radio as her ‘time machine’ she tunes into echoes of Joan’s story throughout history in search of a road map for resistance in our uncertain times.

“This extraordinary tale culminates in an image to shake your soul…Lithe, brash and daring…If there’s such a thing as megaphone theatre, this is it”

John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

“Gibson’s punked up version of the passion of St Joan is an electric, ground-breaking production…Gibson extracts an iconic religious figure from history and grafts her onto a contemporary stage”

Olivia Farag, Sydney Theatre Reviews

“Janie Gibson channels the spirit of Joan of Arc in this breathtaking performance that addresses us, involves us – and makes us complicit in the outcomes…But we’re not just an audience, we’re part of this trial, this ritual – …we’re the ones building the bonfire and placing candles in the pyre; it is up to us whether it’s to burn or to remember…she delivers a powerful history lesson that still needs to be learned, where the questioner may be silenced, but the questions remain”.

Mark Wicket, Stage Whispers

★★★★

“As soon as you step into ‘Voices Of Joan’ you are engulfed and it doesn’t stop until you leave”

Ashlyn Hunter, Stage Door Podcast

“Everything theatre should be”

Audience Member

“It’s so excellent to see true experimental theatre in not only Newcastle, but outside of the CBD! Hunter Audiences are hungry for the work and concepts that Gibson and Whale Chorus are producing”

Audience Member