Theatre
The Lark
L'Alouette
Jean Anouilh · 1953
Synopsis
Joan of Arc appears before her judges at Rouen: Bishop Cauchon, the Inquisitor, and the Earl of Warwick. Instead of following an ordinary trial, the characters re-enact for her the great moments of her life, like a show being restaged, up to her meeting with the Dauphin Charles. Joan often interrupts the narrative to play herself the moments she lived through.
Context
The play was first staged at the Théâtre Montparnasse in October 1953, a date that some sources put a year earlier, in a production by its author and Roland Piétri, with Suzanne Flon as Joan and Michel Bouquet as Charles VII. Its author classed it among his costume plays. Written as a play within the play, it proceeds by flashbacks within the trial. It was one of his great successes.
Who it is for
A single act, in simple, fast-moving language; no knowledge of the history is needed.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English as The Lark by Christopher Fry, then adapted by Lillian Hellman, it opened in London and on Broadway in 1955.