It certainly is difficult to completely explain how a simple, pious shepherdess overcame so many obstacles to become the savior of France in the Hundred Years War. But values, idealism, commitment, faith and religion, seem to be difficult concepts for us to deal with these days. We want and need rational explanations; ones that postulate that perhaps the social, political and military situations at the time were simply ripe and ready enough for someone like Joan. If it hadn't been her would it have been some other shepherdess? Let us not forget she died as a result of political intrigue not as a martyr for her faith. Did she hear the voices? I don't know. But it is clear to me, Joan certainly thought she heard them. In a program note for the French production of The Lark, Anouilh wrote, "The play makes no attempt to explain the mystery of Joan. The persistent effort of so-called modern minds to explain mysteries is, in any case, one of the most na•ve and foolish activities indulged in by the puny human brain since it became overstocked with shallow political and scientific notions, and can yield nothing in the long run."

Perhaps it is because of these beliefs Anouilh chose to tell the story of The Lark from two viewpoints: the first being the way we look at the tale today as a piece of history, and the second being to imagine what it must have been like to be Joan herself. As for the character of Joan, Anouilh goes on to say, "You cannot explain Joan, anymore than you can explain the tiniest flower growing by the wayside. There's just a little living flower that has always known, ever since it was a microscopic seed, how many petals it would have and how big they would grow, exactly how blue its blue would be and how its delicate scent would be compounded. There is just the phenomenon of Joan, as there is the phenomenon of a daisy, or of the sky, or of a bird. What pretentious creatures men are, if that's not enough for them."

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN

CAST