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DÁNIEL TIBOR HEGYI
he wanted to create a synthesis of arts based in a sacral space, in which every
element is egual in every aspect and which can, at the same time, widen the
horizons of the audiences who are generally used to prose-based plays.
Aside from the artistic angle, the intention to be more than simply en¬
tertaining is highlighted when considering the premiere of Joan of Arc at the
Stake at the National Iheater, the reason being Attila Vidnyánszkys push for
a ritual theater. As already established, the staging that created the liminal
dimensions defined by Fischer-Lichte, together with the usage of the other art¬
forms, “caused” the possibility for the crossing of a border and the importance
of celebrational community in theater — and an identity-creator role is also
well articulated.” Fischer-Lichte also said that one of the main intentions of
the ritual theater is easier to understand by using the definition of festivity:
the drawing-away from the usual, accustomed-to, everyday life, thereof the
transubstantiation of the community within the transformative dimension
that is inseparable from liminality.*°
This second dimension strongly articulates the need of becoming a com¬
munity and developing an identity for a community, which is one of the cen¬
tral questions of Joan of Arc at the Stake, particularly if we consider Claudel
and Honegger’s “authorial intentions” — mentioned in the introduction — by
which the possibility of unity and reconciliation is shown through the figure
of Saint Joan in the midst of the divergent political conflicts of the 1930s.
The figure of Joan of Arc approached by ritual theater can be evidential
because of this so-called cathartic dimension, since its two features are the
depiction of violence and sacrifice. These can be seen as the trademarks of the
dramatized Joan of Arc story adaptations.*! Foreshadowing the self-sacrifice
of Joan of Arc to come, the staging highlighted the martyr’s death with the
usage of suggestive spatial metaphors to show the importance of the survival
of the community. Of all these, the most conspicuous might be the crossing
projection of the sword and the cross: at one point in the performance, the
actress playing Saint Joan forms a cross, signaling that the Maid of Orléans is
identifying with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.” At the other end of the stage,
a big, human-sized white sword emerges, in the clothes of Jeanne d’Arc, and
“The special ritual-like form of the festivity and the theater is the viewer’s perception of [...]
the four dimensions and the way they perceive it. [...] This ritual-nature is powered by the
festivity’s and the theater’s strong symbiotic bond, which had already been present in the
antique Greek culture and the medieval European culture.” Erika Fischer-Lichte: Szinhaz és
ritus [Theater and Ritual], trans. Gabriella Kiss, Theatron, 2007/1-2, 1-13, 5. Looking at the
former statement, Joan of Arc at the Stake offers so many more possibilities for maintaining
the point of view of ritual theater, if we are looking at the mystery-play-like, visionary, and
balladist features coming from Claudel’s work.
Fischer-Lichte: Szinhaz és ritus, 4.
31 Ibid.
Pethô: Johanna, a szent.