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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 entertaining 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 artforms, “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 community and developing an identity for a community, which is one of the central 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.
