Solo performance
‘Aged 5, I was chosen to head the town procession for Tito, our beloved president. I was wearing the second T in his name T I T O. The red T was attached to my white top with some safety pins.’
And I, Lena Šimić, in my own name, born a Yugoslav, since the war a Croatian, soon to become British, raised a Catholic, with reservations about religion and the existence of God, with two young sons, one attending St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School, the other to start in a couple of years time, in my role as a mother, an artist, a performer, a researcher, a scholar, a foreigner, a critic competent in this matter…
‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
Using autobiographical material from her Catholic upbringing, personal experience of war in her hometown of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and her daily life as a mother and performance artist in Liverpool, Lena Simic offers a bold re-figuration of Joan of Arc and challenges assumptions about heroism. Transcripts from Joan of Arc’s 15th century trial for heresy form the basis of Lena’s intervention into the themes of heroism, religion, war, home and dislocation. Presented in an intimate setting, this moving solo performance combines video footage, sound installation and live action.
Joan Trial is supported by the Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Nuffield Theatre. It was first presented in October 2005 in the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster. Performance has subsequently toured to the Leeds Met Studio Theatre, the ShowRoom at University of Chichester, Cornerstone Festival at Liverpool Hope University, Transit V Festival at Odin Theatre in Holstebro Denmark and to the National Review of Live Art at Tramway, Glasgow.
