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Q&A: EDINBURGH 2024: Catinca Maria Nistor on THE SECOND COMING OF JOAN OF ARC
The Second Coming of Joan of Arc was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024
By: Kat Mokrynski Aug. 30, 2024
BWW caught up with Catinca Maria Nistor about bringing The Second Coming of Joan of Arc to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
How did you first get involved in the world of theatre?
Growing up in Romania, my father, an actor, used to bring me with him to the theatre from time to time. I guess this was a catalyst for expanding my horizons, igniting my imagination and my dream world. Muc5h later on, after graduating Law School, I admitted to myself that this is the path I am supposed to follow, the one that allows me to properly offer my gift to the world. This year I am celebrating not only my UK debut, but also a decade of being on stage. I feel like I’m just getting started!
Can you tell us a bit about your show, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc?
In The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Joan returns to share her story with contemporary women and unmask the brutal misogyny behind male institutions. Joan of Arc was a teenage runaway who led an army to victory. Defiant, irreverent, intelligent and faithful to her own visions, she was one of the most well-documented figures of the 15th Century.
What inspired the creation of The Second Coming of Joan of Arc?
Performing Joan of Arc’s story is very personal for me. This text found me after emerging from a
traumatising experience working for the Romanian Foreign Cultural Diplomacy sector, after enduring blatant misogyny and mental and psychological abuse. Telling Joan’s story brought healing and closure to a disturbing yet transformative chapter of my life. I am also using this opportunity as a safe space and a platform advocating for women’s rights and gender equality, encouraging women everywhere to share their own experiences and stories of overcoming maltreatment and discrimination.
How do you bring an iconic figure like Joan of Arc to the 21st century?
Carolyn Gage’s text is very relevant and relatable to the present moment. Beyond the historical context, if you just listen to the words, Joan is just another woman, no different than me or you, existing in this space, now, spilling her heart and soul in a form of storytelling – as if the audience is her confidant or better yet, companion. She is doing this with (dark) humour, emotion, but most of all dignity and grace. She is not and never was a victim, she is here to show that her essence, her spirit, is very much alive and alight. She is still standing. She is still fighting.
What was it like bringing The Second Coming of Joan of Arc to the Fringe?
It was my first time in Scotland, and therefore first time at the Fringe. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was discussing this with my team as well – I don’t think I have ever been in a context of this proportions where you can feel it in the air, on the streets, on stage, in the audience, in absolutely any place you can think of, such a strong feeling of INCLUSION, SAFETY and SUPPORT.
As for the show, we had a lightning-limited run of five performances and I am very grateful to have played for an encouraging number of people each day, even a full house, with great, compassionate feedback and not one but two 4-star reviews. For such a short amount of time, I truly left feeling like a champion.
What is it like to be performing a solo show?
It is scary, night after night it’s like jumping into the void, taking a leap of faith, but I ADORE IT! I live for this! And the audience is so, so important. Every performance is unique - I am relying so much on the energy I get from the audience. Some days they laugh and are vocal, and this makes me more playful. Some days I can’t hear one single breath in the room, almost like you can cut the existing tension with a knife – and this makes me more intense, but also more empowered. In all days, though, it is a rite of passage. Of shedding and becoming and becoming and becoming . . .
What do you hope audiences take away from The Second Coming of Joan of Arc?
Centuries have passed, but nothing has changed. Except nowadays they don’t burn you at the stake, they burn you on the internet. Let us not forget that. Not for one minute. Misogyny and abuse still exist. As progressive as we’d like to think we’ve become as a society, the rules haven’t changed, the men haven’t changed and the institutions most definitely haven’t changed.
Fortunately enough, my message got through loud and clear. Every day I heard the expressions: “call to arms” and “wake-up call” as people were leaving the theatre. And don’t get me wrong, I hold nothing against men. The last performance, for example, had an audience full of men aged 45+ and only one woman in her late seventies. It was very delicate for me to trust and be vulnerable, but they all held space for me and it became beautiful. It was also very interesting and even astounding to observe how, as the story progressed, their facial expressions became more and more shocked, appalled, moved and transformed; how they were nodding in acknowledgement of the horrors they were hearing as if they were there and then discovering that cruelty exists. I love men, but I think they can do so much better, be so much more tender, so much more considerate than they are at the moment. I hope the show brings comfort and solace for the underdogs, the misfits, the freaks – as Joan also calls herself. I hope they feel seen. I hope they understand that love exists and they must stand up for it, for their beliefs and for their values with courage and dignity. This is not in vain. We must keep going, we must keep loving - bolder, louder and fiercer.
How would you describe The Second Coming of Joan of Arc in one word?
BLAZING!
The Second Coming of Joan of Arc ran from 19 to 23 August at Greenside @ Riddles Court - Clover Studio at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
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The actress repeats the play's standard spiel, which has been debunked by historians on almost every point except the fact that Joan of Arc is indeed "one of the most well-documented figures of the 15th century" -- but the play itself ignores the documentation and replaces it with fiction on almost every point. Here's an analysis of the play at the Medieval History Database which covers many of the problems in the play: http://www.medieval-history.org/index.php?MHDB-Article-Review-The-Second-Coming-of-Joan-of-Arc-by-Carolyn-Gage
Catinca Nistor seems to accept the play's premise that Joan was killed for being female; but the English also executed a boy named Guillaume le Berger for repeating Joan's statement that God supported Charles VII, and Guillaume was certainly not female. Joan herself had the support of a great many high-ranking clergy aside from pro-English ones: she had already been previously approved in April 1429 by a large group of theologians at Poitiers, including the Inquisitor for Southern France, and she shortly gained support from the Archbishop of Embrun (Jacques Gelu), the prominent theologian (and saint) Jehan Gerson, Inquisitor Jehan Dupuy (who was a member of the Papal court) and so on. She was only opposed by pro-English or English-influenced clergy and was put on trial by an advisor for the English occupation government, Pierre Cauchon, who had served the English since 1420 and had a long, well-documented history of corruption and a criminal conviction in 1414.