Reading the play: notes from Gini in June 25

Hi, all,

I have finished typing Act One of the script. I haven't started the 
suggested cuts; I am waiting until I have the whole thing in computer.

In the process was I very struck with how important POWER and CONTROL 
are in the play. Who holds the power and how they wield it, how they 
get it. This really gelled for me in scenes 10 and 11. In scene 10 
Michael gives Jehanne the advice that she should be rude to be taken 
seriously and we can clearly see her applying that in the second half 
of the scene (with Gilles) and then in scene 11. What was really 
striking is that SHE says she wants more power and THEN Catherine and 
Margaret make it happen (with Michael sort of tagging along). That is 
when they "enter" her and say they will live through her. There is a 
marked change in her after this. She "uses" Gilles in scene 10 and 
then George is outraged by it in scene 11.

It also made me think of the power of others to shape the story after 
the fact (both fictionally and in real life - all the stuff we "know" 
about Jehanne).

Also bearing in mind one of the writers about her trial (modern) 
commenting on how savvy and carefully worded her replies were in the 
trial and after her recanting her confession. She seemed to have 
linguistic skill above her background.

More to follow.