Jeanne d'Arc @ Nationaltheatret

Oslo, september 12th

Visiting Oslo on september 12th with no other ambition than seeing Bjørn Floberg ♥ on stage on his birthday, the Berry inhabitants that we are had booked tickets for our first Norwegian-spoken play ever about an überfrench icon: Jeanne La Pucelle.

I think every reader knows the story of Jeanne, a manipulative woman who might have been King Charles' sister and the way she was burnt on the bonfire in Rouen.
So we won't talk much about her story. Sorry, Jeanne.

People like you just fuel my fire

To make it short, we liked the play a lot and not only because I was sitting on the 4th row, 3 meters only from DA man, but because the first part of the play put us in the middle of the action as alter egos to Jeanne.
As naive as she, we were surrounded by voices, and exposed to a Manichean system in shades of black, grey and white (the colors of the Oslo mood for all of you who already saw Joachim Trier's Oslo, august 31st).
The second part (the audience as a part of the inquisition) was less dynamic but I didn't mind much since I was less concerned about Jeanne's fate, who would be burnt on the bonfire anyway.

Do you understand Norwegian?

That's the question we had to answer during Jeanne d'Arc intermission since, speaking in French with each other, Gunnar and I had become a subject of interest.
Of course, we said that we had traveled from La Châtre to Oslo only to waste money understood more than 85% of what was said, and having read/seen different representations of Jeanne d'Arc's life and death, we were able to follow the trial.
The woman thought this was funny.
Uh? Okey!
Anyway.

There was something which was less funny: the few people who were there. Even in our great town with its 4.700 inhabitants, the monthly representations are more crowded.

Hey Oslo-people, why don't you kill your TV and go to the theatre instead?