Theater Review: Glenn Close as Joan of Arc's Mom

Mother of the Maid

Written by Jane Anderson

Directed by Matthew Penn

Starring Glenn Close

The Public Theater, Manhattan

September 30, 2018

Mother of the Maid had the feeling of a star vehicle written for Glenn Close. It is basically a “what if” play, in which we are asked to see a condensed history of Joan of Arc through the eyes of a pretty normal mother. I suppose one intent is to de-mythologize the famous, a pretty typical theme these days. Another is a more familiar attempt to show the power of family bonds, no matter what the situation. For me the best scene occurred in the dungeon where Joan was chained by the English, minutes before her burning at the stake. Mom (Glenn Close) was in there with her, comforting her, attending to her creature comforts, trying to provide solace. This was where the play was at its best, as Joan became a vulnerable girl about to endure an unspeakable torture, and her mother resolved to do whatever it took to make her experience less excruciating. Close here showed enormous warmth and empathy that radiated throughout the smallish wrap-around theater. Elsewhere, the play consisted of a history of Joan, as explained or described by others, along with the responses of her mystified parents. The playwright did a good job of balancing the acceptance in the middle ages of visions and miracles as a normal thing with the incredulity of the parents that her daughter’s talking with St. Catherine was really that big of a deal, certainly not enough to dress up in men’s attire and run off to try to lead an army, thus ruining her local prospects for marriage. The problem was that there were just a few too many scenes that felt like an old comedy sketch I remember about Adolf Hitler’s mother-“Adolf, I know you are busy invading the Soviet Union and killing millions of Jews, but can’t you ever write your mother or wear clean underwear?”. The play’s text similarly dances on the edge of comedy, but is not really funny enough to take us all the way there, and playwright Anderson does not really have enough ideas to sustain the two hour length. She’s written five prior plays, but mostly writes for TV and some movies, with a few TV writing/directorships (e.g. the HBO film Normal about a man’s gender transition). The play had a TV movie feel to it, not quite probing depths or expressing creative language that might have made the play elevate to a higher level.

Glenn Close was excellent, in spite of several memory lapses that she handed with the poised aplomb that only dominating stars can. She demonstrated a wide dramatic range from anger to profound sorrow, delivering a pretty classic old-school star turn. One of the great things about off-Broadway theater is the occasional chance to see a mega-star up close in a small theater, and I enjoyed this one, despite the not-outstanding material. Her co-cast was excellent, filled with appropriate role players that created their own moments while not pushing in on Close’s dominating role. Matthew Penn’s direction was crisp, with good stage movement, avoidance of gimmicks, and blocking that effectively focused attention on the central characters. Since the characters were either peasants from the Meuse area in northern France or royalty, he faced a decision on how to have them speak English. Oddly, he let the “peasants” choose their own accents, which ranged from Irish to North Dakota in style, and there was not quite enough contrast with the aristocratic speech, either in the script or its execution. This was a significant error, since the story of Joan relies on class distinctions (she is used by the king to achieve transient victory, then thrown to the wolves (English)). The minimalistic sets and lighting were effective at setting the characters in the fore with minimalistic style—e.g. the dungeon was just a dark space with a chain coming out of one wall, attached to Joan. This was an entertaining, if ultimately superficial afternoon at the theater, but was a nice chance to see a star doing her turn.