美国国家公共电台 NPR She's Mom To A Headstrong Teen — Who Happens To Be Joan Of Arc

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Joan of Arc has become such an emblematic¹ figure - a saint of the Catholic Church, the inspiration of so many novels and films and, of course, George Bernard Shaw's iconic play. We might sometimes forget she was a real teenage girl who was burned at the stake in 1431. She did farm work, and she had parents who loved her and were with her until her end. Glenn Close plays Joan of Arc's mother Isabelle - a strong, steely loving woman - in Jane Anderson's new play, "Mother of the Maid," now at New York's Public Theater.

GLENN CLOSE: (As character) Isabelle's grateful to have a daughter as healthy and hearty² as her Joan. She's grateful for her sons, who are healthy and hearty as well. She's grateful that the English haven't slaughtered³ them all, like they did the LeBecks. Nancy LeBeck was Isabelle's best friend. They gossiped and laughed while they spun⁴. Isabelle badly misses her friend. And, sometimes, she wishes her Joan would be a little more chatty.

I'd never been asked to play a 15th-century peasant woman, so I knew it was going to be a challenge.

SIMON: A 15th-century woman who doesn't like that term peasant, as we learn in the play, and when she's called that by French nobility.

CLOSE: Oh, yes. Well, she says that they're poor.

SIMON: It's refreshing⁵, among other things in this play, to see Joan as a real teenager, willful, moody⁶. Nowadays, she'd be checking Instagram. Do you think Isabelle believes in her daughter's visions, or she just loves and accepts her?

CLOSE: The way I'm playing Isabelle is that she thinks it's just a phase. But when it comes back that the bishop⁷ believes her - bishops⁸ were like kings back then - that Isabelle, who was, on record, an extremely religious woman - that she then believes as well. And she has to believe that the saints and God will protect her daughter.

SIMON: Is this a role where - you researched or you one of those actors who says, just show me the lines? I'll put it all...

CLOSE: No, I was fascinated by the research I did and kind of amazed how little I really knew about Joan. There's some wonderful, wonderful books out there. What - the one that really astounded⁹ me was a translation from French. I'm ashamed that I don't remember the woman's name, but it's all the interviews they did for Joan's second trial, where they overturned her first very rigged trial.

SIMON: And this is where her mother...

CLOSE: Her mother - yes...

SIMON: ...Walked all the way to Paris.

CLOSE: Her mother - yup - actually testified in front of the pope. And the last line of the play, I had a daughter once, was from one of the things that Isabelle Arc said. Anyway, I can go on and on because I did a lot of reading about it. There's a wonderful book called "The Waning¹⁰ Of The Middle Ages" that brilliantly describes what darkness was like, what sounds were like, the fact that with much fewer social strictures, people had more kind of childlike reactions to things, you know? It's fascinating.

SIMON: Is Isabelle torn between the mother's instinct to protect her child and a mother's knowledge that, at some point, you can't protect your child?

CLOSE: Absolutely. And that's another reason why I wanted to do this play because I think, in the world today, there are a lot of mothers who can't protect their children. And I think, as a parent, it's the most agonizing¹¹ thing you can go through.

SIMON: I had a real emotional reaction seeing your play, the scenes where Joan meets her fate. I'll put it that way. And, of course, in Shaw's play - which I'm sure you would agree is great - she - Joan is confident, determined¹² and spiritual and faithful and resigned. But that's not the way we see Joan with her mother, is it?

CLOSE: No.

SIMON: That's...

CLOSE: And, in reality, when you read the eyewitnesses¹³ of her horrible journey to the stake, she was desperately¹⁴ afraid. She was crying and crying out to Jesus. And can you imagine how terrifying? She was only 19 years old.

SIMON: I didn't know about Isabelle until I - confess - entered the public theater, or she just - she'd just been a reference that I had seen. You see the play, you understand in many ways the figure that we now identify as Joan of Arc, we have to thank her mother, Isabelle, for. And I just don't mean by giving birth and giving her a loving childhood. I mean by putting her name into the history books.

CLOSE: Yes. I - and I think that the fascinating thing about Joan that you read from people who grew up with her - that she was an exceptional child. And the thing that I loved about all the first-hand accounts was how often they used the word gladly. She gladly worked in the field. She gladly went to confession¹⁵. She gladly helped her mother. We - so that, to me, means there is somebody who had a life force, who had - who was a positive who looked at - out in the world, positively¹⁶. But I think her mother lived to be 80. She went and pled her daughter's case in front of the pope. That's an exceptional woman, too. You don't - a peasant, uneducated, and she learned herself - she taught herself how to read...

SIMON: You're talking like the play.

CLOSE: Yeah (laughter).

SIMON: Yeah.

CLOSE: So that is an exceptional woman. And so somewhere in Joan was aspects of her mother, yes.

SIMON: This is not the most important question I've ever asked. Your dog, Pip...

CLOSE: Yeah. Of course, it's important.

SIMON: Well, maybe it is the most important question then - has joined us in the studio. Pip seems to go everywhere with you, right? He was at the theater with you....

CLOSE: He does, yes.

SIMON: He's at dinner with you.

CLOSE: Yes (laughter).

SIMON: Does he ever - backstage, does he ever make his presence known?

CLOSE: Very rarely. We have backstage here a wonderful green room with three big sofas. And he just - he knows the drill. He knows by the sound of the applause coming over the system that it's intermission, and he'll come and wait at the door. So sweet. And he just brings so much happiness into the building.

SIMON: Is live theatre something that keeps you in the game?

CLOSE: Absolutely. The game, for me, is honing my craft even more. And it's joyous¹⁷ for me, and it's problematic. You have to solve a lot of problems of timing¹⁸, of diction, of movement, of thought that - if you weren't clear in a thought, the audience isn't going to be clear on a thought. It's immediate¹⁹, of the moment. It's creating a community in real time that's experiencing the same thing, and it can be electric. And I think in a world where we're getting more and more inured²⁰ to whatever's stimulating²¹ or not stimulating us, to go into a room and to be told a story and and to be able to react on a human level, altogether, is a very comforting and powerful thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF STORY OF M SONG, "JOAN OF ARC")

SIMON: Glenn Close in "Mother Of The Maid" now at New York's Public Theater. She's also in the new film "The Wife."

(SOUNDBITE OF STORY OF M SONG, "JOAN OF ARC")

1 emblematic   

adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性

参考例句：

• The violence is emblematic of what is happening in our inner cities. 这种暴力行为正标示了我们市中心贫民区的状况。
• Whiteness is emblematic of purity. 白色是纯洁的象征。 来自辞典例句

2 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。

3 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

5 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

6 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

7 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

8 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

9 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

10 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 agonizing   

adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式)

参考例句：

• I spent days agonizing over whether to take the job or not. 我用了好些天苦苦思考是否接受这个工作。
• his father's agonizing death 他父亲极度痛苦的死

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

14 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

15 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

16 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

17 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

18 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

20 inured   

adj.坚强的，习惯的

参考例句：

• The prisoners quickly became inured to the harsh conditions.囚犯们很快就适应了苛刻的条件。
• He has inured himself to accept misfortune.他锻练了自己，使自己能承受不幸。

21 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。