Joan of Arc story onstage

Burnaby actors will be taking to the stage in the story of Joan of Arc, onstage at Douglas College.

The Douglas College theatre and stagecraft departments are staging Jehanne of the Witches, running Nov. 12 to 19 at the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre at the college's New Westminster campus.

Burnaby residents Vikki Brown and David Hollinshead star in the production.

The play, written by Sally Clark, tells the story of Joan of Arc through Gilles de Rais, a knight who served alongside Joan whom Clark identifies as Joan's best friend. In nearly all accounts of Joan's life, de Rais - who is most famous for being an alleged serial killer of children - is mostly absent.

"He's been taken off the books," says Thrasso Petras, who's directing the production. "He's as much as possible been removed from the story because it doesn't sound like the Catholic Church's version of what happened. Editing out her relationship with de Rais takes away the complexity of Joan's story."

Petras says the Jehanne production looks at Joan not as a virgin saint and martyr but as a real girl in the process of becoming a woman, and one who is struggling with her faith at a time when the pagan world was on the wane and the Christian world on the ascent.

Despite the serious subject matter, Petras describes Jehanne of the Witches as a black comedy.

"It's quite irreverent," he says. "It takes jabs at the church, but at the same time it's a realistic investigation of faith, of where one's allegiance lies, and what causes this desire to seek out that faith or need that faith. So it's taking pokes at the Church, but not at faith."

The theatre is at 700 Royal Ave. Tickets are $8 to $12, available at 604-521-5050.