Literature Network » George Bernard Shaw

Enter stage left: on the trail of the Maid of Orleans ; CITY BREAK ++ As the National Theatre opens its new production of George Bernard Shaw's 'Saint Joan', Marcus Field is inspired to visit the city that she made famous

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From: The Independent on Sunday
Date: 20070708
Author:Marcus Field

As you gaze over the rippling green surface of the river Loire at the medieval stone houses clustered around the soaring cathedral of Orleans, about 70 miles south-west of Paris, it is hard to imagine a more peaceful scene. And yet the prospect could hardly have appeared more different for the 17-old-girl who stood on these banks in 1429 and prepared to attack the British troops that had laid siege to the city for the previous five months.

"Who is for God and His Maid? Who is for Orleans and with me?" cried Joan of Arc, as she rallied her troops for battle and victory in what was to be the ...

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