Pope Joan - rehearsals begin

This complex and interesting character can seem a little daunting on first reading, so it was vital i did some research to fully understand her story. Pope Joan is a medieval 'legend' that is unconfimed in many publications. It would seem there isnt enough evidence to state that the story is true, nor that it was because of a female Pope that the hole in the chair was created. Some criticise that this famous story was told for scandals sake, to challenge the religious hierachy that stood its ground at the time. You can imagine, Pope John, of high intelligence, above his elders in integrety and deliverence is asked to lead a procession through the streets of Rome. He stops mid-way, complaining of pain in his stomach, he steps off of his horse while the crowds watch in fear - is he being blessed, or perhaps ate too much at the banquet the night before? Then something falls out of him - a small living creature - a baby! Its no wonder they shouted 'The Antichrist!' But then they discover that John is a girl, born Joan.
In this research my first impression is that Joan died quite young, perhaps early to mid-twenties as she only reigned for 2 yrs 4 months. It seemed more appropriate to think of her as this age after my discussion with Leasa in our first meeting.
After this research i also realised the importance of this character, something again that was emphasised by Leasa. I began to read her lines with solitude thinking that i needed to demonstrate her power and weakness. She makes many religious references in her opening lines and i began to preach these. Leasa then explained that Joan needed to have two things in the opening - strength of will but also an ability to laugh! This gave me a new insight to the character.
Her speech about the famous procession then became almost a comical story that she is telling at a party. This gave room for drama when she delivers her final line 'they tied me to a horse by my feet and stoned me to death'. The others characters pause here in recognition of what has happened. I wondered how much Joan cared about the baby, and whether she should have an emotional response when mentioning it.
It was rewarding to experiment with these ideas when the cast got together for our first rehearsal of the restaurant scene. Despite the detailed language of this scene and the many sections of overlapping dialogue, it seemed to flow very well, with each character bringing an underated significance to the table. It was decided that Dull Gret should sit next to Joan. A decision i quite enjoyed, as it gave more scope for comedy moments among the dramatic stories.
An interesting beginning.