''The Visions of Simone Machard'' (german: Die Gesichte der Simone Machard, links=no) is a play by the German

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

playwright

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. Written in

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

, the play is the second of three treatments of the

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

story that Brecht created (after ''

Saint Joan of the Stockyards ''Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' (german: Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe, links=no) is a play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht between 1929 and 1931, after the success of his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' and d ...

'' (written 1929–1931) and before '' The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen, 1431'' (1952)). The play was jointly written with

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...

and was completed during their exile in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Set in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1940, it portrays Joan as the patron saint of the resistance movement against the Germans. It was first staged in Frankfurt am Main, in 1957. In the play, an adolescent girl named Simone works at a gas station in central

. Her older brother is a soldier in the army, and the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

forces are approaching. While engrossed in a book about Saint Joan, she slips into a series of dreams in which the real persons in her life take on other identities. Her brother appears as an angel, her boss as the coward Connetand, and herself as Saint Joan who helps starving refugees and defies her employer. In real life she sets fire to a secret supply of gasoline before the Germans can get to it. In her dream, she is captured and sentenced to death, but in real life she is not yet considered a saboteur. The Germans hand her over to the French as a mere arsonist, and she is led away by nuns to a mental institution.

References

Bibliography

* Calabro, Tony, ''Bertolt Brecht and the Art of Dissemblance'', Longwood Academic, 1990. 1942 plays Plays by Bertolt Brecht Works about Joan of Arc Plays based on real people Plays about World War II {{1940s-play-stub