The Nun

Adaptor/director
Phoebe von Held

Based on
Diderot's The Nun

Translation
Finn Fordham, Phoebe von Held, Caroline Warman

Set and costumes
Phoebe von Held

Lighting and sound
Michael Lancaster

Cast
Candida Benson, Freya Dominic, Brendan Hooper, Sally Reid, Anne Marie Timoney, Derwent Watson 

Venue
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Circle Studio: 13 March - 5 April 2003

Forced into a life of religious servitude by heartless parents, Suzanne Simonin battles  to regain her freedom from the convent. Trying to prove that she took her vows against her will, she takes up a fight with her mother superior and  the church as an institution at large. Unravelling the sadistic-oppressive effects of organised religion as well as the patriarchal conditions of society and the destructive nature of the convent as a closed institution, Diderot's  'Nun' became a classic of socially engaged enlightenment literature .

The adaptation and theatre production hinge on a practical joke attached to Diderot's epistolary novel : in an epilogue Diderot reveals that it was he himself who had authored the letters supposedly written by the young nun, and that he had done so only to lure  his companion, the much missed Marquis de Croismare, back to Paris, to rejoin their circle of friends. The high moral and political intentions behind the novel are shaken up. Behind the universal humanistic values advocated in The Nun there lurks a patriarchal set of interests and sensibilities which in turn is articulated, interrogated and exposed in the more self-reflexive parts of the text.

The adaptation and theatre production foreground this flickering between political claims and aesthetic self-consciousness by doubling up the character of Suzanne Simonin with a Diderot character as her writer and creator. Using digital sound modification devices, the voice of the Diderot-actor was pitched up to the register of a woman and, vice-versae, the Nun's voice was lowered to the register of a male. 

THE SCOTSMAN: **** As for Phoebe von Held's production of The Nun, playing in the Circle Studio — well, if rebellion against patriarchal religious power is one of the themes of the moment, and Peter Mullan's recent film, 'The Magdalene Sisters', is one of its key texts, then this has to be rated another Citizens' production with an uncannily close relationship to the zeitgeist... Von Held's production makes creepy but effective use of an odd double-voicing technique to explore the moral complexity of this tale, suggesting how narrators manipulate stories to suit themselves, and how human motives always contain a potentially demonic doubleness. And although the production sometimes drifts towards old-fashioned Citizens' posturing and flummery, it boasts a fine, witty central performance from Candida Benson. It is one of the sharpest, funniest shows I've seen about the dilemmas of enlightenment politics, and the weakness of a species whose grand ideas about liberation so often become confused with the simple urge to take liberties.

THE GUARDIAN: ****  Although the bold pyrotechnics and heavily employed sound effects do seem poised to consume the Citizens' small upstairs studio, the piece has too much substance to descend into mere gimmickry. The production is unapologetically stylised, yet its surreal flourishes (such as the exquisite Brendan Hooper's numerous appearances as one of the holy sisters) do not prevent it from giving powerful expression to Diderot's argument about social morality, freedom of religious thought and personal liberty... From the intrigue and fear generated in Suzanne by the sexual advances of the Mother Superior of Arpajon, to its excellent grasp of the philosophy of Diderot's fiction, this tremendously acted, intelligently designed production is another maverick Citizens' triumph.

EDINBURGHGUIDE.COM:  It's almost an alienating experience this play but to a purpose. We're taken to the edge of insanity and fear using religious imagery with modern twists. Watson's is not the only distorted voice, all the casts' are picked up by body mikes and sometimes distorted or overlayed by the same words said in a higher or lower register or by a different voice. When it began I resisted the production with its technical trickery. By the time the first half ended, through both the play and the Circle Studio seats are uncomfortable, I knew Phoebe von Held's extreme production fits such an extreme tale like a silk glove stitched inside with sharp diamonds. This is the second time I've seen Held's approach to theatre direction and design, I forgive her the T-shirts, and salute her individual, very coherent approach.