Jane Maridova (Lana Whittington) is forced into complicity in the Blood Ritual. Costume by Delena Bradley. Lighting by Benjamin Dionysus. Photo by iNDie Grant Productions
Last year, I ran a little workshop with the script for Countess Bathory. My ulterior motive was to work on ways I might communicate better as a director, but I also wanted to locate cuts and expand and diversify the women of the cast. Although most characters benefited from this process, by the far the most successful was Jane Maridova.
In the original script, Jane had two lines and barely a name. The only reason she had this name was so Helena Jo could go on a creepy sex-joke tangent about “Scabby Jane,” in order to link this play to Sycorax (which I might now never write). Since then, Jane has expanded to three scenes and has a clearer arc, perhaps the most representative of the cycle of cultist abuse.
Jane first appears as the victim of a con-woman attempting to steal her inheritance. Misfortunate forces her into the circle of Bathory’s servants, where she is quickly compelled to make a choice: abandon her entire personality and swear allegiance to Elizabeth Bathory, or die. Immediately after abandoning all her principles, she is ordered to prove her loyalty through complicity in their abuse. Though she is clearly not onboard with this new life (at least in our production), the next act sees her in full Menagerie mode, making derisive (and blasphemous) sex jokes alongside Helena Jo and adapting her own physicality to the animalistic behavior of Csejthe Castle.
Jane is unique amongst Bathory’s victims because she fights for so long. She does not submit demurely to the huckster Witch, nor even to Bathory at first. Even in the ritual scene, when the Witch is standing there holding a knife, Jane boldly strides up to her and calls her out for what she is. Still, like most of us, when the specter of death becomes a very real thing standing in front of her, she abandons her strength in order to survive. This strength is reborn in the form of cruelty and mockery, just like Helena Jo, or Anna Darvolya, or even the Witch. As King Matthias says,
“The strong are prosperous
And hold their sway: the weak shall pass away.”
Jane is a foil for Kate, who resists complicity as much as she is able. Ostensibly, Jane suffers less for playing along, but she also becomes largely indistinguishable from the other ‘animals’ of Bathory’s court. She is also one of very few characters whose fate we never learn. All we get is a cryptic aside from Helena Jo, “she is gone,” in reference to Scabby Jane, which might not even be a literal reference to Jane Maridova. Jane survives, presumably, but fades away into nothing.
COUNTESS BATHORY is back Thursday – Saturday. Be sure to reserve your FREE seats now!
June 9 – 25
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm
4001 N Ravenswood Ave, Ste 405
ALL SEATS ARE FREE