January 26, 2017
I have been to several other school plays before so I am not new to the auditorium setting. I have heard some mixed reviews on the play so I was not expecting much. My friends and I arrived a little past 7:15 so the theater was already packed. We had to sit in the far back on the left side. Being a short person it was difficult for me to see the whole stage since there was a much taller person sitting in front of me. When the lights dimmed and the audience drew silent, I grew anxious in my seat, anticipating whats to come. The theater was somewhat small compared to the ones I have been in before. It made me feel more significant.
Accompanying me to the play are two of my friends. To get ready for the performance, our professor advised us to read a study guide on the play so that we have some background information. During the day, I was wearing clothes that would not be appropriate for a play. Therefore, after my classes I walked back home and changed into a more suitable outfit. Attending with friends enhanced my experience because I was able to relay my thoughts on the performance to others and hear their thoughts on it as well.
The setting of the play was Quebec City in 1905 when the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt visited. There were several issues being addressed in this play: child labor, rape, and the unwillingness to showcase social problems in theater. I did not now much about the subject so the play was pretty eye-opening. My views on the issues did not change. Instead, they were supported. I do not believe in child labor and disliked how Talbot dealt with his past. I also believe that social problems should be widely showcased so that people would be aware of the terrible problems going on around them. There is no personal connection with the subject matter and my personal life. However, I do advocate people to be educated in these social issues.
The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt provide us an opportunity for katharsis, "coming clean", because it forces people to come face to face with current issues. The play displayed examples of characters who have come cleaned such as Talbot. He admitted that he was raped by an older priest and that he was not the one who stole the silverware. This, in turn, made Michaud realize the true evils of society. Sarah Bernhardt was not fully aware of the social issues she was trying to display through theater, but she soon realized it when she visited the factory and Leo perished. Though people today, like myself, disagree with child labor, it allowed us to see how different it was back then.