The Spatial Experience:
(The picture above is a picture I took of the sky... I could not caption it so I'm adding it here)
At first, I could not find the Constans Theatre since I was unaware that the building was part of the Reitz Union building. I managed to find my way because there were people dressed up headed in one direction. When I managed to enter the auditorium, everyone was socializing with the people they had attended the performance with. This went on for twenty to thirty minutes, until the lights dimmed. Everyone started to quiet down at once. The dark, the quiet, and the beautiful stage, from which white feathers seemed to be slowly falling, made me feel serene. I was enthusiastic for the play to start. When the theatre got darker, everyone fell completely silent. Then there was music and all the attention was directed to the front stage. The size and openness of the auditorium amplified the sound well. It made me feel small, especially since there were so many people packed into the same place. I sat on the right side of the auditorium when facing the play. I was mid distance from the acting and the back wall, so seeing expressions clearly and was a challenge. Had I sat somewhere front and center, I would have been encapsulated completely by the visual and auditory components of the acting. The role of place in the Good Life is for people to enjoy certain aspects at a certain time. Everyone is watching the same play at the same time, in a beautiful theatre, which brings us together in a sense. We are brought together by the appreciation of the same art at a unified point in time, and by the feelings that encapsulate us by both the place and the event(s) witnessed.
The Social Experience:
I dressed formally to attend this play because I know that the actors and actresses have put much effort into delivering a work of art for the audience and the least we could do is treat the occasion with respect. I attended the play alone, since I did not know anyone that was going to the play on the same day as I was. Attending it alone is better, I think, since I can focus more on the play itself rather than what my partner is thinking or feeling.
The Cultural and Intellectual Experience:
The central issue in the performance was religion interfering with Sarah Bernhardt’s ability to perform in Quebec city, but it was also evident that the playwright wanted to mainly highlight the social injustices that occurred to the working class. I did not know much about social injustices from this era, except that children were left with no choice but to start working an absurd amount of hours at a very young age and for an unfair wage. The performance made me admire Sarah Bernhardt for speaking with no hairs on her tongue and for standing up to the Catholic church when the church tried to suppress her art because of the controversial matters it addressed. The performance changed my views by making me more skeptical towards the motives behind the actions of the church. Censorship is still a topic of debate in the modern world. I believe that censorship limits and often hinders progress. Furthermore, it is unconstitutional, as it defies the freedom of speech granted to citizens in the First Amendment. The issue of poverty is also still relevant in the United States. It definitely is not as present to the extent that it used to be in the 1900s, but inequalities between the working class and the upper class are still prodigious-- much larger than they should be considering the amount of work that each puts in.
The Emotional Experience:
The central issue in the performance was religion interfering with Sarah Bernhardt’s ability to perform in Quebec city, but it was also evident that the playwright wanted to mainly highlight the social injustices that occurred to the working class. I did not know much about social injustices from this era, except that children were left with no choice but to start working an absurd amount of hours at a very young age and for an unfair wage. The performance made me admire Sarah Bernhardt for speaking with no hairs on her tongue and for standing up to the Catholic church when the church tried to suppress her art because of the controversial matters it addressed. The performance changed my views by making me more skeptical towards the motives behind the actions of the church. Censorship is still a topic of debate in the modern world. I believe that censorship limits and often hinders progress. Furthermore, it is unconstitutional, as it defies the freedom of speech granted to citizens in the First Amendment.
The issue of poverty is also still relevant in the United States. It definitely is not as present to the extent that it used to be in the 1900s, but inequalities between the working class and the upper class are still prodigious-- much larger than they should be considering the amount of work that each puts in.
Credits:
All by me.