Introduction: Set in the nineteenth century, the journey of two seminarians bond over their trek to deliver a message to the great Sarah Bernhardt. The play touches on a lot of economic and social statuses.
The Spatial Experience: Upon entering the Constans Theatre, I was overwhelmed by the set on stage. The setting depicted most scenes on stage. Seated in the mid section of the theatre, I could see the entire peripheral of the stage. Everything was front and centered, making it comfortable to watch the play. As the lights dimmed signaling the show was soon to start, little bubbles started to float amidst the background of the stage. The audience quiet down and the play began with a great start.
The Social Experience: I attended this play with a hall mate that lives on my floor. Despite almost mistaken the Phillips Center as the Constans Theatre, we arrived at the right location on time. I got ready for the play right after my assignments for my other classes. I readied myself by completing a few tasks beforehand. Attending it with friends would be a completely different experience than attending alone. I found that attending with friends to events really gives you time to talk about the event and converse with each other instead of being constantly glued to cellphones like the surrounding peers during intermission. I think shared experiences give you another page in life that you can later think upon and remember the good times from that experience.
The Cultural and Intellectual Experience: I think the central issue from the play expressed people with different social economic classes that had clashes on topics of religion, art, and about life in general. I did not do any prior research on the play before I entered the auditorium to watch the performance so the play was not biased or hindered by previous knowledge. The issues really brought to light on child labor as well as obtaining happiness.
The Emotional Experience: I think the way The Divine makes the audience see Katharsis is through the story of Talbot and Michaud. The way Talbot's life story was told, how he was raped as a kid by a man with "cat eyes" and how at this point he doesn't care what happens in the future because he's come to face his fears. The play also portrayed topics that were socially less talked about. For instance, there was the scene from where Talbot was on screen humping Emma, the scene where Talbot shares his childhood story in tears, and also the part when one of the woman working in the shoe factory had a niece who was decapitate. All these instances are never talked about because people just don't tend to touch on those subjects. It's not because they're taboo to speak about, but generally people tend to look beyond the harsh circumstances.