The Good Life Performance Devin Downs

The Spatial Experience: Despite Contsans Theatre being a fairly small venue, it still invokes a professional feeling as well as the comfort of being in a small-town theatre. The set itself was impressive and really added to the performance, giving a good physical backbone for the ideas and setting of the show. The transitions in between the scenes were quick and also added to the professional feel of the show. The showing I attended was full up to the top row which also made the performance feel important, as there were so many people taking time out of their day to attend. A place can play a large role in the Good Life because despite our efforts, we tend to 'judge a book by it's cover' and we take the venue or location of an event to be the metaphorical 'cover'.

The Social Experience: Attending the performance with friends added to the experience by allowing myself and friends to discuss the show midway through the performance at the intermission. This also allowed me to discuss the performance after the show which heightened the experience, exposing me to the opinions of my friends. Sharing is a large component of the Good Life because sharing experiences allows us to hear the opinions of others and thwarts one-mindedness.

The Cultural and Intellectual Experience: The Divine is a fairly controversial drama as it tells a tale of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and in general, throwing 'shade' on the church. I was not aware of the subject matter of the show prior to attending so I was surprised when the extent to which the Catholic Church was criticized, but I think the shocking and serious tone made the show all the better. The deepened subject matter made the performance resonate deeper with the audience and made it more culturally relevant.

The Emotional Experience: The Divine allows for the audience to experience an intense feeling of Katharsis (social and emotional cleansing) because a very controversial topic is covered, but since we experience it, we feel like we can properly stop the further occurrence of said tragedy. Child assault has been a prominent issue in the Catholic church and still happens today which makes the audience feel sorry for the children affected, but since we are able to address the issue, we feel that the suffering of the children is justified.

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