The Politics of Art & Authenticity

When I entered the theater last night to see “House/Divided,” my first impression was negative, just because the building seemed old and decrepit, and I felt like I was about to fall off my chair onto the people on the ground level. And when the presentation finished, my first impression was that it was really interesting – as in, different, cool, strange, weird. Between those two feelings, though, many things went through my head.

The show began and I was immediately captivated. I loved the multimedia aspect of it, but that also made it somewhat confusing. I think the idea behind the production is ingenious, connecting a major historical event to a major recent-day event.

I was drawn into the drama of the foreclosure. The fact that live actors were playing in the show made it very real-life. My heart was beating as I watched a group of men taking apart someone’s house, only because he was late on his mortgage one month! I just wanted to stop them and explain that they couldn’t do it! I couldn’t help but sympathize as I heard phone calls with customer service representatives who were no help. I know the feeling of trying to explain your situation to annoying customer service people who don’t listen to what you have to say, cut you off, and have no feelings. It’s like talking to the wall. The show portrayed this very effectively. Previously, I didn’t feel personally affected by the economic crisis, but now I have a better understanding of what happened and how people’s lives were crushed physically and emotionally.

Although the production was very dynamic, I thought the olden-day part was a little boring and the narrator’s voice really annoying – it was monotone and it just didn’t stress the right words. However, the reference to Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” was very powerful. One reviewer said, “You can look at the story of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and replace the word ‘farm’ with the word ‘mortgage’ or ‘house’ for what is happening now and the story is very much the same.” “House/Divided” effectively compares the two eras and shows how similar the events were. Reading “The Grapes of Wrath” and watching “House/Divided” elicits the same responses and emotions. The characters in both are helpless and paralyzed compared to the powerful people they come up against.

I’m not sure why, but I got the feeling that it wasn’t a completely finished production. Maybe because the video once replayed by mistake, or because a different video was cut off in middle, but I just felt it needed to be rehearsed one more time to make it perfect!

All in all, though, I think “House/Divided” was a great production and the multimedia production was the perfect way to convey its message.