"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." It was the days leading up to the French Revolution. And while it would be ridiculous to pin the cause of a social upheaval on the scale of the French Revolution on a single cause, the poverty of the masses (exacerbated by a general famine) matched to the conspicuous consumption and feudal privileges of the nobility was clearly a primary instigation.
The following preview audio clip from SCT's A Tale of Two Cities offers a glimpse into this tension, illustrating also the nobility's condescension to the working class, which would soon fall to Enlightenment ideals of citizenship and inalienable rights.
Recorded by SCT Resident Sound Designer Chris Walker, and featuring Allen Galli, Darragh Kennan, David Quicksall, Amy Thone and Rafael Untalan.
A Tale of Two Cities opens March 20, 2009 in SCT's Charlotte Martin Theatre and runs through April 12, 2009.