Comments on: I feel great (no I don’t)

By: Colin Mitchell

Colin Mitchell — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:53:42 +0000

I hear ya, Jay, and I feel ya. And as Sarah says (and Tommy Boy) it’s kind of the nature of the best that is our burden, isn’t it? The ephemeral nature of Art. Especially theatre. That moment in time that comes and then is gone. And yet, we keep coming back to it. The sadness when a show closes is palpable. At least it always is for me, because I know that thing that we brought to the stage each night will NEVER be replicated EVER again. Here and gone. But, man, it was good. And you know the tears and the laughter were real. And every now and then someone comes up to you on the street, or sends you a postcard, or meets you after the show and tells you how the play you wrote, or the performance you gave changed their lives. And then all the bullshit walks and you know you’re making a difference.

By: Jay McAdams

Jay McAdams — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:37:42 +0000

Thanks for the Stoppard quote! That’s great.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:48:27 +0000

Jay, I think one of the greatest myths is that “art for art’s sake” actually exists. I always turn to this Stoppard quote for inspiration:

“Briefly, art – Auden or Fugard or the entire cauldron – is important because it provides the moral matrix, the moral sensibility, from which we make our judgments about the world.” (from Tom Stoppard in Conversation, 1974 interview)

Art may not always make an immediate and tangible impact, but I like Stoppard’s idea that art works on a long-term scale, continually developing our moral relationship to the world. Why should art be any less important than science or medicine? Art’s impact can’t be neatly quantified and measured, but I think all of us at Bitter Lemons recognize the very real qualitative, aesthetic, and emotional power of the arts on our lives – individually and collectively.