What People Think

If you’re creating anything at all, it’s really dangerous to care about what people think.

~ Kristen Wiig

There’s an old adage in the theatre: ‘Bad Dress, Good Show.’ Unfortunately, the converse is also true.

Several years ago, I played ‘God’ in a devised theatre piece called Perfect Day. Due to a tight rehearsal schedule, the Dress Rehearsal was held on the afternoon of the first public performance. The opening scene had gone especially well. The comic interplay was sparkling, the energy between the Devil (played by my friend Allison) and myself was flowing freely and we were hitting all our cues with punch and alacrity. As we came offstage; and as the dress continued apace: we were delighted with how it was going. To cut a long story short, the Dress was a success!
Extremely happy with how the work had progressed and anticipating a great show that night; we went to dinner with the rest of the cast.
When we came back to the theatre for the performance that evening; our First Night, remember: the excitement had not abated. But our energy was a little erratic. We had let the excitement generated by the afternoon’s successful performance seep in and corrupt our focus.
When the curtain rose before a paying audience…something was wrong. The energy and ‘attack’ with which we had seared through the afternoon’s Dress performance had dissipated. The opening scene; which had sparkled and hit every target just a few hours before: seemed plodding, heavy-footed and slow. There was something just not quite right about the whole thing; it wasn’t a disaster…anyone seeing the play for the first time would never have known the difference, but we did…and so did the director.
When Allison and I came offstage after the opening scene, the director had sent a note backstage telling us to sit down, refocus our concentration and get our energy levels back up to what they had been in the Dress. All of this is par for the course and fairly usual in any theatre. What happened next, however, was not.
The stage manager, just after she had delivered the director’s note, rather dismissively remarked: “Ha! Noeleen (the director) says you’re not focussed!!” That offhand, unprofessional and unthinkingly cruel remark destroyed our confidence for the rest of the performance. Regaining focus after that was going to prove very difficult, if not impossible. And, indeed, it was impossible! We never regained the focus and energy of the earlier performance. But, of course, the show must go on. And go on it did. But it never reached the heady heights of the Dress Rehearsal.
Even if the audience had been largely unaware that something wasn’t quite right; we knew that the opening night had been a damp squib…it was a flop!

I recount this story now; almost twenty years after the fact: to illustrate the quote from Kristen Wiig above.
If you’re creating anything at all; especially anything in the realm of the arts: it is really dangerous to care about what people think. The wrong word or criticism; whether it is meant as encouragement or cruelty, irrespective of how innocuous it may seem to a casual observer: can be devastating to an artist. Any artist.

To my knowledge, Cosmofunnel is unique among websites. This is the only place on the internet where the members are invariably encouraging, supportive and nurturing towards one another. It is a safe place to share your work with fellow artists, where we can all be reasonably sure that no one will tear us down, abuse or catcall us merely for the sake of spite, malice or self-aggrandisement.
We support and inspire one another in a way which is probably unheard of elsewhere on this information superhighway. It’s one of the reasons I adore this site and so many of the people I’ve met here.

But…here’s the BUT…even the most encouraging and well intentioned words can change the way an artist feels and thinks about and approaches his or her own work. And the wrong words; regardless of their intention: can destroy an artist’s confidence…sometimes forever.

This piece of writing is technically a ‘Wish’…and so, here is my Wish for you good denizens of cosmofunnel.com…

It is my wish that you will read and heed Kristen Wiig’s words. It is my wish that you will not give a flying toss “…about what people think”! Encouragement and positive reinforcement can be wonderful things; but you should never allow them to distract you from pursuing your own creative vision.
As you go about creating your beautiful, striking and unique works of art; know that it doesn’t matter what others think of you or your work. The only things which should matter to you are what you know to be true, what you want to say about the world and the specific way in which you want to say it.

That is all.