I recently had an Opening Night for my show at the Sydney Festival. It was an epic production with an incredible response from the audience. As the after party kicked on I found myself in a corner talking to two people about the show. Their conversation was fuelled by a few drinks, but they were making some good points and it was great to get some feedback. During the discussion I noticed in myself that vulnerable, exposed feeling that artists can get when talking about their work. However, I started to think about how the work that we make must be for the audience, and how we must make ourselves available to our audience and stay in constant communication. And I asked myself can we get a bit too precious at times about the work we are making?

Every artist feels vulnerable putting their work out for public scrutiny, but theatre is such an unforgiving domain where the audience have all bought the right to have an opinion. Then, some of those opinions are blogged, printed or passed by word of mouth. It can be the most exciting time of a career or a real low point but we exist to show our work and connect with audiences.

The natural state of the artist is that we always feel that the show needs more work. People will often ask me if I am happy with the show. My response is “it’s not my job to be happy it’s my job to make it better”. As an artist I am always looking for ways to improve the work, to fascinate on the 5% that isn’t working rather than the 95% that is, to strive for perfection but accepting that perfection is impossible. A great piece of art is never finished.

Back to the Opening Night. I learnt a few valuable lessons that I will have to remember when I am attending Opening Nights for other artists –

1. Always celebrate the achievement. Getting a show on is a marathon.
2. Give your opinion when it is invited. Be specific and not generalised. I find that saying “it was marvellous” is just as generic and useless as saying “I hated it all”.
3. Follow up. The best way to support an artist is to spend time thinking about the production and then perhaps write a letter with your thoughts or have coffee with them.
4. Learn lessons from the artist. What did they learn through this project that you might be able to incorporate in your life or work? Artists have professional doubt mixed with the need for proactive confidence and the Opening Night is where we battle to find the middle ground.

Love, Wesley