Filed by Trevor at 1:46 pm under The Arts

“Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time” — Dave Van Ronk

If there are any lessons I’ve been learning, they would be that the only insults that really hurt are the ones you fear are true, and that the people that aggravate you the most are the ones that remind you of yourself. Or, at least, those parts of yourself you’re not terribly fond of. Thus, I can’t stand those who give excoriating critiques of the artistic endeavors of others simply because they don’t measure up to that person’s ostensibly lofty standards. And having said all this, you can probably guess why these people bother me.

I admit it: I am a huge snob. I’ve long feared that the more knowledge one acquires about any given field destroys its mystery and thus limits one’s enjoyment of it, but now I know this to be ridiculous. It isn’t knowledge that has this effect: it’s mindset. If I go into a performance subconsciously expecting to find flaws, I will find them. And as knowledge amplifies our perception of what is flawed, I will probably find much more than I would have ordinarily and then, as a bonus, be able to provide a string of witty criticisms together with plenty of pedantic details to round it out. Such is my temperament.

However, knowledge has also amplified my perception of what is excellent, what is difficult to execute successfully, and thus enables me to enjoy them more completely. For example, even just a few months ago I had no idea how difficult it is to act convincingly without the benefit of the written word and inflection of voice. But now after having worked on The Black Duckling and observed first-hand the process by which the actors made their characters come to life, the emotional impact of the show was even more potent. The list gets longer as I examine the things I’ve learned about music, theatre, dance and beyond, various techniques and forms of execution that I would undoubtedly have passed over had I never been made aware of them.

Having an unalloyed reputation as an opinionated and discriminating person is a mixed curse. While it may give whatever positive criticism I have a more sincere slant, fundamentally it only stimulates a chorus of eye-rolls and, even worse, reduces a person’s willingness to be any less unforgiving of my own stabs at artistic expression. It’s not that honesty isn’t truly the best policy; I feel it is. But ultimately, I’m discovering, the preferable response from this point forward may be just to shut up and enjoy the show.