A play, after all, is a mystery. There's no narration. And as soon as there's no narration, it's open to interpretation. It must be interpreted. You don't have a choice... Each play can become many things.
Mike NicholsRead
The reason you do this stuff - comedy, plays, movies - is to be seized by something, to disappear in the service of an idea.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creative work is driven by passion and the desire to express ideas.
Mike Nichols emphasizes that the true essence of engaging in artistic endeavors such as comedy, theater, and film lies in the deep commitment to an idea or concept. The goal is not just to entertain, but to immerse oneself fully in the creative process, allowing the artist to become a vessel for the expression of that idea, ultimately leading to a transcendent experience for both the creator and the audience.
Themes
ArtCreativityPerformanceExpressionIdeas
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote at an arts festival to inspire creativity among performers.
More from Mike Nichols
All quotes →There’s nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you’re meant to do. It’s like falling in love.
Mike NicholsRead
You could say that it's in talking movies that inner life begins to appear. You can see things happen to the faces of people that were neither planned nor rehearsed.
Mike NicholsRead
The thing about being an outsider... is that it teaches you to hear what people are thinking because you're constantly looking for the people who just don't give a damn.
Mike NicholsRead
I've learned that many of the worst things lead to the best things, that no great thing is achieved without a couple of bad, bad things on the way to them, and that the bad things that happen to you bring, in some cases, the good things.
Mike NicholsRead
Plays, especially great plays, yield their secrets over a long period of time. You can't read it three times and say, 'OK, I got it. I know what's happening.'
Mike NicholsRead
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