Why We Need To Find Our Creative Truth
How two unconnected events confirmed my belief in creative Honesty.
Thank you for reading the JasonWard Creative Substack. This week I write about the importance of basing our creative work on honesty and truth. I hope you enjoy reading my work and I would love you to support what I do by subscribing which is currently free of charge and gives you access to over 70 articles, podcasts and playlists. I write new pieces every week about creativity, culture, theatre and the arts. It would be great to have you along with me!
I love the phrase ‘the stars aligned’. When we talk about the stars aligning what we really mean is that our planet has rotated and tilted in such a way that a random group of celestial objects now seems to have a recognisable and defined form. No more are these lights in the night sky just scattered stars but they have become Ursa Major, The Plough or The Big Dipper. And as the earth keeps turning the alignment shifts and the shapes fade away for a few weeks to be replaced with new ways of understanding the heavens.
I had a similar creative alignment with work I am doing on three different one person cabaret shows. I knew how I felt about each piece and how they could be developed but, as with all creatives, I had that little voice questioning my choices, asking me if I was being a little too dogmatic about my vision and suggesting that I take the easy route by massaging egos, telling people how great they are and moving on. But I can’t work like that because I believe strongly how shows should be created and presented. In fact, as this creative alignment moved into focus it became clear that what I believe about shows is what I also love and admire in other art forms.
But despite having a strong creative vision and belief, I needed more. Just like the ancient astronomers who knew there was something in the sky but were not sure how it all fitted together, I needed the proof and the confirmation that what I believed in was right and had value.
You see what I firmly believe is that when you create a show for yourself it needs to be honest and it needs to have truth. You can put together a show full of great songs, funny jokes or amazing illusions but, unless, there is truth, meaning and a reason for each song/gag/trick to be in the show then all you are doing is presenting a playlist. This belief has not always been easy to communicate and there have been times when I have been creating or directing and I have backed down from implementing it.
But over the last week two unconnected events helped me gain more security and confirmation in my creative beliefs. Firstly I read a wonderful Substack piece by Tim Lott called Psychological Barriers To Writing and, secondly, I had a great chat with a relative who is a world renowned soprano and Professor of Vocal studies. They both talked about Truth in Creativity.
In Tim’s piece he says “The writer is someone who is struggling for The Truth.” This might sound counter-intuitive because we want writers to tell us good stories in the same way that we want a cabaret performer to sing us some good songs but, as Tim writes, unless the writer’s work is built on an honest creative foundation then it risks being poor quality. The writer might still create a great story but, Tim suggests, it won’t be great writing. Likewise there are performers with shows full of jokes they have heard elsewhere or songs that they know get a reaction but with which they have no emotional, professional or personal connection. My opinion was always that these will be good shows but that they will never be great.
After many years of creating, managing and producing entertainment for cruise lines I have seen literally thousands of cabaret performers from singers, strippers and comics to drag acts, jugglers and a bloke who plays the theremin. I managed a team that issued 8000 contracts a year for cruise ship cabaret performers and I have been to huge amounts of auditions, showcases and performances as well as coaching entertainers into being Disney appropriate! Maybe I was just bored of it all and the question of truth and honesty was an excuse to find fault with an art form that I was over.
But then the second event happened. I spent a couple of days with my brother in law, Pablo, and his wife, Alex. She is a world renowned soprano who also now teaches the very best and brightest young opera talent. Alex talked about helping young singers discover their voice both literally and figuratively. She helps them create a repertoire that they can use for auditions, concerts and recitals. And this is where my creative constellation came into full alignment because Alex tells her young students the same thing about building repertoire that I tell performers about building shows and that Tim Lott advises on writing: there must be Truth in what we create.
In my work this means helping artists to create shows that are based on their truth. I worked with a wonderful comic who won a TV Talent show in the UK but had a cruise ship show full of material that he didn’t love. For his national theatre tour, we worked on developing a whole load of original and personal comic songs he had written which were incredible. He talked about the toll on his mental health from performing material that wasn’t true to who he was. As a creative he needs to present and perform work that is based on his truth.
If we create work that is not based on truth we place a limit on our own development and the potential of what we are creating. Our audience - whether in a theatre, a gallery or reading our books - knows when the work is not truthful. They feel the lack of depth and honesty and value the work appropriately. Whereas, when we put honesty at the heart of our creativity our work has more value, it is more satisfying and, above all it is better!
Thank you for reading The JasonWard Creative Substack. I hope you enjoyed this piece and would love you to help support my work by subscribing. Right now subscription is totally free and gives you access over 70 articles, podcasts and playlists. Thank you so. much for your time and I look forward to sharing more with you every week.
Footnote:
The best example of a cabaret show created with truth is A Leap In The Dark by Broadway leading lady Arielle Jacobs. In the show Arielle talks about her struggles with bullying, Bells Palsy and getting work on Broadway, threading in songs that tell her story together with numbers from the Broadway shows she has starred in. It is a masterclass in creativity.
Check Out A Leap in the Dark on Spotify:
