"When the curtain falls, the best thing an actor can do is to go away"
- Harold MacMillan
About this Quote
Harold MacMillan's quote, "When the drape falls, the best thing a star can do is to go away," offers rich insight into the nature of efficiency, identity, and the impermanence of public roles. On the surface, the quote might appear to use strictly to actors in the theater. In this context, it indicates that when an efficiency ends, the star's duty is to retreat, enabling the audience to take in and analyze the performance without additional commentary or presence. This retreat highlights the separation between the actor's phase persona and their unofficial identity, suggesting that both the star and the audience may benefit from a period of range after the intensity of an efficiency.
Diving much deeper, the quote can be seen as a metaphor for the need to relinquish public roles and accept personal reinvention. In various aspects of life, people perform or assume functions-- be it in professional settings, social environments, or personal relationships. "When the drape falls" signifies any conclusion or end of a considerable phase. The recommendation "to go away" can be comprehended as a support to step back, show, and perhaps reassess one's future steps, avoiding the risk of ending up being trapped or extremely identified with a single function.
Furthermore, the quote touches upon notions of humbleness and self-awareness, as the focus on departure underscores the concept that no function or performance outlasts its relevance. This recommends a knowledge in knowing when to step aside and allow area for new narratives and actors to emerge. It encourages an understanding of life as a series of acts and functions, each with a limited span, prompting one to with dignity leave when the time is right. Eventually, MacMillan's words remind us of the value of transience and versatility, urging the approval of modification as important to development and individual evolution.
"Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality"