Scrisse l'autore a proposito dell'opera nel 2003, in occasione della première berlinese in cui egli stesso compariva a fianco dei protagonisti: "The fear is that we won’t go gently or abruptly into that good night. We will hang on in the endurance trials of old age, forever rehearsing in the early morning twilight, fortified by a few hours of faulty sleep, the plot or why there is no plot, the explanations, the why, the lists, the old grievances never to be settled now, the stories never told or passed on, the interruptions, the terrifying proportions, everything larger than it is known to be, distorted in the mirror, and again and again. Old people are special because they have no future. The future is what to eat for breakfast or where did I leave my shoes. Everything else is in the past. So, sometimes old people break the rules. Especially the rules of conversation and being together. They laugh a lot. I mean real full laughter. They break the rules, because, for one reason or another (illness, anger, damage, whatever), the rules no longer apply for them. They are alone. Sometimes they are sad. Sometimes they are desperate. Mostly they are brave. Mostly they have given up on the promises of religion, life after death, immortality. Mostly they are concerned with dignity. Living with dignity. And, like all of us, eventually dying with dignity. But they are still obliged, as human beings, to make sounds. They are obliged to speak – whether or not anyone is listening."
https://roulette.org/event/celestial-excursions-robert-ashley-1
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