Published in London Journal of Primary Care, the following is a summary of the Royal Society of Medicine Open Section’s medical humanities conference. Parallels between medicine and theater are used to reflect on dichotomy of consistency and change and that of the objective and the subjective in healthcare. The takeaway is for clinicians to hold onto resilience and compassion which are often at odds with the pressures of working within systems. Lastly, Professor Bowman concludes that in order to ask someone to practice in a compassionate way, like an actor in a play, clinicians need rehearsal to better give voice to values.