Extension or keepsake

Say a small puppet theatre in Cairo becomes loved. Families queue on weekend afternoons. Children who came with their parents start bringing children of their own.

Success brings an itch to do more with the name, and there are two very different kinds of more.

One is to build something new that carries what made the original special. A short season for teenagers, with darker stories. A Saturday class where children make puppets and perform a scene for their families. These keep the essence, the hand-made magic and the shared gasp in the dark, and add something that did not exist before. People who loved the theatre find a fresh reason to love it, and people who never came find a new way in.

The other is the keyring. The tote bag with the logo, the soft toy of the most famous character, the fridge magnet. None of them makes anyone's afternoon better. They remind you that you once had a good afternoon, and that is all they do.

Nothing wrong with a reminder. The theatre will make a little money and lose nothing by selling a few. But the gift counter is not where it grows, and it is not what anyone will remember it for. Fill the foyer with enough of them and the place starts to feel like a shop with a stage at the back.

The same choice faces anyone who has made one thing people liked. The next thing can continue the work, adding to it. Or it can be a keepsake of the last one. Both are allowed. Only one of them takes you anywhere.