An Actor Prepares

At the start of Chapter 1, Kostya and his acting-class colleagues eagerly anticipate a lesson by Tortsov, the director. However, Tortsov has asked them to prepare performances for him: scenes from various plays in full costume and tech so he can gauge their acting abilities. Kostya pairs with his friend Paul Shustov, and the two decide to play Othello and Iago, respectively. At home, Kostya begins to work with the text, becoming entranced with his interpretation of Othello and adding makeshift props and costume pieces as he rehearses. He is amazed at the way he begins to feel at home in the role, and remembers that Othello, who is “African in origin and must have something suggestive of primitive life, perhaps a tiger, in him” (2). Kostya begins to prowl like an animal, believing that he is successfully finding the character. He works for five hours without noticing. The next day, Kostya oversleeps and arrives late to the theatre. Angrily, the Assistant Director, Rakhmanov, admonishes him for his carelessness and calls off rehearsal, asserting that Kostya’s lateness has ruined the excitement in the room, and “[t]o arouse a desire to create is difficult; to kill that desire is extremely easy” (3).