ABSTRACT
I asked. ‘Play the “Madman” and you’ll under stand who the leader, the drive, the
general is.’ The students said nothing, looked at each other, found it hard to stand up.
Finally, one after the other, they all rose and reluct antly went up onstage. But Tortsov stopped them: ‘It’s good that you made an effort. That shows that you have some kind of
will power. But . . .’ ‘That means it’s the general,’ Vanya decided in a flash. ‘But you were going up onstage like men about to die, against your will,
not because of it. That’s no basis for being creat ive. If you are cold inside, your feel ings are cold and without warmth of feeling there can be no exper i en cing, no art. But if you were to rush up onstage as one man, with all the artistic passion you are capable of, then we could talk about will, creat ive will.’
