Acting Chekhov: courage

Excerpt from The Actor’s Chekhov: Nikos Psacharopoulos and the Company of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, on the Plays of Anton Chekhov:

Interview with Roberta Maxwell:

I learned how to be very courageous from – Mr. Psacharopoulos. On the opening night – after the first preview of The Greeks, he said to me, “You didn’t let that speech go.” Big speech! “Let it go! Let it go!” I said, “I can’t. I’m afraid.” He said, “Let it go tomorrow night.” I said, “I can’t. there are going to be critics out front tomorrow night. I can’t.” He said, “If you’re going to fail, fail trying to be successful. Don’t fail because you’re too scared to be successful.”