COLIN George has a fear that haunts him daily. In order to confront it, the actor-drama teacher works like a military strategist, preparing for battle.
''I don't want to bore anyone for two hours,'' he says of his one-man show.
Tonight, he will raise a literary legend to life in Chekhov and His Black Monk.
The Russian writer whose modus operandi was ''cut everything superfluous'' forces George to prune, streamline and polish the 37-page script during his morning bus ride from Pokfulam to Wan Chai.
But the labour is worth it. George is confident that Anton Chekhov will fare well by him. ''Last year, Shakespeare did,'' referring to his Me and Shakespeare, performed for the Fringe Festival.
Chekhov has appeal today because he is a 20th century man, George believes. The son of a serf, he became a doctor who wrote short stories and plays.
Medicine, Chekhov once said, was his wife; literature, his mistress. George quotes him: '' 'When I get bored with one, I can always spend the night with the other.' '' This solo performance may be George's last in Asia for a while. The British-born actor, who is the head of the acting department of the Hongkong Academy of Performing Arts, is returning to England in August.