My love of Russia and Russian theatre was sparked, as you can read in the introduction, by the polyp on the thumb of a KGB Officer. I was invited to attend an informal meeting with a group Russian theatre artists visiting Canada in 1984. The KGB Officer was their “minder” making sure no-one in his group traversed the boundaries of Soviet ideological orthodoxy. During our discussion/encounter, he lit cigarette after cigarette with a cheap Russian knock-off of a Bic lighter. His thumb had developed a polyp, a little protrusion, from the incessant flicking of his Bic. No doubt it made lighting his cigarettes easier. I was fascinated. Six years later I was directing the Bard in Russian at the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow.