The drawing room in Serebryakov’s house. Three doors: to the right, to the left, and in the center. Afternoon.
Voinitsky and Sonya are sitting, and Elena Andreevna is pacing, thinking about something.
VOINITSKY
Herr Professor deigned to express the wish that we all gather in this drawing room by one o’clock. (Looks at his watch) It’s a quarter to one. He wants to impart something to the world.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Probably about doing something.
VOINITSKY
He doesn’t do anything. He writes nonsense, grumbles, and gets jealous, nothing more.
SONYA
(Reproachfully) Uncle!
Well, so, I’m sorry. (Points to Elena Andreevna) Take a look at that: she paces up and down, reeling from laziness. Nice! Very nice!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
You keep droning, droning all day long—aren’t you sick of it? (With anguish) I’m dying of boredom, I don’t know what to do with myself.
SONYA
(Shrugging) There’s a lot to do. You just have to want to.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Like what?
SONYA
Help with the farm work, teach, nurse the sick. There’s a lot. Before you and papa came, Uncle Vanya and I would go to the market ourselves to sell flour.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
I don’t know how. Besides, it’s not interesting. It’s only in ideological novels that they teach and nurse the peasants. How can I suddenly up and start nursing and teaching them?
SONYA
Well, I don’t understand how you cannot go and teach. You’ll get used to it after a while. (Embraces her) Don’t be bored, my dearest. (Laughing) You’re bored, you don’t know what to do with yourself, and your boredom and idleness are contagious. Look, Uncle Vanya does nothing, he only follows you around like a shadow; I drop all my chores and come running to talk to you. I’ve grown so lazy, I can’t tell you! Doctor Mikhail Lvovich used to visit us very rarely, once a month, it was hard to get him here, and now he comes every day, abandoning his forests and his medicine. You must be a sorceress.
Why are you languishing? (With animation) Ah, my dear, my resplendent one, be a smart girl! A mermaid’s blood flows in your veins, so be a mermaid! Let yourself go at least once in your life, fall in love up to your ears with some water sprite and plunge headlong into the depths, so that the Herr Professor and all of us just throw up our arms.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Angrily) Leave me alone! That’s so cruel! (Wants to leave)
VOINITSKY
(Not letting her) All right, all right, my joy, forgive me … I apologize. (Kisses her hand) Peace.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Even a saint wouldn’t have patience enough, you must agree.
VOINITSKY
As a token of peace and harmony, I’m going to bring you a bouquet of roses. I prepared it for you this morning … Autumnal roses—sad and lovely roses … (Exits)
SONYA
“Autumnal roses—sad and lovely roses …”
Both women look out the window.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
It’s already September. How are we going to live here through the winter?
Pause.
Where’s the doctor?
In Uncle Vanya’s room. Writing something. I’m glad Uncle Vanya left, I need to talk to you.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
What about?
SONYA
What about? (Lays her head on Elena’s breast)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Enough, enough, now … (Smooths her hair) Enough.
SONYA
I’m not beautiful.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
You have lovely hair.
SONYA
No! (Turns to look at herself in the mirror) No! When a woman’s not beautiful, they say: “You have lovely eyes, lovely hair …” I’ve loved him for six years now, I love him more than my own mother; I hear him every moment; I feel his handshake; I look at the door, I wait, I keep thinking he’s about to come in. And now, you see, I keep coming to you to talk about him. He comes here every day now, but he doesn’t look at me, doesn’t see me … I suffer so much! I have no hope at all, no, no! (In despair) Oh, God, give me strength … I prayed all night … I often go up to him, start talking to him, look in his eyes … I have no pride anymore, no strength to control myself … Yesterday I couldn’t help myself and confessed to Uncle Vanya that I love … And all the servants know that I love him. Everybody knows.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
And he?
No. He doesn’t notice me.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Musing) He’s a strange man … You know what? Let me talk to him … I’ll be careful, I’ll just hint …
Pause.
Really, how long can one live not knowing … Let me!
Sonya nods affirmatively.
Wonderful. Either he loves you or he doesn’t—it won’t be hard to find out. Don’t be embarrassed, my sweet, don’t worry—I’ll question him carefully, he won’t even notice. We just need to find out: yes or no?
Pause.
If it’s no, he should stop coming here. Right?
Sonya nods affirmatively.
It will be easier if you don’t see him. We won’t put it off, we’ll question him right now. He was going to show me some charts … Go and tell him I wish to see him.
SONYA
(In great excitement) You’ll tell me the whole truth?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Yes, of course. I think the truth, whatever it may be, is still not as terrible as not knowing. Rely on me, my sweet.
Yes … yes … I’ll tell him you want to see his charts … (Goes but stops by the door) No, not knowing is better … Then there’s still hope …
ELENA ANDREEVNA
What’s that?
SONYA
Nothing. (Exits)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Alone) There’s nothing worse than knowing another person’s secret and being unable to help. (Musing) He’s not in love with her—that’s obvious. But why shouldn’t he marry her? She’s not beautiful, but for a country doctor, at his age, she’d make an excellent wife. She’s smart, very kind, pure … No, it’s not that, not that …
Pause.
I understand the poor girl. In the midst of desperate boredom, when some sort of gray blurs are wandering around instead of human beings, when all you hear are banalities, when all they do is eat, drink, sleep, he comes sometimes, unlike all the rest, handsome, interesting, fascinating, like a bright moon rising in the darkness … To succumb to such a man’s charm, to forget oneself … I think I’m even a bit attracted myself. Yes, I’m bored without him, and see how I smile when I think of him … This Uncle Vanya says there’s a mermaid’s blood flowing in my veins. “Let yourself go at least once in your life …” Well, so? Maybe I should … Fly away like a free bird from all of you, from your lifeless faces, your conversations, to forget that you exist … But I’m a coward, I’m timid … My conscience will torment me … He comes here every day, I can guess why he’s here, and I already feel guilty, I’m ready to fall on my knees before Sonya, to apologize, to weep …
(Enters with a map) Good afternoon! (Shakes hands with her) You wanted to see my artwork?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Yesterday you promised to show me what you’re doing … Are you free now?
ASTROV
Oh, of course. (Spreads a map on the card table and attaches it with pins) Where were you born?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Helping him) In Petersburg.
ASTROV
And educated?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
At the conservatory.
ASTROV
For you this probably won’t be interesting.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Why? It’s true I don’t know country life, but I’ve read a lot about it.
ASTROV
I have my own table here in the house … In Ivan Petrovich’s room. When I’m completely worn out, to the point of utter stupefaction, I drop everything and come running here, and amuse myself with this stuff for an hour or two … Ivan Petrovich and Sofya Alexandrovna click on the abacus, and I sit beside them at my table and daub away, and I find it warm, peaceful, and the cricket chirps. But I don’t allow myself this pleasure very often, maybe once a month … (Points to the map) Now look here. The picture of our district as it was fifty years ago. The dark- and light-green colors indicate forests; half of the entire surface is taken up by forests. Where there’s red cross-hatching on the green, it means that moose and wild goats lived there … I indicate both flora and fauna. On this lake lived swans, geese, ducks, and, as old folks say, there was a power of birds of all sorts, countless numbers of them: huge flocks flying over. Besides villages and hamlets, you see, there were various settlements scattered here and there, farmsteads, Old Believers’ hermitages,6 watermills … Lots of cattle and horses. Indicated by the color blue. For instance, in this area it’s dark blue; there were whole herds of horses, and there were three horses for every farm.
Pause.
Now let’s look lower. There’s how it was twenty-five years ago. Here only a third of the whole area is under forest. No more wild goats, but still some moose. The green and blue are more pale. And so on, and so forth. Let’s go to the third part: the map of the district in our time. There’s some green here and there, not solid but patchy; the moose, the swans, the wood grouse have disappeared … Of the former hamlets, farmsteads, hermitages, watermills—not a trace. In general the picture of a gradual and unquestionable degeneration, which will take some ten or fifteen more years to become complete. You’ll say it’s the influence of civilization, that the old life should naturally yield its place to the new. Yes, I understand, if these destroyed forests were to be replaced by highways and railroads, if factories, mills, and schools were to come—the people would become healthier, wealthier, smarter, but there’s nothing of the sort! The same swamps and mosquitos, impassable roads, abject poverty, typhus, diphtheria, fires … We’re dealing here with a degeneration caused by the desperate struggle for existence; it’s a degeneration from stagnation, ignorance, a total absence of self-awareness, when a cold, hungry, sick man, in order to salvage what’s left of his life, to save his children, instinctively, unconsciously seizes upon anything that can appease his hunger and keep him warm, destroying everything without thinking about tomorrow … Almost everything has already been destroyed, but nothing has yet been created in its place. (Coldly) I see by your face that you’re not interested.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
But I understand so little about it …
ASTROV
There’s nothing to understand here, you’re simply not interested.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
To be frank, my mind is elsewhere. Forgive me. I need to interrogate you a little, and I’m embarrassed, I don’t know how to begin.
ASTROV
Interrogate?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Yes, interrogate, but … it’s quite innocent. Let’s sit down!
They sit down.
It concerns a certain young person. We’ll talk as honorable people, as friends, without beating around the bush. We’ll talk, and then forget what we talked about. All right?
ASTROV
All right.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
It has to do with my stepdaughter Sonya. Do you like her?
ASTROV
Yes, I respect her.
Do you like her as a woman?
ASTROV
(Not at once) No.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Another two or three words—and we’re done. Have you noticed anything?
ASTROV
No.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Takes his hand) You don’t love her, I can see it by your eyes … She’s suffering … Understand that and … stop coming here.
ASTROV
(Stands up) My time’s already gone by … And I’m also busy. (Shrugs) When could I? (He is embarrassed)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Ech, what an unpleasant conversation! I’m as nervous as if I’ve been carrying a ton of weight on my shoulders. Well, thank God, it’s over. Let’s forget it, as if we hadn’t talked at all, and … and leave. You’re an intelligent man, you understand …
Pause.
I’ve even turned all red.
ASTROV
If you’d told me a month or two ago, I might have thought it over, but now … (Shrugs) And if she’s suffering, then of course … There’s just one thing I don’t understand: what was the need for this interrogation? (Looks her in the eye and shakes his finger at her) Aren’t you a sly one!
What do you mean?
ASTROV
(Laughing) A sly one! Let’s say Sonya’s suffering, I’m willing to grant that, but why this interrogation? (Quickly, preventing her from speaking) Excuse me, don’t look surprised, you know perfectly well why I come here every day … Why and for whose sake I come, you know perfectly well. My dear predator, don’t look at me like that, I’ve been around …
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Bewildered) Predator? I don’t understand.
ASTROV
A beautiful, furry weasel … You need victims! For a month now I’ve done nothing, I’ve dropped everything, greedily seeking you out—and you like it so much, so much … Well, then? I’m defeated, you knew it without any interrogation. (Crosses his arms on his chest and bows his head) I surrender. Go on, gobble me up!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
You’re out of your mind!
ASTROV
(Laughing through his teeth) Aren’t you a timid one …
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Oh, I’m better than you think, I’m above that! I swear to you! (Wants to leave)
ASTROV
(Blocking her way) I’ll leave here today, I won’t come back, but … (Takes her hand, looks around) Where are we going to see each other? Tell me quickly: where? Someone may come in, tell me quickly. (Passionately) How wonderful, resplendent … One kiss … Just to kiss your fragrant hair …
I swear to you …
ASTROV
Why swear? There’s no need to swear. No need for superfluous words … Oh, how beautiful! What hands! (Kisses her hands)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Enough … go away … (Pulls her hands back) You forget yourself.
ASTROV
Say, then, say where we’ll see each other tomorrow? (Puts his arm around her waist) You see, my love, it’s inevitable, we must see each other.
He kisses her; just then Voinitsky enters with a bouquet of roses and stops by the door.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Not seeing Voinitsky) Spare me … let me be … (Puts her head on Astrov’s chest) No! (Wants to leave)
ASTROV
(Holding her back by the waist) Come to the forester’s hut tomorrow … at two … Yes? Yes? Will you come?
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Seeing Voinitsky) Let go of me! (Greatly embarrassed, she steps over to the window) This is awful.
VOINITSKY
(Puts the bouquet on a chair; agitated, he wipes his face and neck with a handkerchief) Never mind … just … Never mind …
ASTROV
(Sulkily) The weather, my much esteemed Ivan Petrovich, is not bad today. The morning was overcast, it looked like rain, but now it’s sunny. In all good conscience, the autumn has proved excellent … and the winter crops aren’t bad either. (Rolls up the map) The only thing is the days have gotten shorter … (Exits)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Quickly goes up to Voinitsky) Use all your influence, try to have me and my husband leave here this very day! Do you hear? This very day!
VOINITSKY
(Wiping his face) What? Ah, yes … all right … I saw everything, Hélène, everything …
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Nervously) Do you hear? I must leave this place today!
Enter Serebryakov, Sonya, Telegin and Marina.
TELEGIN
I’m not exactly well myself, Your Excellency. I’ve been feeling poorly for two days now. My head’s sort of …
SEREBRYAKOV
Where are the rest of them? I don’t like this house. Some kind of a labyrinth. Twenty-six enormous rooms, everybody wanders off, and you can never find anyone. (Rings the bell) Ask Marya Vassilyevna and Elena Andreevna to come here!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
I’m here!
SEREBRYAKOV
Please sit down, ladies and gentlemen.
SONYA
(Going over to Elena Andreevna, impatiently) What did he say?
Later.
SONYA
You’re trembling? You’re upset? (Peers into her face questioningly) I see … He said he wouldn’t come here anymore … right?
Pause.
Am I right?
Elena Andreevna nods affirmatively.
SEREBRYAKOV
(To Telegin) One can still be reconciled with illness, granted, but what I can’t stomach is the regimen of country life. I feel as if I’ve fallen from the earth onto some alien planet. Sit down, please, ladies and gentlemen. Sonya!
Sonya does not hear him; she stands with her head bowed sorrowfully.
Sonya!
Pause.
She doesn’t hear me. (To Marina) You sit down, too, nanny.
The nanny sits down and knits a stocking.
Ladies and gentlemen, “incline your ears to the voice of my supplication,” so to speak.7 (He laughs)
VOINITSKY
(Agitated) Maybe I’m not needed? Can I go?
No, you’re needed here most of all.
VOINITSKY
How may I be of use to you, sir?
SEREBRYAKOV
Sir? … What are you angry about?
Pause.
If I’ve done you any wrong, please forgive me.
VOINITSKY
Drop that tone. Let’s get down to business … What do you want?
Marya Vassilyevna enters.
SEREBRYAKOV
And here is maman. I’ll begin, ladies and gentlemen.
Pause.
“I’ve invited you here, gentlemen, to announce to you that an inspector is coming.”8 Joking aside, however. This is serious business. I’ve gathered you, ladies and gentlemen, to ask for your help and advice, and, knowing your customary courtesy, I hope to receive both. I’m a learned, bookish man and have always been a stranger to practical life. I cannot do without the guidance of knowledgeable people, and I beg you, Ivan Petrovich, and you, too, Ilya Ilyich, and you, maman … The thing is that manet omnes una nox,9 that is, we all walk under God. I’m old, ill, and therefore I find it timely to put in order what relates to my property insofar as my family is concerned. My life is already over, I’m not thinking of myself, but I have a young wife and an unmarried daughter.
To go on living in the country is impossible for me. We were not made for the country. But to live in town on such earnings as we receive from this estate is impossible. We might, let’s suppose, sell the woodlot—but that is an extraordinary measure, which cannot be resorted to every year. We need to find measures that will guarantee us a regular, more or less definite income. I’ve thought of one such measure, and I have the honor of presenting it to you for discussion. Omitting the details, I will lay it out in general terms. Our estate provides no more than a two-percent income on the average. I propose to sell it. If we invest the money in interest-bearing securities, we will earn from four to five percent, and I think there will even be a surplus of several thousand, which will allow us to buy a small summer house in Finland.
VOINITSKY
Hold on … I think my ears are deceiving me. Repeat what you just said.
SEREBRYAKOV
To turn the money into securities and on whatever sum is left to buy a summer house in Finland.
VOINITSKY
No, not Finland … You also said something else.
SEREBRYAKOV
I propose to sell the estate.
VOINITSKY
That’s it. You’ll sell the estate, excellent, a rich idea … And where will you have me go with my old mother and Sonya here?
SEREBRYAKOV
We’ll discuss all that in good time. Not everything at once.
Hold on. Obviously up to now I haven’t had a drop of good sense. Up to now I’ve been foolish enough to think that this estate belongs to Sonya. My late father bought this estate as a dowry for my sister. Up to now I’ve been naive, I didn’t understand the laws in Turkish fashion, and thought that the estate passed from my sister to Sonya.
SEREBRYAKOV
Yes, the estate belongs to Sonya. Who’s arguing? I wouldn’t decide to sell it without Sonya’s consent. Besides, I propose to sell it for Sonya’s benefit.
VOINITSKY
It’s inconceivable, inconceivable! Either I’ve lost my mind, or … or …
MARYA VASSILYEVNA
Jean, don’t contradict Alexandre. Believe me, he knows better than we do what’s good and what’s bad.
VOINITSKY
No, no, give me water. (Drinks water) Go on, say whatever you like, whatever you like!
SEREBRYAKOV
I don’t understand why you’re so upset. I’m not saying my project is ideal. If you all find it no good, I won’t insist.
Pause.
TELEGIN
(Embarrassed) Not only do I stand in awe before learning, Your Excellency, but I also have a family feeling for it. The brother of my brother Grigory Ilyich’s wife, Konstantin Trofimovich Agamemnov, you may be pleased to know him, had a master’s degree …
Wait, Waffle, we’re talking business … Wait, later … (To Serebryakov) Here, ask him. This estate was bought from his uncle.
SEREBRYAKOV
Ahh, why should I ask? What’s the point?
VOINITSKY
This estate was bought at the time for ninety-five thousand. My father paid only seventy, and was left owing twenty-five thousand. Now listen, all of you … This estate wouldn’t have been bought if I hadn’t renounced my inheritance in favor of my sister, whom I deeply loved. What’s more, for ten years I worked like an ox and paid off the whole debt …
SEREBRYAKOV
I’m sorry I started this conversation.
VOINITSKY
The estate is free of debt and in good order owing only to my personal efforts. And now, when I’ve grown old, you want to kick me out!
SEREBRYAKOV
I don’t see what you’re getting at!
VOINITSKY
For twenty-five years I’ve been managing this estate, working, sending you money like a conscientious steward, and in all this time you never once thanked me. All this time—both when I was young and now—I’ve received a salary of five hundred roubles a year from you—a beggarly amount!—and it never once occurred to you to add even one rouble to it!
SEREBRYAKOV
But, Ivan Petrovich, how was I to know? I’m not a practical man, I don’t understand anything. You could have added as much as you liked.
Why didn’t I steal? Don’t you all despise me for not stealing? It would have only been fair, and now I wouldn’t be a beggar!
MARYA VASSILYEVNA
(Sternly) Jean!
TELEGIN
(Agitated) Vanya, my dear friend, don’t … don’t … I’m trembling … Why spoil good relations? (Kisses him) Don’t.
VOINITSKY
For twenty-five years I sat with this mother of mine, like a mole, within these four walls … All our thoughts and feelings belonged to you alone. By day we talked about you, about your works, how proud we were of you, we uttered your name with awe; our nights we wasted reading magazines and books that I now deeply despise!
TELEGIN
Don’t, Vanya, don’t … I can’t …
SEREBRYAKOV
(Angrily) I don’t see what you’re after!
VOINITSKY
For us you were a being of a higher order, and we knew your articles by heart … But now my eyes are open! I see everything! You write about art, but you know nothing about art! All your works, which I loved, aren’t worth a kopeck. You’ve made dupes of us!
SEREBRYAKOV
People! For God’s sake calm him down! I’m leaving!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Ivan Petrovich, I demand that you be quiet! Do you hear me?
I won’t be quiet! (Standing in Serebryakov’s way) Wait, I haven’t finished! You’ve ruined my life! I never lived, never lived! Thanks to you, I destroyed, I annihilated the best years of my life! You’re my worst enemy!
TELEGIN
I can’t … I can’t … I’m leaving … (Exits in great agitation)
SEREBRYAKOV
What do you want from me? And what right do you have to speak to me in that tone? Nonentity! If the estate is yours, take it, I don’t need it!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
I’m leaving this hell right now! (Shouts) I can’t stand it anymore!
VOINITSKY
My life’s a waste! I’m talented, intelligent, brave … If I’d had a normal life, I could have become a Schopenhauer, a Dostoevsky … What am I saying! I’m losing my mind … Mama, I’m desperate! Mama!
MARYA VASSILYEVNA
(Sternly) Listen to Alexandre!
SONYA
(Kneels before the nanny and presses herself to her) Nanny! Nanny!
VOINITSKY
Mama! What am I to do? Never mind, don’t tell me! I know what to do! (To Serebryakov) You’re going to remember me!
He exits through the center door; Marya Vassilyevna follows him.
SEREBRYAKOV
People, what on earth is going on here? Rid me of this madman! I can’t live under the same roof with him! He lives here (Points to the center door) almost next to me … Let him move to the village, or to the wing, or else I’ll move out. I can’t stay in the same house with him …
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(To her husband) We’ll leave here today! We must arrange everything this very minute.
SEREBRYAKOV
Nonentity!
SONYA
(On her knees, turns to her father; nervously, through tears) Be merciful, papa! Uncle Vanya and I are so unhappy! (Fighting back her despair) Be merciful! Remember, when you were younger, Uncle Vanya and grandma spent nights translating books for you, copying your papers … night after night! Uncle Vanya and I worked without rest, we were afraid to spend a kopeck on ourselves and sent it all to you … We earned our bread! I’m not saying it right, papa, I know I’m not, but you must understand us, papa. Be merciful!
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Upset, to her husband) Alexander, for God’s sake, talk to him … I beg you.
SEREBRYAKOV
All right, I’ll talk to him … I’m not accusing him of anything, I’m not angry, but you must admit his behavior is strange, to say the least. But, if you wish, I’ll go to him. (Exits through center door)
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Be gentle with him. Calm him down … (Exits after him)
SONYA
(Pressing herself to the nanny) Nanny! Nanny!
Never mind, child. The geese will gabble—and stop … Gabble—and stop …
SONYA
Nanny!
MARINA
(Stroking her head) You’re trembling as if it’s freezing cold! There, there, little orphan, God is merciful. Linden tea, or raspberry, and it will go away … Don’t grieve, little orphan … (Looking at the center door, angrily) The geese are off again, curse them!
A shot rings out backstage; Elena Andreevna’s cry is heard; Sonya gives a start.
Ahh, curse them all!
SEREBRYAKOV
(Runs in, staggering with fear) Grab him! Grab him! He’s out of his mind!
Elena Andreevna and Voinitsky fight in the doorway.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
(Trying to take the pistol away from him) Give it to me! I said give it to me!
VOINITSKY
Let go of me, Hélène! Let go of me! (Freeing himself, he runs in and looks around, trying to find Serebryakov) Where is he? Ah, there he is! (Shoots at him) Bang!
Pause.
Missed? I botched it again?! (Angrily) Ah, damn, damn … damn it all …
He smashes the pistol on the floor, and sits down on a chair, exhausted. Serebryakov is stunned; Elena Andreevna leans against the wall, feeling faint.
ELENA ANDREEVNA
Take me away from here! Take me away, kill me … I can’t stay here, I can’t!
VOINITSKY
(In despair) Oh, what am I doing! What am I doing!
SONYA
(Softly) Nanny! Nanny!
Curtain.