The action takes place in a provincial town [Bryakhimov]. The actress Nyegin’s apartment. On the left of the actors is a window. In the corner in the background is a door to the anteroom. On the right is a partition with a door into another room. There is a table with some books and notebooks on it by the window. The furniture is cheap.
MME NYEGIN (alone, talking through the window). Come back in three or four days. After the benefit performance they’re giving for us we’ll pay you everything. Eh? What? Oh, he’s deaf! He doesn’t hear me. I say we’re getting a benefit performance, so after that we’ll pay you everything. Well, he’s gone. (She sits down.) All those debts, all those debts! A ruble here, a couple there… And what they’ll take in at the box office is anybody’s guess. In the winter there was a benefit for us, and after expenses there were only forty-two and a half rubles. And there was that half-crazy merchant who brought some turquoise earrings… a lot of good they were! What a thing to do! But now that the fair is here we ought to be getting some two hundred rubles from it. But even if we should get three hundred it’s not likely we’ll keep it long; it’ll go through our fingers like water. My Sasha just doesn’t have any luck! She behaves the way she ought to, but the public isn’t well disposed to her, she doesn’t get any gifts worth speaking of, nothing like the ones the others get, those who… if… Take the prince now… What would it cost him! Or Ivan Semyonych Velikatov… they say his sugar factories are worth millions… What would it cost him to send a couple pounds of that sugar? It would last us a long time… Those people sit buried up to their ears in money and don’t think of helping a poor girl out. I’m not talking about the merchants, what could anyone get out of them! They don’t even go to the theater, they’d have to go plumb crazy first, get blown there by the wind… disgraceful things is all you can expect from them…
Narokov enters.
Oh, Prokofyich, hello.
NAROKOV (gloomily). Hello, Prokofyevna.
MME NYEGIN. My patronymic isn’t Prokofyevna but Pantelyevna, what’s the matter with you!
NAROKOV. And I’m not just Prokofyich but Martyn Prokofyich.
MME NYEGIN. Oh, excuse me, Mister Actor Man!
NAROKOV. If you want to be familiar when you speak with me, then call me simply Martyn. At least that would be more suitable. But “Prokofyich”! That’s vulgar, madam, very vulgar!
MME NYEGIN. You and I, my dear sir, are small fry. Why spout all that fine talk?
NAROKOV. Small fry? I’m not small fry, pardon me!
MME NYEGIN. Then I suppose you’re somebody big?
NAROKOV. Big.
MME NYEGIN. So from now on we’ll know. And exactly why have you, such a big man, come to see us little people?
NAROKOV. Must we continue in this tone, Domna Pantelyevna? Why are you so grumpy?
MME NYEGIN. So I’m grumpy, why hide it! I like to do my work, and bothering to talk with you is something I don’t care for.
NAROKOV. But where did your grumpiness come from? From nature or upbringing?
MME NYEGIN. Oh Lord, what from, what did it come from?… But what else could you expect? I lived my whole life in poverty, among lowdown people. Cursing in the house every day and never a chance to rest or catch your breath. I was never in any boarding school, wasn’t brought up with any fine ladies. All that happened to people like us was that time passed, and everybody cursed everybody else. You know, it’s the rich people who’ve thought up all those delicate things.
NAROKOV. It all makes sense. I understand now.
MME NYEGIN. So I don’t say tender things to everybody, with every person, if I may say so… I might’ve said something to you, but I didn’t mean to offend. Do you speak respectfully to everybody?
NAROKOV. I’m familiar when I speak with the common folk…
MME NYEGIN. “The common folk”! You don’t say! And what sort of a fine gentleman are you!
NAROKOV. I’m from the gentleman class, a genuine gentleman… Well, all right, let’s you and I speak together on familiar terms, that’s nothing special.
MME NYEGIN. Nothing special at all, but a very common thing. And in what way are you of the gentleman class?
NAROKOV. I can tell you that I’m like King Lear, every inch a gentleman. I’m an educated man, I studied in an educational institution, I was rich.
MME NYEGIN. You?
NAROKOV. Yes, me!
MME NYEGIN. Is that really true?
NAROKOV. Do you want me to take an oath on it?
MME NYEGIN. No, what for? There’s no need for an oath, I believe you. But then how come you work as a prompeter?
NAROKOV. I’m not a prompeter nor even a prompter, Madam, I’m assistant to the stage director. This theater was once mine.
MME NYEGIN (with astonishment). Yours? You don’t say!
NAROKOV. I maintained it for five years, and Gavryushka was my clerk. He copied out the roles.
MME NYEGIN (with great astonishment). Gavrila Petrovich, the theater manager here?
NAROKOV. The very same.
MME NYEGIN. You poor man! So that’s how it is. It seems God didn’t give you any happiness in this theater play business.
NAROKOV. Happiness! I didn’t know what to do with my happiness, I had so much of it!
MME NYEGIN. Then why have you come down so? Did you take to drink? What did you do with your money?
NAROKOV. I never drank. I spent all my money for my happiness.
MME NYEGIN. And what was your happiness?
NAROKOV. It was a happiness that I made into a love affair. (Pensively.) I love the theater, I love art, I love actors, can you understand that? So I sold my estate, got a lot of money, and became a theater manager. Eh, wasn’t that happiness? I rented the theater here and did everything over, the sets and the costumes. I got together a good troupe and began to live in seventh heaven… I didn’t care whether we had a good take at the box office, and I paid everybody a good salary and on time. And so I passed five happy years, till I saw that my money was running out. At the end of the season I paid off all the actors, gave them a farewell dinner, gave each one an expensive gift to remember me by…
MME NYEGIN. And what happened then?
NAROKOV. And then Gavryushka rented my theater, and I started working for him. He pays me a small salary and a little for my keep. That’s the whole story, my dear.
MME NYEGIN. And that’s all you live on?
NAROKOV. Well, no, I can always earn my bread. I give lessons, I write items for newspapers, I do translations. But I work for Gavryushka because I don’t want to leave the theater, I love art so much. So here I am, an educated man, with fine taste, living among coarse people who offend my artistic feeling every step of the way. (Going to the table.) What kind of books are these?
MME NYEGIN. Sasha is studying, she has a teacher come.
NAROKOV. A teacher? What sort of teacher?
MME NYEGIN. He’s a student. Peter Yegorych. Do you know him by any chance?
NAROKOV. I know him. A dagger in his chest right up to the hilt!1
MME NYEGIN. So cruel?
NAROKOV. Without pity.
MME NYEGIN. You better wait before sticking him, he’s Sasha’s fiancé.
NAROKOV (with fright). Fiancé?
MME NYEGIN. It will work out, of course, as God wills, but anyway we call him a fiancé. She met him somewhere, and he started visiting us. So what could you call him? Well, we call him a fiancé, otherwise what would the neighbors say! I’ll marry her off to him as soon as he gets a good position. It isn’t easy to find eligible bachelors. A merchant with a lot of money would be nice, but a good one wouldn’t take her, and some of them are awfully disgusting, no great joy from them. So why shouldn’t she marry him then, he’s a peaceful lad, Sasha loves him.
NAROKOV. Loves? She loves him?
MME NYEGIN. And why shouldn’t she love him? As a matter of fact, why should a young woman wear herself out in the theater? There’s just no way to get a good foothold in life there!
NAROKOV. And you can say that?
MME NYEGIN. I can say that, and I’ve been saying it a long time. You can’t get anything good from the theater.
NAROKOV. But your daughter has talent, she was born for the stage.
MME NYEGIN. For the stage, for the stage, you hit the nail right on the head! When she was little you couldn’t drag her out of the theater; she’d stand behind the wings, all aflutter. My husband, her father, was a musician, he played the flute. So whenever he’d go to the theater, she’d go after him, staying in the wings, not even breathing.
NAROKOV. So there you are. The only place for her is on the stage.
MME NYEGIN. A beautiful place that is!
NAROKOV. But she has a passion for the theater, you must understand, a passion! You said that yourself.
MME NYEGIN. And what if she does have a passion for it, what’s the good of that? That’s nothing to brag about. That kind of passion is for you homeless and dissipated people.
NAROKOV. Oh ignorance! A dagger in the chest right up to the hilt!
MME NYEGIN. You and your daggers! There’s mighty little good on that stage of yours, and I’m keeping my daughter on the road that ends up in marriage. Men keep coming at her from all sides, trying to get on her good side and whispering all kinds of stupid things in her ear… That Prince Dulyebov’s been coming a lot. In his old age he’s taken it into his head to go courting… Is that good? What do you say to that?
NAROKOV. Prince Dulyebov! A dagger in his chest right up to the hilt!
MME NYEGIN. You’ve gone and stuck an awful lot of people.
NAROKOV. A lot.
MME NYEGIN. And they’re still alive?
NAROKOV. Why not? Of course they’re alive, and all in good health, may they live to a ripe old age. Here, give this to her. (He gives her a notebook.)
MME NYEGIN. What is it?
NAROKOV. It’s a role. I copied it out for her myself.
MME NYEGIN. What’s the great occasion? On thin paper and tied up with a rose-colored ribbon!
NAROKOV. Well, all you have to do is give it to her! Why all this talk!
MME NYEGIN. But what use is this tenderness when we’re so hard up? You spent your last twenty kopecks on that ribbon, didn’t you?
NAROKOV. Suppose I did, so what? She has such nice hands, and her soul is even better, so I couldn’t give her a messy notebook.
MME NYEGIN. But what for? What’s it all for?
NAROKOV. Why be so surprised? The whole thing’s very simple and natural. That’s how it should be because I’m in love with her.
MME NYEGIN. Oh good heavens! It gets worse every minute! You know, you’re an old man, you’re nothing but an old clown. What kind of love could you want?
NAROKOV. But isn’t she beautiful? Tell me, isn’t she beautiful?
MME NYEGIN. So she’s beautiful, what’s it to you?
NAROKOV. And who doesn’t love what’s beautiful? You too love what’s beautiful. Do you think that because a man is in love, there has to be a big racket… that he must get all excited? My soul is full of fine perfumes. But how could you understand that!
MME NYEGIN. You know, when I look at you I can see you’re some kind of freak!
NAROKOV. Thank God you’ve realized. I know myself that I’m a freak. Were you trying to call me names?
MME NYEGIN (by the window). Could that be the Prince who drove up? That’s who it is.
NAROKOV. Well, in that case I’ll leave now, through the kitchen. Adieu, madame.
MME NYEGIN. Adieu, moosir!
Narokov goes out behind the partition. Dulyebov and Bakin enter.
MME NYEGIN. She’s not home, Your Excellency, please excuse us. She went shopping.
DULYEBOV. That’s all right, it doesn’t matter. I’ll wait.
MME NYEGIN. As you wish, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. You just go about your business, don’t go to any trouble, please. I’ll wait.
Mme. Nyegin goes off.
BAKIN. Sir, we’ve both come at the same time.
DULYEBOV. What difference does that make? There’s room here for both of us.
BAKIN. No, one of us is extra, and the extra one is me. That’s just my luck. I dropped in on Smelsky too, and Velikatov was sitting there. He didn’t say a word.
DULYEBOV. But you should have started a conversation. You know how to talk, so the chances are on your side.
BAKIN. It doesn’t always work out that way. Velikatov is more convincing when he’s quiet than I am when I talk.
DULYEBOV. Why is that?
BAKIN. Because he’s rich. You know how the proverb goes, “Never rival men of wealth; don’t fight strong men, guard your health.” So I give way. Velikatov is rich, and you are strong with your sweet talk.
DULYEBOV. And how do you intend to win?
BAKIN. With boldness, Prince. Boldness, they say, is what takes cities.
DULYEBOV. It’s probably easier to take cities… Still, that’s your affair. If you’re not afraid of losing, then why not try boldness?
BAKIN. I’d rather suffer defeat than go in for compliments.
DULYEBOV. Every one to his liking.
BAKIN. To go courting, pay compliments, resurrect the days of chivalry, that’s just too much honor for our ladies!
DULYEVOV. Every one to his viewpoint.
BAKIN. It seems to me it’s enough just to come right out with it: “Here I am, just as you see me. I offer you such and such. Would you care to love me?”
DULYEBOV. Yes, but you know that would be offensive for a woman.
BAKIN. Well, that’s their business, whether to take offense or not. At least I’m not deceiving them. After all, with all the things I’m busy with, I can’t take up love seriously. So why should I pretend to be in love, to delude somebody with hopes that might not be realized! Isn’t it a lot better to have a clear understanding?
DULYEBOV. Every one to his own style. Tell me, please, what kind of man is Velikatov?
BAKIN. I know as much about him as you do. He’s very rich. He has a splendid estate in the next province, a sugar beet factory, a stud farm, and a distillery too, I think. He comes here to the fair, but whether it’s to buy or sell horses I don’t know. I don’t know how he talks with the horse dealers either, but with us he’s quiet most of the time.
DULYEBOV. Does he have tact?
BAKIN. Very much so. Instead of arguing, he agrees with everybody, and you can never tell whether he’s serious or pulling your leg.
DULYEBOV. But he’s very courteous.
BAKIN. Terribly. In the theater he knows absolutely everybody by name: the cashier, the prompter, even the property man, and he shakes hands with all of them. And he’s charmed the old women completely. He knows everything and puts himself into everything that interests them. In other words, he treats all the old women like a most respectful and obliging son.
DULYEBOV. But he doesn’t seem to show any preference for the young ladies; he shies away from them.
BAKIN. In that regard you can set your mind at rest, Prince, he’s not a dangerous rival for you. For some reason he’s shy with young ladies, and he never speaks first to them. When they address him, all he says is, “What would you like? What do you want?”
DULYEBOV. But perhaps this coldness is calculated. Couldn’t be he trying to get them interested in him?
BAKIN. But what can he count on? He’s leaving tomorrow or the day after.
DULYEBOV. Is that so?… Really?
BAKIN. It’s a sure thing. He told me so himself. He has everything ready for departure.
DULYEBOV. That’s too bad! He’s a very pleasant man, so steady, so calm.
BAKIN. It seems to me his calmness comes from his limitations. A man just doesn’t keep his intelligence to himself, he shows it in some way, but he keeps quiet, which means he’s not bright. Still, he’s not stupid either, because he figures it’s better to stay quiet than to say stupid things. He has just enough intelligence and ability to behave properly and not squander what papa left him.
DULYEBOV. That fact is, papa left him a ruined estate, and he built it back up again.
BAKIN. All right, so give him credit for some practical sense and thrift.
DULYEBOV. Add a little more, and he’ll turn out to be a very clever and practical man.
BAKIN. For some reason I don’t care to believe that. But it doesn’t really matter to me whether he’s smart or stupid. What bothers me is that he’s so rich.
DULYEBOV. He is?
BAKIN. Yes. I can’t get it out of my head that it would be a lot better if I were rich and he were poor.
DULYEBOV. Yes, that would be better for you, but why for him?
BAKIN. Oh the hell with him, what’s he to me! I’m talking about myself. But it’s time to go to work. I yield you the field uncontested. Good-bye, Prince.
DULYEBOV (giving his hand). Good-bye, Grigory Antonych.
Bakin leaves. Mme. Nyegin enters.
MME NYEGIN. He left? He didn’t wait?
DULYEBOV. What do you pay for this apartment?
MME NYEGIN. Twelve rubles, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV (pointing to the corner). Am I right in saying that it must be damp there?
MME NYEGIN. You get the kind of apartment you pay for.
DULYEBOV. You’ll have to change it. (Opening the door to the right.) And what’s there?
MME NYEGIN. That’s Sasha’s bedroom. And on the right is my room, and there’s the kitchen.
DULYEBOV (to himself). It’s pitiful. Yes… of course, this is impossible.
MME NYEGIN. It’s in keeping with our means, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. Please, don’t talk about what you don’t understand. A good actress can’t live like this. It can’t be done, I tell you, it’s impossible. It’s not proper.
MME NYEGIN. But where can we get the revenue?
DULYEBOV. What kind of word is that, “revenue”?
MME NYEGIN. From what income, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. But why should we be concerned about your income?
MME NYEGIN. But where are we going to get it, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. You and your “Where are we going to get it”! Who cares! It’s nobody’s business, get it where you want. Only it’s impossible to live like this, it’s… well, it’s just not proper, that’s all there is to it.
MME NYEGIN. Now if we had a salary…
DULYEBOV. Well, whether it’s a salary or something else, that’s your business.
MME NYEGIN. What we get from the benefit performances for her is very small.
DULYEBOV. And whose fault is that? To get a lot from benefit performances you have to know the right people, how to choose them, how to manage things… I can give you the names of about ten people you have to get on your side, then you’d have wonderful benefit performances, even with prizes and gifts. It’s simple enough, something everybody’s known for a long time. You have to entertain the right people… And how can you do that here! What’s here? Who’s going to come here?
MME NYEGIN. But you know, the audience seems to like her, but when it comes to a benefit performance, then… you just can’t attract them at all.
DULYEBOV. What audience are you talking about? The students, the shopkeepers, the petty officials! They’re very happy to clap their hands off, they’ll call back the actress Nyegin ten times, but for all that, they’re no-good trash, they won’t pay a kopeck extra at a benefit performance.
MME NYEGIN. That’s the gospel truth, Your Excellency. Of course, if we had some acquaintances, it would be quite a different matter.
DULYEBOV. No question. You can’t blame the public, the public is never at fault. The same for public opinion, it’s ridiculous to complain against that. You must know how to earn the love of the public. What’s necessary is for your daughter to be surrounded all the time by rich young men, or, more properly speaking, her main friends should be us, the solid people. We’re all busy the whole day long, some of us with family and household business, some of us with public affairs, so we only have a few hours free in the evening. So where can we find a suitable place, if not with a young actress, where we can relax, so to speak, from our burdens? For one man it’s getting away from his domestic problems, for another from the problems connected with his area of responsibility.
MME NYEGIN. That’s too hard for me to understand, Your Excellency. You better say those words to my Sasha.
DULYEBOV. Yes, I’ll tell her, I’ll most certainly tell her. That’s what I came here for.
MME NYEGIN. There, I think she’s coming now.
DULYEBOV. Only don’t you get in our way.
MME NYEGIN. Really now, do you think I’m my own child’s enemy? (Alexandra enters.) What took you so long? The Prince has been waiting a long time for you. (She takes her daughter’s hat, umbrella, and cloak. She goes off.)
DULYEBOV (approaches and kisses Alexandra’s hand). Ah, my joy, at last you’ve come.
ALEXANDRA. Excuse me, Prince. I’m having so much trouble with my benefit performance. It’s agony… (She becomes pensive.)
DULYEBOV (sitting down). Tell me, please, my dear friend…
ALEXANDRA (coming out of her pensiveness). What would you like to know?
DULYEBOV. What was that play you last played in?
ALEXANDRA. “Uriel Acosta.”2
DULYEBOV. Yes, yes… You played wonderfully, wonderfully. How much feeling, how much nobility! I’m not joking when I say that.
ALEXANDRA. Thank you, Prince.
DULYEBOV. They write such strange plays now; you can’t understand a thing.
ALEXANDRA. But that play was written long ago.
DULYEBOV. Long ago? Was it by Karatygin3 or Grigoryev?4
ALEXANDRA. Neither. It was by Gutzkow.
DULYEBOV. Ah! Gutzkow… I know, I know. He also wrote a comedy, a wonderful comedy, “A Russian Remembers a Good Deed.”
ALEXANDRA. That one’s by Polevoy,5 Prince.
DULYEBOV. Oh yes… I got them mixed up… Polevoy… Nicholas Polevoy. He came from the lower middle class… He taught himself French, wrote learned books, took it all from the French… Only then he had an argument with somebody… with some learned men or some professors. Now how could he do a thing like that! How was it possible, how was it proper! So, they told him not to write any learned books, and they ordered him to write some vaudeville pieces. Later on he himself was grateful for that, he made more money that way. “I wouldn’t have thought of it,” he said. Why are you so sad?
ALEXANDRA. I have many cares, Prince.
DULYEBOV. My beauty, you should be jollier, it’s still too early for you to be thinking about things. Find some distraction, amuse yourself with something. Just now I was talking with your mother…
ALEXANDRA. What about, Prince?
DULYEBOV. Why naturally about you, my treasure, what else? You have a bad apartment here… It’s impossible for an actress, a beautiful young woman, to live in such a hut. It’s not proper.
ALEXANDRA (a bit offended). A bad apartment? Well, what of it? I know myself there are better apartments… I should think, Prince, you’d be a little sorry for me and not remind me of my poverty. Even without you I feel it every hour, every moment.
DULYEBOV. But don’t you think I’m sorry for you? I’m very sorry for you, my beauty.
ALEXANDRA. Then keep your sympathy to yourself, Your Excellency! Your sympathy doesn’t do me any good, and it’s unpleasant to hear it. You find my apartment bad, but I find it acceptable, and I don’t need a better one. If you don’t like my apartment, if it’s unpleasant for you to be in such an apartment, then nobody’s keeping you.
DULYEBOV. Now don’t get excited, don’t get excited, my joy! You haven’t heard me to the end, and you’re being angry with a man who’s devoted to you heart and soul… That’s just not right…
ALEXANDRA. Please go ahead and speak, I’m listening.
DULYEBOV. I’m a man of tact, I never humiliate anybody, I’m known for my tact. I never would have dared to criticize your apartment if I didn’t have in view…
ALEXANDRA. What, Prince?
DULYEBOV. To offer you another, one much better.
ALEXANDRA. At the same rent?
DULYEBOV. Well, what do we care about the rent?
ALEXANDRA. There’s something here I don’t understand, Prince.
DULYEBOV. You see, my delight, it’s like this. I’m a very kind and tender man, everybody knows it… In spite of my years I’ve kept onto all my freshness of feeling… I can still fall in love, like a young man…
ALEXANDRA. I’m very glad for you. But what does that have to do with my apartment?
DULYEBOV. It’s very simple. Don’t you really see? I love you… I want to cherish you, to spoil you… that would be a delight for me… that’s my necessity. I have a lot of tenderness in my soul, I need to shower affection on somebody, I can’t manage without it. So, come to me, my little bird!
ALEXANDRA (gets up). You’re out of your mind!
DULYEBOV. That’s rude, my friend, it’s rude!
ALEXANDRA. Where did you ever get an idea like that? Really! I gave you no cause at all… How could you dare say such things?
DULYEBOV. Take it easy now, take it easy, my little friend!
ALEXANDRA. But what is this! To come into somebody else’s home and just like that, for no good reason, to start a stupid and offensive conversation.
DULYEBOV. Now take it easy, take it easy, please! You are still very young to talk like that.
ALEXANDRA. I like that! “You are still young”! That means you can offend young people as much as you want and they have to keep quiet.
DULYEBOV. But where’s there any offense here? Where’s the offense? It’s a most ordinary sort of business. You don’t know life or proper society, and yet you dare to pass judgment on a respected man! In actuality it is you who are offending me!
ALEXANDRA (in tears). Oh, my God! No, this is more than I can bear…
DULYEBOV. For everything there’s a proper form, young lady! You just don’t have good breeding. If you didn’t like my offer, then you should have thanked me all the same and told me your unwillingness politely, or somehow made a joke of it.
ALEXANDRA. Oh, leave me alone, please! I don’t need your moral admonitions. I know myself what I should do. I know what’s good and bad. Oh, my God!… I just don’t want to listen to you.
DULYEBOV. But why shout?
ALEXANDRA. And why shouldn’t I shout? I’m in my own home, who’s there to be afraid of?
DULYEBOV. Very well! Only remember this, my joy. I don’t forget an insult.
ALEXANDRA. All right, all right, I’ll remember it.
DULYEBOV. I’m sorry, but I thought you were a well-brought-up young woman. There was no way to expect that because of some little trifle or other you would burst into tears and show a lot of emotion, just like some kitchen woman.
ALEXANDRA. All right, fine, I’m a kitchen woman, only I want to be a woman of honor.
Mme. Nyegin appears in the doorway.
DULYEBOV. Congratulations! Only honor itself isn’t enough. You have to be more intelligent, and more prudent, so you won’t cry afterwards. Don’t send me any of those tickets at sponsors’ prices. I won’t be going to your benefit performance, I don’t have the time. And if I do decide to go, then I’ll send to the box office for a regular-priced ticket. (He leaves.)
Mme. Nyegin enters.
MME NYEGIN. What is it? What’s going on here? Has the Prince left? He wasn’t angry, was he?
ALEXANDRA. Let him be angry!
MME NYEGIN. What are you saying! Come to your senses! Before a benefit performance? Are you in your right mind?
ALEXANDRA. But it’s just impossible! The things he says! If you could have heard!
MME NYEGIN. But what’s that to you! Let him talk. Words won’t kill you.
ALEXANDRA. But you don’t know what he said. It’s really none of your business.
MME NYEGIN. I know, I know it all very well, what men say.
ALEXANDRA. And we can listen to that and stay calm?
MME NYEGIN. But what’s the harm! Let him talk away as much as he wants. Let him spout all his nonsense. You just laugh to yourself!
ALEXANDRA. Oh, don’t give me lessons! Leave me alone, please! I know how to behave.
MME NYEGIN. I can see what you know. Right before a benefit performance you quarrel with a man like that!
ALEXANDRA. Mama, can’t you see I’m upset? I’m trembling all over, and you keep after me.
MME NYEGIN. No, now you just wait! Listen to sense from your mother! How can you quarrel before a benefit performance when you need certain people?… Couldn’t you have waited a bit? Afterwards you can quarrel as much as you want, I won’t say a word. Because I realize you can’t let them get away with everything, you’ve got to hold them back. But now they’ll call you a scarecrow!
ALEXANDRA. Mama, that’s enough…
MME NYEGIN. No, it’s not! Before that benefit performance you should have been polite…
ALEXANDRA. But I didn’t quarrel with him. I just felt offended and told him to leave me alone.
MME NYEGIN. And that’s where you were stupid, yes, stupid! You should have tried to be as polite as you could, say to him, “Your Excellency, we are always very much pleased with you and always very grateful to you. Only we don’t find pleasure in listening to those vile things. We are completely opposed to what you understand of us.” That’s what you should have said! Because that way it’s honorable, it’s noble, it’s polite.
ALEXANDRA. What’s done is done. There’s no point in talking about it now!
MME NYEGIN. Maybe I’m not educated, but I know how to talk with people. And you have a teacher teaching you…
ALEXANDRA. Why bring that up about a teacher? … You just don’t understand any of this business so you have no reason to interfere.
MME NYEGIN. But what is there to understand? He’s a student like any other. What’s so important about him, tell me that! He’s nothing high and mighty! We’ve seen plenty from his class in life. Nothing but talk… They’re the poorest of the poor. They can only show off, but they don’t have a decent frock coat to their name.
ALEXANDRA. What has he done to you? … Why talk like that? Why are you tormenting me?
MME NYEGIN. Just look now, what an important man we have here! Don’t dare say a word about him! No, my dear, nobody’s going to stop me; if I want, I’ll curse a man out, right to his face. I’ll pick out the most insulting words I can think of and let him have it… I want you to know what it means to quarrel with a mother, what it means to talk with a mother.
ALEXANDRA. Go away!
MME NYEGIN. And now it’s “Go away!” You can go away yourself if I’m crowding you.
ALEXANDRA. I think somebody’s just driven up… Go, Mama! Who wants to listen to the kind of stupid talk we’ve been having!
MME NYEGIN. Just for that I’m not going to leave… Look at her, she insults her mother in the worst way and then acts high and mighty… Stupid talk. I’m no more stupid than you or that student of yours, with all that shaggy hair.
ALEXANDRA (looking out the window). It’s Velikatov! This is the first time he’s visited us… and the way things are here…
MME NYEGIN. Don’t worry your precious head, miss, Mamselle Nyegin, famous actress, some of us aren’t any worse in dealing with people than you are… let me remind you.
ALEXANDRA. Nina Smelsky is with him.
MME NYEGIN. Yes, I’ll have you know there are people who know how to…
ALEXANDRA. What horses, what horses!
MME NYEGIN. Nina Smelsky can go riding, but we go on foot.
Nina Smelsky and Velikatov enter.
MME NYEGIN. Come in, please come in, Nina Vasilyevna!
NINA. Hello, Domna Pantelyevna! I’ve brought you a guest, Ivan Semyonych Velikatov. (Velikatov bows.)
MME NYEGIN. I’m so pleased to meet you. I’ve known you for a long time, and I’ve seen you often at the theater, but I’ve never had a chance to meet you.
NINA. Hello, Sasha! I was getting ready to visit you, and I’d already put on my hat when Ivan Semyonych dropped in. So he’s tagged along. You don’t mind, do you?… She’s our hermit, you know.
ALEXANDRA (gives Velikatov her hand). Really, how can you say that! I’m very glad to meet you. You should have thought of coming much sooner, Ivan Semyonych.
VELIKATOV. I didn’t dare, Alexandra Nikolavna. I’m a shy man.
NINA. Yes, shy, that’s him exactly!
ALEXANDRA. Proud would be better.
MME NYEGIN. That’s where you’re wrong. Ivan Semyonych is pleasant with everybody, I’ve seen that myself. He’s not proud at all.
VELIKATOV. Not at all, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. I like to tell the truth.
VELIKATOV. So do I, Domna Pantelyevna.
ALEXANDRA. Sit down, Ivan Semyonych.
VELIKATOV. Don’t go to any trouble, please! You two probably have something to do, don’t pay any attention to us. I’ll have a little chat with Domna Pantelyevna. (He sits down by the table.)
Alexandra and Nina speak in a whisper.
ALEXANDRA. That’s how it was, Nina…
NINA. Really?
ALEXANDRA. Yes. I don’t know what to do.
NINA. You don’t know what to do? You should… (She speaks in a whisper.)
MME NYEGIN. What are you doing whispering over there? Do you call that polite?
VELIKATOV. Don’t bother them. Everyone has their own affairs.
MME NYEGIN. What affairs! It’s all nonsense. You see, I know what they’re talking about. About clothes. That’s what their affairs are!
VELIKATOV. For you and me clothes may be nonsense, but for them it’s something important.
MME NYEGIN. She doesn’t have a dress for her benefit performance nor the money for it.
VELIKATOV. There, you see! And you say it’s nonsense. (Looking out the window.) Are those your hens?
MME NYEGIN. Which ones?
VELIKATOV. Those Cochins there.
MME NYEGIN. No, how could we ever breed Cochins! We did have four hens and a rooster—an eagle he was, not a rooster—but they were all stolen.
VELIKATOV. And do you like hens, Domna Pantelyevna?
MME NYEGIN. I’m crazy about them, sir. I love all kinds of birds.
Meluzov enters.
ALEXANDRA (to Velikatov). Allow me to introduce you. Peter Yegorych Meluzov. Ivan Semyonych Velikatov.
NINA. You know what, Ivan Semyonych? Peter Yegorych is a student, he’s Sasha’s fiancé.
VELIKATOV (giving his hand). I’m very pleased to meet you.
MELUZOV. But why should you be pleased? That’s just an empty expression. We were introduced, now we’re acquainted, that’s all.
VELIKATOV (politely). That’s quite true. Very many empty words get spoken, I agree with you there. But what I said, pardon me, was not an empty expression. I am pleased that actresses are marrying the right and proper people.
MELUZOV. Well, if that’s the way it is… thank you! (He approaches and shakes Velikatov’s hand warmly.)
ALEXANDRA. Come, Nina, I’ll show you my dress! Take a look and see if anything can be made of it. (To Velikatov.) Excuse us for leaving you. But I know you won’t be bored; you’ll be talking with an educated man, not the same as with us. Mama, come with us, open up the dresser.
Alexandra, Nina and Mme. Nyegin go off.
VELIKATOV (noticing the books on the table). Books and notebooks.
MELUZOV. Yes, we’re learning little by little.
VELIKATOV. There’s some progress?
MELUZOV. Some, relatively speaking.
VELIKATOV. Even that’s sufficient. Alexandra Nikolavna has little time. Almost every day a new play, and she has to prepare her role, to think about her costume. I don’t know how you feel about it, but it seems to me that it’s rather difficult to learn roles and grammar at the same time.
MELUZOV. Yes, it doesn’t make for much comfort.
VELIKATOV. At least there’s the urge, the desire. That in itself is a great thing. Honor and glory to you.
MELUZOV. But what’s the glory for, may I ask?
VELIKATOV. For your noble intentions. Who would ever take it into his head to teach grammar to an actress!
MELUZOV. You’re not making fun of me, are you?
VELIKATOV. No, not at all, I never permit myself that, I’m very fond of young people.
MELUZOV. Really?
VELIKATOV. I love to listen to them… it renews the spirit. Such high and noble plans… I’m even envious.
MELUZOV. But what’s there to be envious about? Who’s stopping you from having your own high and noble plans?
VELIKATOV. No, how could people like us have them, really! The prose of life has overwhelmed us. I’d be happy to be in such a heaven, but my sins won’t let me.
MELUZOV. What kind of sins?
VELIKATOV. Serious ones. Practical considerations, material calculations, those are the sins of people like me. I’m constantly moving in the sphere of the possible and the attainable. In that realm a man’s soul becomes petty, and high and noble plans don’t enter his head.
MELUZOV. And what do you call noble plans?
VELIKATOV. Plans that have very noble intentions and very little chance of success.
Alexandra, Nina, and Mme. Nyegin enter.
NINA (to Alexandra). All that, my dear, won’t be any use.
ALEXANDRA. I see that too. Making a new dress will be very expensive.
NINA. But what can be done! It’s just impossible!… Let’s go, Ivan Semyonych.
VELIKATOV. At your service. (He gives his hand to Alexandra.) I have the honor to present my regards!
ALEXANDRA. What horses you have! I’d love to ride with them sometime.
VELIKATOV. Whenever you want, just say the word. (He gives his hand to Meluzov, then to Mme. Nyegin.) Domna Pantelyevna, my respects! You know, you resemble my dear aunt!
MME NYEGIN. Really?
VELIKATOV. It’s quite amazing… such a resemblance… I almost called you “Aunty.”
MME NYEGIN. Then call me that, what’s in the way!
NINA. All right, then, let’s go. Good-bye, Sasha. Good-bye. (She bows to all.)
VELIKATOV (to Mme. Nyegin). Good-bye, Aunty.
Nina and Velikatov leave. Mme. Nyegin sees them to the door.
MME NYEGIN. Oh, what a mischievous boy he is! (To Alexandra.) And you say he’s proud! He’s not proud at all. He’s just very well mannered. (She goes off.)
ALEXANDRA (at the window). How they drove off! What style! She’s lucky, that Nina! One has to envy her.
Meluzov embraces her.
Oh, you and your bear hugs!… I don’t like them at all. No, Petya, stop bothering me.
MELUZOV. Sasha, you haven’t shown me any tenderness at all. A fine engaged couple we make!
ALEXANDRA. Later, Petya, later. Let me calm down a bit. I can’t think about that now.
MELUZOV. If you can’t think about that then let’s get down to our studies.
ALEXANDRA. Studies! I can’t get the benefit performance out of my mind. I don’t have a dress, that’s what’s so awful.
MELUZOV. Let’s not talk about the dress, that’s not my field, I’m no good as a teacher in that line.
ALEXANDRA. What I need now is not teaching but money.
MELUZOV. I’m weak in that line too. As soon as I get a position I’ll buckle down to work, and then we’ll live in comfort. But now, Sasha, it’s time for our confession!
ALEXANDRA. Oh, that’s always so hard for me!
MELUZOV. Do you feel ashamed with me?
ALEXANDRA. No, but somehow it’s painful… unpleasant.
MELUZOV. You have to master that unpleasant feeling in yourself. After all, it was you who asked me to teach you how to live. So, how can I teach you if I don’t give you lessons? Simply tell me what you’ve felt, said and done, and then I’ll tell you how you ought to feel, talk and act. That way you’ll improve gradually, and in time you’ll be…
ALEXANDRA. What’ll I be, my dear?
MELUZOV. You’ll be an absolutely good woman, the kind that’s needed, the kind that’s required nowadays by your fellow man.
ALEXANDRA. Yes, I feel grateful to you. I’ve already become so much better, I can feel it myself… And I owe it all to you, my darling… All right, let’s start.
MELUZOV (sits down by the table). Sit next to me.
ALEXANDRA (sits down next to him. Meluzov puts an arm around her). Listen. This morning Prince Dulyebov dropped in on me. He said my apartment’s no good, that’s it’s not proper to live like this. Well, that offended me, and I told him that if he didn’t like my apartment nobody was forcing him to stay here.
MELUZOV. Good for you, Sasha! Go on.
ALEXANDRA. Then he proposed that I move into another apartment, a good one.
MELUZOV. Why does he want that?
ALEXANDRA. Because he has a lot of tenderness in his soul and nobody to shower his affection on.
MELUZOV (laughs loudly). Now there’s a syllogism for you! Since I don’t have anybody to shower my affection on but need to shower my affection, then this apartment is no good, and you have to move to a new apartment. (He laughs loudly.) Good work, Prince, we’re much obliged!
ALEXANDRA. You can laugh all you want, but I was crying.
MELUZOV. Which is how it should be. I should laugh, and you should cry.
ALEXANDRA. But why?
MELUZOV. Just think. If such conversations should make you laugh and me cry, would that be good?
ALEXANDRA (thinking). Yes, that would be very bad. Oh, what a brain you have! (She strokes his head.) Tell me, Petya, why is it you’re so smart?
MELUZOV. Whether I’m smart or not is an open question, but there’s no doubt I’m smarter than a lot of you. And that’s because I think more than I talk, but you people talk more than you think.
ALEXANDRA. Well, now I’ll tell you something very secret… Only please, don’t you get mad at me. This is a vice we women have. Today I was envious.
MELUZOV. Who can you be envious of, my dear? What for?
ALEXANDRA. But don’t get mad! I’m envious of Nina… because she has so much fun, she goes riding with such horses. That’s bad, I know it’s bad.
MELUZOV. Envy and jealously are dangerous feelings. Men know that all too well and take advantage of your weakness. Because of envy and jealousy a woman can do bad things.
ALEXANDRA. I know, I know, I’ve known cases. It just came into my head for a moment, then I got the better of it.
MELUZOV. We need just one thing, Sasha. You and I want to live a life of honest work, so why should we think about horses!
ALEXANDRA. Yes, of course! And a life of work has its own pleasures. That’s so, isn’t it, Petya?
MELUZOV. Exactly!
ALEXANDRA. You have dinner with us. And after dinner I’ll read a role to you. That way we can have the whole day together. We’ll be getting used to a quiet family life.
MELUZOV. What could be better!
ALEXANDRA (listening). What’s that? Somebody drove up.
Nina enters carrying two packages.
NINA. Here, Sasha, this is for you! (She gives her one of the packages.) Ivan Semyonych bought these pieces of material for a dress for each of us. That one’s for you, and this one’s for me.
They unwrap the packages and look at the two pieces of material.
MELUZOV. But what right does he have to give presents to Alexandra Nikolavna?
NINA. Oh please, lay off your sermons! Your philosophy’s out of place here. It’s not a gift at all. He’s giving it to her in return for a ticket to her benefit performance.
MELUZOV. And what’s he giving you yours for?
NINA. What business is that of yours! It’s because he loves me.
ALEXANDRA. It’s exactly what I need, Nina. Oh, how nice!
NINA. You know, I picked it out, I know what you need. Well, let’s go Sasha, let’s go quickly.
ALEXANDRA. Where?
NINA. For a ride. I have Ivan Semyonych’s horses. And after that we’ll have dinner at the railroad station restaurant. He’s invited the whole company, he wants to say good-bye to everybody. He’s leaving soon.
ALEXANDRA (pensively). I really don’t know what to say.
NINA. But what’s gotten into you! What’s there to think about! How can you say “no”? You really ought to thank him.
MELUZOV. I’m curious. What are you going to do in this case?
ALEXANDRA. Do you know what, Peter Yegorych? I think I must go. Otherwise it would be impolite. I could get all of the public against me. The Prince is already mad at me, and Velikatov could take offense too.
MELUZOV. And just when are we going to get used to the quiet family life?
NINA. That’ll come after the benefit performance, Peter Yegorych. This is hardly the time to think about family life. That’s even funny. There’ll still be time for family life to bore you, but now we have to take advantage of an opportunity.
ALEXANDRA (decisively). No, Peter Yegorych, I’m going. It would really be bad to refuse.
MELUZOV. Do what you want. It’s your affair.
ALEXANDRA. It’s not a question of what I want. Maybe I don’t want it, but it’s necessary that I go. It’s really necessary, and there’s nothing to discuss.
MELUZOV. Then go!
NINA. Come on, get ready.
ALEXANDRA. Right away. (She goes off behind the partition with her package.)
NINA. You haven’t taken it into your head to get jealous, have you? Then don’t worry about it, for he’s leaving the day after tomorrow. And anyway, I’m not going to give him up to Sasha.
MELUZOV. “I’m not going to give him up.” You’ll have to excuse me, but I don’t understand such relations between men and women.
NINA. And how could you understand! You don’t really know life at all. But you just live with us awhile, and you’ll learn to understand everything.
Alexandra enters dressed up.
Well, let’s go! Good-bye. (She leaves.)
ALEXANDRA. Petya, you come here tonight. We’ll study, and I’ll be smart. I’ll always obey you in everything, but this time forgive me. Well, good-bye, my dear! (She kisses him and rushes out.)
MELUZOV (pulls his hat down low on his forehead). Hmm! (Thinking.) Time to walk home! What else is there to do!
A town garden. To the right of the actors is the rear corner of a wooden theater with a stage-entrance door. Closer to the front of the stage is a garden bench. On the left, in the foreground and under trees, are a bench and a table. In the background under trees are small tables and garden furniture. The tragedian is sitting at a table, head lowered on hands. Narokov comes out of the theater.
TRAGEDIAN. Martyn, is it the intermission?
NAROKOV. The intermission. Are you on another binge?6
TRAGEDIAN. Where’s my Vasya? Where’s my Vasya?
NAROKOV. How should I know?
TRAGEDIAN. Martyn, come here!
NAROKOV (approaching). Well, here I am. What is it?
TRAGEDIAN. Have you any money?
NAROKOV. Not even a kreutzer.
TRAGEDIAN. Martyn… for a friend! That’s a sublime word!
NAROKOV. I don’t even have a sou. You can turn my pockets inside out.
TRAGEDIAN. That’s disgusting.
NAROKOV. It’s even worse.
TRAGEDIAN (shaking his head). O people, people!…7
Silence.
Martyn!
NAROKOV. What now?
TRAGEDIAN. Go borrow some money.
NAROKOV. Who from? You and I don’t have a lot of credit.
TRAGEDIAN. O people, people!
NAROKOV. Yes, it really is a case of “O people, people!”
TRAGEDIAN. And you, Martyn, is something bothering you?
NAROKOV. There’s some kind of vile devilish plot going on.
TRAGEDIAN (threateningly). A plot? Where? Against who?
NAROKOV. Against Alexandra Nikolavna.
TRAGEDIAN (still more threateningly). Who’s the man? Where is he? Tell him from me that he’s going to have to deal with me, with Yerast Gromilov!
NAROKOV. You won’t do a thing. Be quiet, don’t irritate me! As it is I’m all upset, and you make a lot of noise but no sense. All the trouble you give me! You people all have a lot you don’t need, but there’s a lot you don’t have enough of. It wears me out just looking at you. The comics have too much of the comic, and you have too much of the tragic. And you don’t have enough grace… grace, or a sense of measure. And it’s a sense of measure that makes for art… You’re not actors, you’re only buffoons!
TRAGEDIAN. No, Martyn, I’m noble… Oh, how noble I am! The one thing that hurts, brother Martyn, is that I’m noble only when I’m drunk…(He lowers his head and sobs in a tragic manner.)
NAROKOV. So, you see what a buffoon you are, you’re a buffoon!
TRAGEDIAN. Martyn! People say you’re crazy. Tell me, is that true or not?
NAROKOV. That’s true, I’ll go along with that, but only on one condition. If all of you here are smart, then I’m crazy, then I won’t argue.
TRAGEDIAN. Do you know, Martyn, what you and I are like?
NAROKOV. What?
TRAGEDIAN. Do you know King Lear?
NAROKOV. I know it.
TRAGEDIAN. Then you remember, there in the forest and out into the storm… I’m Lear, and you’re my fool.
NAROKOV. No, don’t delude yourself. There are no Lears among us, and as to which of us is the fool, I’ll let you figure it out for yourself.
Alexandra comes out of the theater.
ALEXANDRA. What’s going on, Martyn Prokofyich? What are they doing to me?
NAROKOV (grasping his head). I don’t know, I don’t know. Don’t ask me.
ALEXANDRA. It hurts me so much I could cry.
NAROKOV. Oh, don’t cry. Those people aren’t worth your tears. You’re a white dove in a flock of black crows, and they’re pecking away at you. Your whiteness is what offends them, your purity.
ALEXANDRA (in tears). Listen, Martyn Prokofyich, you know it was in your very presence, you remember, he promised to let me play before my benefit performance. But I’ve been waiting, I haven’t played for a whole week, and today’s the last day before the benefit. So what does the nasty man do! He assigns the role of Frou-frou8 to Nina!
NAROKOV. A dagger in the chest right up to the hilt!
ALEXANDRA. They set up ovations for her on the eve of my benefit, they bring her bouquets, and the public has forgotten me completely. What kind of a take can I get at the box office!
TRAGEDIAN. Ophelia, get thee to a nunnery!
ALEXANDRA. I tried to talk to him, but he just makes a joke of it and laughs in my face.
NAROKOV. He’s as hard as an oak tree.
TRAGEDIAN. Ophelia, get thee to a nunnery!
ALEXANDRA. Martyn Prokofyich, you’re the only one who loves me.
NAROKOV. Oh yes, more than life, more than the world.
ALEXANDRA. I understand you and love you myself.
NAROKOV. You understand, you love? Well, then I’m happy, yes… yes… (He laughs quietly.) Happy as a child.
ALEXANDRA. Martyn Prokofyich, do me a favor, go look for Peter Yegorych. Tell him to come to me at the theater.
NAROKOV. I’m so happy it’ll be a pleasure to get your lover.
ALEXANDRA. He’s a fiancé, Martyn Prokofyich, not a lover.
NAROKOV. It’s all the same, the same thing, my white dove! Fiancé, husband, but if you love him, then he’s your lover. But I’m not jealous of him, I’m happy myself.
ALEXANDRA. And drop by at the box office. Find out if they’re taking in anything for my benefit. I’ll wait for you in my dressing room. We’ll have some tea.
Narokov leaves.
TRAGEDIAN. If you’ll have it with rum, then I’ll come too.
ALEXANDRA. No, it won’t have any rum. (She goes off into the theater.)
TRAGEDIAN. Where’s my Vasya? Where’s my Vasya? (He goes off into the depths of the garden.)
Prince Dulyebov and Migaev enter.
DULYEBOV. I’m telling you, Alexandra Nyegin doesn’t suit us. It’s your obligation to please the noble public, the good society, not the gallery. And besides, she’s not to our taste. She’s too simple. She has no manners, no tone.
MIGAEV. She doesn’t have a good wardrobe, but she has a lot of talent, sir.
DULYEBOV. Talent, you say! A lot you understand, my dear fellow!
MIGAEV. That is so, Your Excellency, there’s a great deal I don’t understand. But you know, we judge… excuse me, Your Excellency, by what we can pocket, and she brings in a lot at the box office. Which means she has talent.
DULYEBOV. Why yes, of course. You people are materialists.
MIGAEV. You’re absolutely correct, Your Excellency, when you choose to call us materialists.
DULYEBOV. What you don’t understand is that… delicate… how should I put it?… That style.
MIGAEV. We do understand it, Your Excellency. But let me tell you that last year I sent away for a celebrity with style so she could play high society roles.
DULYEBOV. And what happened?
MIGAEV. We suffered a loss, Your Excellency. There wasn’t any beauty, no joy either.
DULYEBOV. No beauty? Now how can you say such a thing, that there wasn’t any beauty?
MIGAEV. My mistake, Your Excellency. There was some beauty when she’d get dressed for her part and the whole company would crowd around her dressing room, some at the door, some at the cracks. You see, our dressing rooms are transparent—the way they’re built you can see through them.
DULYEBOV (laughs loudly). Ha, ha, ha! So you see! There was joy after all.
MIGAEV. Yes, sir, there was joy… for Your Excellency. But for me it was grief.
DULYEBOV. Ha, ha, ha! How you play with words.
MIGAEV. We can’t get along without that, a little bit of everything, or we’re lost. That’s what our calling is like, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. You should write vaudeville sketches, old man. Excuse my familiarity; it’s from good will.
MIGAEV. And why do we knock ourselves out if not for that good will? Just make us happy, Your Excellency… if you want to be familiar or not, it really doesn’t matter.
DULYEBOV. No, don’t say that! I’m polite, and I’m always respectful. So tell me, why not write vaudeville sketches?
MIGAEV. I tried, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. And what happened?
MIGAEV. The Theater Commission wouldn’t accept them.
DULYEBOV. That’s strange. Why not?
MIGAEV. I don’t know, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. Next time you write something, tell me. Right away I could… in the Commission I have… well, why go into it now? Only tell me.
MIGAEV. Yes, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. And I’ll take care of it right away… In the Commission I have… well, why talk about it, only tell me… And instead of that Alexandra Nyegin I’ll send for a real actress for you. A pretty one (He spreads his hands.), with my compliments! You’ll lick your fingers.
MIGAEV. Licking fingers I can put up with, but have you ever had to wipe away tears with your fist, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. Ha, ha, ha! You really play with words! No, you really should write vaudeville sketches, I urge you to. But that actress, I’m telling you, she’s a delight.
MIGAEV. What about the cost, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. Well, the cost, of course, is rather high.
MIGAEV. And from what sources are we to pay it, Your Excellency? Where do you think we can get it from? Every year our costs go up and the box office take goes down. We pay out salaries recklessly, like millionaires. Could we go halves, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. “Go halves”! What do you mean, “go halves”?
MIGAEV. Fifty-fifty. You pay half her salary, and I’ll pay half.
DULYEBOV. Ha, ha, ha! Well, all right… So, what about this Alexandra Nyegin? What kind of a leading actress is she? She’s dull, old man. She doesn’t bring any life to our society, she leaves us dejected.
MIGAEV. What can you do! If Your Excellency wishes, I won’t renew her contract.
DULYEBOV. Don’t renew it, don’t.
MIGAEV. Her contract is expiring.
DULYEBOV. Good, fine. All our public will be grateful to you.
MIGAEV. You mean your public, Your Excellency, just the first row of seats.
DULYEBOV. But we’re the ones who set the tone.
MIGAEV. Let’s hope we haven’t made a mistake.
DULYEBOV. Oh no, don’t worry your head about that! The public’s grown cold to her. Just watch, her benefit performance will take in hardly anything at the box office. Want to bet on it?
MIGAEV. I won’t argue with you.
DULYEBOV. It’s out of the question to argue with me. I know the public better than you, and I understand this business. And I’ll send off for an actress who’ll put some life into everybody here. Then we’ll be singing with the larks.
MIGAEV. Singing with the larks? If only we don’t howl with the wolves, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. Ha, ha, ha! You really play with words, you really do. Oh, excuse me for getting so carried away in a friendly conversation, but in general I’m tactful… I’m tactful even with servants… (He takes out a cigar case.) Would you care for a cigar?
MIGAEV. Please. (He takes a cigar.) Are they expensive, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. I don’t smoke cheap ones.
MIGAEV. I have something that’s troubling me, Your Excellency.
DULYEBOV. What’s that?
MIGAEV. Our tragedian is on a binge. There he is now, in the garden.
DULYEBOV. Are his papers in order?
MIGAEV. Are their papers ever in order, Your Excellency?
DULYEBOV. Then you could scare him. Say you’ll have the police send him back to his place of registration.
MIGAEV. No, trying to scare people like him doesn’t work; I always come out the loser.
DULYEBOV. How’s that?
MIGAEV. Tragedians are full of spirit, Your Excellency. He says to me, “Even if you send me all the way to Kamchatka, you’re still a scoundrel!” And he puts so much expression into that word “scoundrel” that I can’t say anything, I just want to get away.
DULYEBOV. Yes, in that case it’s better to be friendly.
MIGAEV. Friendly is right. People are astonished, Your Excellency, that lion tamers can go into a lion cage, but that doesn’t impress us. I’d much rather go in to the lions than to a tragedian when he’s in a bad mood or drunk.
DULYEBOV. Ha, ha, ha! They’ve really struck fear into you. I’m going to look for some of my friends. (He goes off behind the theater.)
The tragedian enters.
MIGAEV (offering him a cigar). Would you care for a cigar?
TRAGEDIAN. One of those two-kopeck cigars? One could hardly expect a good one from you.
MIGAEV. No, it’s a good one, one of the Prince’s.
TRAGEDIAN. Then why aren’t you smoking it yourself?
MIGAEV. My own are better. (He takes out a silver cigar case.)
TRAGEDIAN. You have a cigar case like that, but you say you have no money.
MIGAEV. Yes, I’m a queer one, I should have pawned it long ago, but I can’t. It’s a gift, a remembrance, I guard it like the apple of my eye. You can see the inscription: “To Gavriil Petrovich Migaev from the public.”
TRAGEDIAN. You gypsy you!
MIGAEV. Talk with yourself if you don’t understand sense. There’s the audience, the act must be over. (He goes off.)
TRAGEDIAN (shouts after him). You gypsy you! (He sits down at a table.) O people, people! (He lowers his head onto his hands.)
Dulyebov, Velikatov, Bakin and Vasya enter.
BAKIN. It’s great, that’s how to teach those people a lesson, in the future they’ll act smarter. I inquired at the box office; they’ve taken in fourteen rubles.
VASYA. Not much, sir. But they’ll sell more tickets tomorrow morning and evening; they’ll take in something.
BAKIN. A hundred rubles. No more.
VASYA. Even that is money, sir.
BAKIN. Not a whole lot. And she surely must have some debts, for clothes here and there. Actresses can’t live without that. (To Vasya.) Doesn’t she owe you anything?
VASYA. We don’t give credit, sir.
BAKIN. You’re covering up for her. I like that, it’s nice when public opinion is so friendly. (To Velikatov.) How do you feel about that?
VELIKATOV. I agree with you completely.
BAKIN. In the person of the Prince our society has been insulted by her, so society is paying her back with its indifference, letting her realize it has forgotten her existence. When she won’t have anything to eat, she’ll learn proper manners.
VASYA. But how did Miss Nyegin insult His Excellency?
BAKIN. You know Prince Irakly Stratonych, don’t you?
VASYA. How could I help knowing him, sir? Who in our region doesn’t know His Excellency?
DULYEBOV. Yes, we’ve known each other a long time, I knew his father too…
BAKIN (to Vasya). Then you know what kind of a man he is, don’t you? A man respected in the highest degree, our most learned critic. The soul of our society, a man with great taste, one who knows how to live well. He loves art and understands its fine points. A patron of all artists, actors and especially actresses…
DULYEBOV. Isn’t that enough?
BAKIN. To each according to his merits. Not only that, this is a man who’s generous, hospitable, an excellent family man. Take note of that, gentlemen! For that’s something rare in our day. In a word, a man respected in all respects. Isn’t that so?
VASYA. Exactly, sir.
BAKIN (to Velikatov). There can’t be two opinions about it?
VELIKATOV. I agree with you completely.
BAKIN. And this man, gentlemen, a man respected in all respects and an excellent family man, wanted to make a young woman, Miss Nyegin, happy by bestowing his favor on her. I ask you, what’s bad about that? He says to her very politely, “How would you like being kept by me, my dear?” But she took it into her head to take offense and start crying.
DULYEBOV. No, really now, Grigory Antonych, do me a favor, give it a rest!
BAKIN. But why, Prince?
DULYEBOV. When you start praising somebody, the man respected in all respects ends up completely disrespected.
BAKIN. As you wish. I don’t know… I always speak the truth. Allow me, Prince, to continue a bit more. So, please note, Miss Nyegin took offense. There wasn’t any reason for her to take offense, or even think of it, because in essence there’s nothing offensive there. It turns out there’s an outside influence.
DULYEBOV. Yes, I heard.
BAKIN. That young lady has a student teaching her, and that explains the matter quite simply.
DULYEBOV. They’ve even infiltrated the theater.
BAKIN. If they knew what was good for them, they’d stick to cutting up their dogs and frogs, but they’ve taken it into their head to educate actresses. And in actresses learning is a dangerous thing. We have to take immediate steps against it.
BAKIN. And suppose they really would educate them. What would the Prince and I do with ourselves then?
DULYEBOV. All right now, that’s enough! Please!
BAKIN. As you wish, I’ve finished. (To Velikatov.) Am I correct in thinking you wanted to leave today?
VELIKATOV. One can’t always plan things for certain. I really did want to leave today, but now I see the possibility of an operation I wasn’t counting on.
BAKIN. You’re tempted by the chance of gaining something?
VELIKATOV. It’s a business with a risk. I could gain something, but I could very easily lose too.
BAKIN. It would be nice if we could eat together tonight.
VELIKATOV. That’s all right by me.
BAKIN. And how about you, Prince?
DULYEBOV. Yes, fine, let’s do it.
BAKIN. We’ll meet here after the performance and go somewhere. What’s going on there now? The divertissement?
VASYA. Some storyteller’s doing his thing.
DULYEBOV. Good, let’s go in for a laugh or two.
BAKIN. If he pleases you, Prince, add something for him.
Bakin, Dulyebov, and Velikatov leave.
TRAGEDIAN. Where’s my Vasya?
VASYA (approaching). Here’s your Vasya. What do you want?
TRAGEDIAN. Where did you disappear to, brother?
VASYA. What do you want from me?! Speak fast!
TRAGEDIAN. What do I want?! I want respect. Do you mean to tell me you don’t know your obligation?
VASYA. Well, you just be patient, and I’ll learn to respect you. Since you’ve waited so long for it you can wait a while longer. I’m going in to hear the storyteller, all my friends are there. So be nice about it and don’t hold me up.
TRAGEDIAN. Go on! I’m noble.
Vasya leaves. Alexandra, Nina, and Meluzov come out. of the theater. Meluzov is carrying a plaid for the shoulders and Alexandra’s short cloak.
NINA. Yes, Sasha, your position is very unpleasant, I understand that. But none of it’s my fault, Sasha. I’m in a lot of trouble too.
ALEXANDRA. That can’t be, what trouble are you in! I can’t believe it. It’s all so easy for you, things are going your way.
NINA. I’ll tell you…(She leads Alexandra aside.) The Prince is showing me a lot of attention.
ALEXANDRA. So what! That’s your affair.
NINA. I know it’s my affair. But I don’t want to let go of Velikatov.
ALEXANDRA (with some agitation). You mean Velikatov is showing you attention too?
NINA. He’s strange. He comes to see me every day, he carries out my every wish, but he doesn’t say anything… He must be shy, there are types like that. I just don’t know how to act. If I’m cold to the Prince, I’ll gain a enemy. But Velikatov’s leaving tomorrow, and I could lose him. If I’m nice to the Prince, I’ll be ungrateful to Velikatov, and anyway, I like Velikatov a lot more.
ALEXANDRA. Of course! Naturally… who wouldn’t like him!
NINA. You feel that way? And what I learned about him! He’s a millionaire, he just puts on being a simple man. I just don’t know what to do. Believe me, Sasha, it’s made a wreck of me.
ALEXANDRA. But I don’t understand any of this. Go ask Peter Yegorych.
NINA. How can you say that! What does he understand? He’d grind out that philosophy of his, a lot I need that. And you, Sasha, dear, you’re wasting your time listening to him! Don’t listen to him, don’t listen, for your own good. He just gets you mixed up. That philosophy is good enough in books, but just let him try living it in our situation! Is there really anything worse than the situation we women are in! You’re on your way home, let’s go together.
ALEXANDRA. I’d like to speak with Gavrilo Patrovich. I’m waiting for him.
NINA. Then I’ll wait too.
They approach Meluzov, who is looking at the tragedian.
TRAGEDIAN (raises his head and speaks to Meluzov). Who are you? What are you doing here?
ALEXANDRA. He came with me.
TRAGEDIAN. Alexandra Nikolavna!… Sasha! Ophelia! What is he doing here?
ALEXANDRA. He’s my fiancé, my teacher.
TRAGEDIAN. Teacher! What does he teach you?
ALEXANDRA. All that’s good.
TRAGEDIAN (to Meluzov). Well now, come here!
Meluzov approaches.
Give me your hand!
Meluzov gives him his hand.
I’m a teacher too, yes, a teacher. Why are you looking at me like that? I’m teaching a rich merchant.
TRAGEDIAN. Ask away!
MELUZOV. Exactly what are you teaching him?
TRAGEDIAN. Nobility.
MELUZOV. That’s a serious subject.
TRAGEDIAN. I think it is. Yes, sir… I think it is. Not like that geography of yours. So, you and I are teachers. Wonderful. Such an occasion calls for a drink at the buffet. On you, of course.
MELUZOV. I’m sorry. In that field I’m not your colleague. I don’t drink.
TRAGEDIAN. Sasha, Sasha! Alexandra! Who are you bringing to us artists, to the temple of the muses!
MELUZOV. But we can go! You drink wine, and I’ll have a glass of water.
TRAGEDIAN. Go to hell! Take him away! (He lowers his head.) Where’s my Vasya?
Dulyebov, Velikatov, and Vasya enter. Behind Vasya comes a waiter from the buffet with a bottle of port and some wineglasses. Some of the audience also enter and remain in the background. Dulyebov sits down on a bench on the right side, Nina sitting down next to him. Not far from them Meluzov and Alexandra sit down. Velikatov and Bakin approach them from the left side. The tragedian, sitting in his former position, is approached by Vasya and the waiter; the latter places the bottle and wineglasses on the table before going off to the side. Some of the audience stand while some sit down at the small tables in the background.
VASYA (to the tragedian, while pouring a glass of wine). Please, I humbly beg you.
TRAGEDIAN. Don’t beg, I don’t need that to drink. Why all those words. “Please, I humbly beg you”! Just say, “Drink!” You see how simple it is, just one word but what a deep thought.
Migaev walks out from the theater.
ALEXANDRA. Gavrilo Patrovich, come over here, please.
MIGAEV (approaching Alexandra). What do you want?
ALEXANDRA. You kept avoiding me in the theater. Now I want to have a talk with you here, in the presence of others.
MELUZOV. Yes, it would be interesting to hear the motives for your actions.
MIGAEV. What actions, sir?
MELUZOV. You scheduled the benefit performance for Alexandra Nikolavna at the very end of the fair.
MIGAEV. That’s the very best time, sir. According to the contract I’m obliged to give Miss Nyegin a benefit performance during the fair, but it doesn’t say whether it’s to be at the beginning or the end. That’s up to me, sir.
MELUZOV. You’re within the law, I understand that. But besides the law there also exist moral obligations for men.
MIGAEV. What is this, sir, why all this talk?
MELUZOV. Listen. You put off the benefit performance till the last day. You gave out the playbills late. And you didn’t let Alexandra Nikolavna perform before her benefit. Those are your actions.
MIGAEV. Quite right, sir.
MELUZOV. But Alexandra Nikolavna didn’t deserve that because she always brought you a full take at the box office, which can’t be said for others. So try to justify your behavior.
TRAGEDIAN. You gypsy you!
MIGAEV. To the best of my knowledge you don’t work in our theater, and I don’t give an account of my business to outsiders, sir.
DULYEBOV. Of course not. What kind of inquest is this! He’s the boss in his theater, so he can act in his own best interests.
MELUZOV. Nevertheless such actions are called improper, and the gentleman who permits himself such a course of action does not have the right to consider himself a man of honor. Concerning which I have the honor to declare to you in public. Upon which we consider ourselves satisfied.
MIGAEV. As you wish, as you wish, sir, that doesn’t matter to me. Public tastes differ, you can’t please everybody. You may not like my actions, but the Prince approves of them.
MELUZOV. What do I care about the Prince! The moral laws are alike for all.
Migaev approaches the Prince.
BAKIN. Why waste rhetoric preaching honor to Migaev?! How naive can you get? For a long time now he’s considered honor a prejudice, and for him there’s no difference between an honorable or dishonorable act, not until he’s been given a thrashing. But when he gets boxed on the ear two or three times, that’ll start him thinking: I must’ve done something pretty bad if they’re beating me like this.
TRAGEDIAN. And they’ll be beating him, you’ll see, I predicted it long ago.
MIGAEV (approaching Alexandra). So, Miss Nyegin, is it your pleasure to be dissatisfied with me?
ALEXANDRA. Of course. How can you still ask?
MIGAEV. In that case what compels you to work with me? Our contract is coming to an end.
ALEXANDRA. Yes, but you yourself asked me to renew it.
MIGAEV. I’m sorry, miss, but I’ve changed my mind. By public demand I have to invite another actress to take your place.
Alexandra stands in amazement.
TRAGEDIAN. Ophelia, get thee to a nunnery!
ALEXANDRA. You should have warned me earlier. I had offers from other managers, and I turned them all down. I believed your word.
MIGAEV. And you’re wrong to believe words. We can’t answer for our every word. We depend on the public, and we have to fulfill its desires.
ALEXANDRA. Now I just don’t know where to turn. You’ve put me in such a position…
MIGAEV. I’m sorry, miss. With another actress I wouldn’t have done it, but you have so much talent you won’t be hurt at all. They’ll be glad to take you on anywhere.
ALEXANDRA (in tears). Now you’re making fun of me… But it’s a good thing you told me before my benefit… Tomorrow I’ll say good-bye to my public… which loves me so… It should be printed up, that I’m playing for the last time.
VASYA. We’ll spread the word even without the playbills.
ALEXANDRA (to Velikatov). Ivan Semyonych, you’re not leaving before tomorrow, are you?
VELIKATOV. No, I won’t be leaving yet, miss.
ALEXANDRA. So you’ll be in the theater?
VELIKATOV. Without fail.
BAKIN. Only don’t you take credit for it. He’s not staying over for your benefit performance. He has some unfinished business, some operation in mind.
VELIKATOV. That’s true. The operation’s no secret, gentlemen, I won’t keep it from you. I want to buy up Alexandra Nikolavna’s benefit. I might even make something on it.
ALEXANDRA. What? You want to buy up my benefit? You’re not joking? Is this some new hurt, am I being made fun of again?
VELIKATOV. I’m not joking at all. How much is your benefit worth to you, what would you like to receive for it?
ALEXANDRA. It isn’t worth anything to me, it has no value. God grant there’s no loss.
VASYA. You’re wrong to be so upset, miss. Your benefit is certainly worth buying.
VELIKATOV. How much could the beneficiary receive if the theater is full and the prices are high? Did anyone ever take in very much at his benefit?
TRAGEDIAN (striking the table with his fist). I did.
VASYA. At the beginning of the fair he and I took in three hundred and fifty rubles.
VELIKATOV. Would you be willing to take three hundred and fifty rubles?
ALEXANDRA. I can’t, that’s a lot, it’s a gift… I don’t want to take gifts. It’s not in keeping with my principles.
VELIKATOV. What a pleasure hearing such words from a young actress! One can see right away you have a good teacher, a man with honorable and noble convictions.
VASYA. But that’s not a high price at all, Alexandra Nikolavna, really! For if Ivan Semyonych is latching onto this business, that means you’ll have the whole fair with you tomorrow. I’ll raise the price fifty rubles. Would you take four hundred rubles?
VELIKATOV. No, excuse me, but I won’t back out. I offer Alexandra Nikolavna five hundred rubles.
VASYA. Count me out, I won’t go higher. That’s a real price.
ALEXANDRA. But what are you doing, gentlemen? You know that after expenses I get half the profit.
VASYA. People like us won’t lose a thing, miss, we’re businessmen. By eleven tomorrow there won’t be a single ticket left. (To Velikatov.) Please, give me a share! Let me have two boxes and a dozen orchestra seats.
VELIKATOV. Get them at the box office, and tell the ticket seller to send me right away the money for what he’s sold, also to send me all remaining tickets except those in the high balcony. I’ll wait here.
VASYA. Fine, I’ll tell him, sir. Let me pay you for the two boxes and the dozen orchestra seats. (He gives the money.)
VELIKATOV (taking the money). There’s a hundred rubles here.
VASYA. Exactly, sir. You know, we have four of our merchants here, so maybe there’ll be some takers among them. I’ll run along now. (He goes off through the rear of the stage.)
VELIKATOV. I still haven’t received your consent, Alexandra Nikolavna.
ALEXANDRA (to Meluzov). What should I do, Peter Yegorych? I don’t know. Whatever you say I’ll do.
MELUZOV. I don’t know either. I don’t have any competence in such matters. For now it looks as though everything’s legitimate. Agree.
ALEXANDRA (to Velikatov). I agree. Thank you.
VELIKATOV. There’s nothing to thank me for, I’ll be making money. I ought to thank you.
MIGAEV (to Dulyebov). And you, Your Excellency, wanted to make a bet.
DULYEBOV. Well, no one could have expected this. It’s a completely special case.
BAKIN (to Velikatov). Set aside a ticket for me! This will be an interesting performance.
Vasya returns.
VASYA. The ticket seller’s going to bring the tickets and the money right away, he’s just counting the receipts. I took ten more orchestra seats at five rubles each. Here’s your money. (He gives Velikatov fifty rubles.)
VELIKATOV. Isn’t that a high price?
VASYA. It’s not high at all. Just now I sold four tickets at five rubles each. Tomorrow my first-row tickets will go for ten rubles, and even at ten rubles they’ll be a gift.
DULYEBOV. A man would have to be an absolute fool to pay ten rubles for an orchestra seat in a provincial theater.
VASYA. But they’re in the first row, Your Excellency. The box office has only one seat left there.
DULYEBOV. In that case, Ivan Semyonych, set that one aside for me.
VELIKATOV. At ten rubles, Prince?
DULYEBOV. It can’t be helped since everyone’s gone out of his mind.
VASYA. So, Gavrilo Petrovich, you can close up shop! As soon as Alexandra Nikolavna leaves, you won’t be in business any more! That’ll be the end! You won’t be able to lure them into the theater for love or money, so now you know what to expect!
ALEXANDRA. Give me my coat, Peter Yegorych. Good-bye, gentlemen. Thank you! You gave me such comfort, when I was on the point of crying. Really, gentlemen, it was such a blow to me, such a blow…
Meluzov gives her her coat, and she puts it on.
TRAGEDIAN. Vasya, ask for champagne!
VASYA. Is that really necessary?
TRAGEDIAN. You’re something, brother, how can you ask such a thing? You’ve acted nobly, so we have to congratulate you.
VASYA. You should have said so in the first place. Waiter, a bottle of champagne!
ALEXANDRA. Good-bye, gentlemen.
VELIKATOV. Allow me to offer you my carriage.
NINA. You’re offering her your carriage, and I suppose you’re offering yourself to accompany her?
VELIKATOV. No, why that! Alexandra Nikolavna will ride with her fiancé. (To Meluzov.) The coachman will drive you home too, and then you can send him back.
MELUZOV. Excuse me, but I consider your concern for me unnecessary. (He wraps himself up in his plaid, Velikatov helping him.) You’re troubling yourself to no good purpose, I’m used to managing without other people’s help. That’s my principle.
VELIKATOV. But that’s hard to maintain. People can’t get along without mutual aid.
ALEXANDRA (to Velikatov). You’re such a noble person, and so tactful… I’m so grateful to you, I can’t express it… I’ll give you a kiss tomorrow.
VELIKATOV. That will make me very happy.
NINA. Tomorrow? That’s a long time to wait. (To Dulyebov.) Prince, I’ll give you a kiss today, right now.
DULYEBOV. At your service, my beauty. I’m at your disposal!
Nina kisses Dulyebov.
ALEXANDRA. So, good-bye, gentlemen, good-bye! (She sends a kiss with her hand.)
TRAGEDIAN. Ophelia! O nymph! Remember me in thy orisons.
Scenery of Act One. Evening. Two candles on the table.
MATRYONA (at the door). Who is it? (Voice of Mme. Nyegin off stage: “It’s me, Matryona!”) I’ll open up right away. (Mme. Nyegin enters.) Has the the-AYter crowd left yet?
MME NYEGIN. Not yet, not completely. It’ll take about a half hour more. I came home early on purpose, to get the tea ready. I don’t want Sasha to wait when she comes. Do you have the samovar ready?
MATRYONA. I lit it. Any time now it’ll start making its noises.
MME NYEGIN. When it starts making noises, cover it up.
MATRYONA. Why cover it up! That samovar of ours may start making noises, but it’s not about to boil soon. First it’s got to sing, sing all kinds of tunes, huff and puff away. But all that’s little use, and if you try blowing up the fire, it gets worse, like it’s making fun of you. I’ve used lots of bad words with it.
MME NYEGIN. I got tired out in that theater, it was so hot and stuffy. I was really glad when I could rush out of there.
MATRYONA. That’s how it is, sitting inside four walls in the summer. A big crowd was there?
MME NYEGIN. The theater was absolutely full, jam packed.
MATRYONA. You don’t say! And they kept beating their hands together?
MME NYEGIN. The whole works. You go take a look at the samovar and set it up in her room. But wait, somebody’s come. It’s too soon for Sasha.
Matryona opens the door, and Velikatov enters. Matryona goes off.
VELIKATOV. Hello, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. Hello, Ivan Semyonych. What brings you here?
VELIKATOV. I have some business, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. Then it should wait till tomorrow. It’s late now, it’s out of place, we don’t have men here at this hour.
VELIKATOV. Don’t worry, Domna Pantelyevna, I won’t be waiting for Alexandra Nikolavna. And nobody’s going to say anything bad about you and me.
VELIKATOV. So, Aunty, you don’t have anything to be afraid of.
MME NYEGIN. But what kind of an aunty am I to you?
VELIKATOV. Do you mean I’m not good enough to be your nephew?
MME NYEGIN. It’s not that, who could be better! Such a fine fellow, our handsome lad!
VELIKATOV. I’ve brought you the money from the benefit performance, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. Thank you, thank you very much! I just can’t tell you how much we need it. The first thing, Ivan Semyonych, is the debts. How can one live without them? Is that possible?
VELIKATOV. It’s not possible.
MME NYEGIN. We’re all people.
VELIKATOV. All human beings, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. And those debts we have, even if they’re small, still, if a person has a conscience, then it’s a worry.
VELIKATOV. A worry, Domna Pantelyevna, a worry. (Giving a package with money.) Here, give this to Alexandra Nikolavna.
MME NYEGIN. We’re grateful, very grateful to you, Ivan Semyonych! Wouldn’t you like some tea?
VELIKATOV. Thank you very much, but I can’t. Spare me from tea, Domna Pantelyevna. For some reason nothing agrees with me now, especially tea. It’s as though I have some kind of melancholy, Domna Pantelyevna, as if I’m all upset.
MME NYEGIN. It’s what’s called the pachondria.
VELIKATOV. Yes, Domna Pantelyevna, the pachondria.
MME NYEGIN. A lot of money and nothing to do. That’s when it latches onto people.
VELIKATOV. You hit it right on the head. That’s exactly what it comes from.
MME NYEGIN. If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t have any reason for melancholy.
VELIKATOV. You’re quite right, no reason. But I am suffering from melancholy, Domna Pantelyevna, and I’ve been rushing about at the fair from tavern to tavern. Could you believe it, this is the second week running that I’ve been drunk twice a day… What I think, Domna Pantelyevna, is this: either it’s from evil spirits or it’s God’s will.
MME NYEGIN. It’s from loneliness.
VELIKATOV. Loneliness, Domna Pantelyevna. Your words are pure gold, no more to be said, it’s loneliness.
MME NYEGIN. So choose yourself a life companion.
VELIKATOV. And where would you advise me to find one?
MME NYEGIN. Get married, get yourself a nice young lady. Anyone would marry you, even one from the very best of families.
VELIKATOV. But I’m afraid, Aunty.
MME NYEGIN. Come now, what’s there to be afraid of, what’s so frightening about it?
VELIKATOV. Life will be sadder.
MME NYEGIN. Oh no, that’s where you’re wrong. How could that happen! There’s a world of difference between a married man and a bachelor.
VELIKATOV. They like to play the piano a lot, and I can’t stand that.
MME NYEGIN. All the same it’s music. But what pleasure does a bachelor have? Aside from a drink with his friends he doesn’t have any joy in life.
VELIKATOV. But the household, Domna Pantelyevna? What would you say about that?
MME NYEGIN. Well, of course, if a man maintains a household…
VELIKATOV. That’s a sin I have. In the country I have a nice little home with about forty rooms, quite a lot of horses, a little garden laid out for almost two thirds of a mile, with arbors, with ponds…
MME NYEGIN. What you’re saying is that everything is the way it should be with a good landowner. Isn’t that it?
VELIKATOV. Everything’s in good order, Domna Pantelyevna. If you get bored indoors, you can go out on the porch, and the turkey cocks are going through the yard, all of them white.
MME NYEGIN. White! You don’t say!
VELIKATOV. So you shout out to them, “Hello there, boys!” And they answer back, “We wish you health, honorable sir.”
MME NYEGIN. They’re trained?
VELIKATOV. Trained. So you can amuse yourself with them. Peacocks sit on the roofs and fences, and their tails play in the sun.
MME NYEGIN. Peacocks too? Good heavens!
VELIKATOV. You go out in the park for a walk, and you see swans swimming in the lake. They’re always in pairs, always in pairs, Domna Pantelyevna.
MME NYEGIN. And you really have swans? That’s heaven itself! If only I could set my eyes on it.
VELIKATOV (looking at his watch). We’ve had such a nice pleasant talk, Aunty, I hate to leave. I’d like to talk some more, but there’s not time. Excuse me, I have some business.
MME NYEGIN. I’d like to talk some more too, it’s so pleasant with you… A nice well-mannered man like you I’ve never seen in all my life…
VELIKATOV. I made some money from the benefit, Domna Pantelyevna, so let me offer you a little gift. (He goes off to the entry and brings back a package wrapped in paper, which he gives to Mme. Nyegin.)
VELIKATOV. It’s a kerchief.
MME NYEGIN (unwrapping the paper). You call this a kerchief? Say rather it’s a whole shawl, such as I’ve never sewn my whole life. How much did it cost?
VELIKATOV. I don’t know, I got it for nothing from a friendly merchant.
MME NYEGIN. But what’s it for, sir? Really, I don’t know what to do… I’ll just give you a kiss, allow me that, dear friend… my heart can’t hold out.
VELIKATOV. Do me the favor, as much as you want.
Mme. Nyegin kisses him.
Good-bye. Give my respects to Alexandra Nikolavna. We might not be seeing each other. (He leaves.)
Mme. Nyegin sees him to the entry and returns.
MME NYEGIN. Where did such people come from! Good heavens! (She puts on the shawl.) I won’t even take it off now. (She looks in the mirror.) I’m a lady, a real lady! What a man! But what good are those others we have? I’d rather not lay eyes on them. Still, there are worthwhile people in the world. (She listens.) Who could that be?
Narokov enters with wreaths and bouquets.
NAROKOV. Here, take them! Those are your daughter’s laurels! You can be proud!
MME NYEGIN. Whoever saw the like! Why bring us these wreaths? What good are they!
NAROKOV. Ignorance! These wreaths signify enthusiasm, they signify the recognition of talent in return for the happiness it provides. Laurels are a diploma representing honor and respect.
MME NYEGIN. How much money thrown away on this brushwood! The money would have been better, with that we could have found a place, but this pile of junk… what can we do with it? Just throw it in the stove.
NAROKOV. You’d only run through the money, but this will always stay with you as a memento.
MME NYEGIN. Yes, of course, we’ve got to save every bit of trash! I’ll throw it out the window this very night. You look at this! (She shows him the shawl and turns around before him.) Now that’s what I call a gift! It’s nice, charming, delicate.
NAROKOV. Well, to each his own, I won’t be jealous of you; it’s your daughter I’m jealous of. I’ll just take a few little leaves for a memento. (He tears off a few little leaves.)
MME NYEGIN. You can take them all if you want, I won’t cry.
NAROKOV (takes a sheet of paper out of his pocket). Give this to Alexandra Nikolavna.
MME NYEGIN. Now what? A note from somebody? I’m so fed up with these stupid things.
NAROKOV. It’s from me… a poem… I was born in Arcadia too.9
MME NYEGIN. Where, Prokofyich, where did you say?
NAROKOV. It’s far from here. You’ve never been there and never will be. (He shows his poem to Mme. Nyegin.) You see there, that little border; it has forget-menots, pansies, cornflowers, and ears of corn. And look there, a bee sitting, and a butterfly flying… I was a whole week drawing it.
MME NYEGIN. Then you should give it to her yourself.
NAROKOV. It’s embarrassing. Look here. (He points to his head.) I’m bald, what little hair I have is gray! But my feelings are young, fresh, full of youth, and I’m embarrassed. Here, you give it to her. Only don’t you throw it away! You’re really a coarse woman, you have no feeling. You coarse people like to throw things away, to trample on everything tender, everything refined.
MME NYEGIN. Oh you! You’re so sensitive. But everyone can’t be like that. Just set it on the table, she’ll see it when she comes.
NAROKOV (puts the paper on the table). Yes, that’s true, I’m a sensitive man. Goodbye. (He leaves.)
MME NYEGIN. That man is crazy! But he’s all right, he has a good heart, I’m not afraid of him. Others do things a lot worse, smash crockery and run around biting people. But this one’s peaceful. Somebody’s there, it must be Sasha. (She goes to the door.)
Alexandra enters carrying a bouquet and a box. She puts them on the table.
ALEXANDRA. Oh, how tired I am! (She sits down at the table.)
MME NYEGIN. Should I have the coachman go?
ALEXANDRA. No, why do that! I’ll just rest a bit, and then we’ll take a ride, for the fresh air. It’s still not too late. After all, he’s been hired for the whole evening.
MME NYEGIN. In that case let him wait, you don’t want to pay out that money for nothing!
ALEXANDRA. What’s that shawl you’re wearing?
MME NYEGIN. Velikatov gave it to me. He says he made money on the benefit. What do you thing, is it pretty?
ALEXANDRA. It’s a wonderful shawl, and expensive.
MME NYEGIN. He says he got it for nothing.
ALEXANDRA. And you believe him! He’s always saying things like that. So he was here?
MME NYEGIN. Yes, he dropped by and brought the money.
ALEXANDRA. Why didn’t he try to see me?
MME NYEGIN. I don’t know. He was in a hurry to go somewhere, maybe he’s leaving.
ALEXANDRA. That’s possible. How strange he is, you can’t understand him at all. (Pensively.) I think a man like him, if he wanted, could sweep a woman right off her feet.
MME NYEGIN. No question about it! And you couldn’t blame the woman either, how could you blame her! After all, the heart’s not a stone, and fine fellows like him are few and far between, I don’t suppose you’d meet another man like him your whole life. Not like those meek ones who don’t do anything worth thinking of. He was telling me about his estate in the country. What a wonderful household he has there!
ALEXANDRA. That’s not surprising, he’s very rich.
MME NYEGIN. Don’t you want some tea?
ALEXANDRA. No, wait awhile. (Looking at the table.) What’s that?
MME NYEGIN. It’s what Prokofyich brought you as a remembrance.
ALEXANDRA (looking over the paper). Oh, how nice! What a kind, nice old man he is!
MME NYEGIN. Yes, he’s a kind, good man. It’s just that he had a bankrupture, and that made him crazy. Well, how are we going to figure out that money?
ALEXANDRA. What’s there to figure out! First of all we have to pay the debts, and we’ll live on what’s left over.
MME NYEGIN. And there’ll be only a little left, nothing to get rich on.
ALEXANDRA. Yes, it’s going to be harder now, without any salary. And where can I go, whom do I know? And I need clothes again.
MME NYEGIN. About two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty, there won’t be any more than that left, no matter how we twist it. That’s what we have to live on all summer. Allow a kopeck and a half a day, and a day’s still a day. In the fall they’ll call us to Moscow, they say actresses are needed there.
ALEXANDRA. I could give up the stage and get married, but Peter Yegorych hasn’t found a position yet. If I could only do some kind of work.
MME NYEGIN. What, give up the stage! You’ve just got in one day what you wouldn’t earn in three years at some other work.
ALEXANDRA. We get a lot, but we have to spend a lot.
MME NYEGIN. Any way you look at it, Sasha, this life of ours isn’t too sweet. I’ll have to tell you, I’m sick of our being so poor.
ALEXANDRA. Sick of it… yes… sick of it… I’ve thought and thought till I’ve simply given up thinking. Well, let’s sleep on it, we’ll talk it over tomorrow.
MME NYEGIN. All right, but now let’s have some tea. (She listens.) Who could that be this time?
Bakin enters.
BAKIN. I’ve come for a drink of tea, Alexandra Nikolavna!
ALEXANDRA. Oh, excuse me, I can’t receive you. I’m very tired, I must rest. I want to be alone, to calm down.
BAKIN. But a half hour, what’s a half hour!
ALEXANDRA. I really can’t, I’m so worn out.
BAKIN. Very well, then I’ll drop back in ten or fifteen minutes. That’ll give you time to rest up.
ALEXANDRA. No, no, do me a favor! Come tomorrow, whenever you want, only not tonight.
BAKIN. Alexandra Nikolavna, for some reason or other I don’t like changing my intentions. I always want to carry out what I’ve thought of, and, with my persistence, I succeed.
ALEXANDRA. I’m very glad you succeed, but you must excuse me, I’m going to leave you, I’m very tired.
BAKIN. All right, you can leave, but I’m going to stay on in this room. I’ll sit right through the night in this chair.
ALEXANDRA. Now stop joking! This has gone far enough.
BAKIN. You don’t believe me? Then I’ll prove to you I’m a resolute man.
MME NYEGIN. And I, dear sir, am a resolute woman who’s about to shout for help.
BAKIN (to Alexandra). Listen, are you afraid somebody will find me here with you?
ALEXANDRA. I’m not afraid of anybody or anything.
BAKIN. All your admirers are eating supper now at the railroad station. The Prince, Velikatov, and Nina Smelsky are with them. And they’re staying there till morning.
ALEXANDRA. That’s no concern of mine!
BAKIN. And your fiancé is probably asleep. But then I don’t even believe you love him.
ALEXANDRA. Oh my God, this is unbearable! I don’t care what you believe.
BAKIN. You only keep him near you as protection against other men’s attentions, but when you find a man you like you’ll throw him over. It’s always that way.
ALEXANDRA. All right, I heard you.
BAKIN. You’re being terribly fastidious. What are you waiting for? What blessing? You see before you a man who is educated, secure… If I don’t come courting, if I don’t say sweet nothings, if I don’t make a declaration of love, it’s because those aren’t my principles. We’re not children, so why pretend! Let’s talk like grown-up people.
ALEXANDRA. Good-bye. (She goes off.)
MME NYEGIN. Well, sir, you’ve had your little talk. It’s time now to give people some peace! But if you want to talk, do it with me; I have a ready tongue.
BAKIN (loudly). All the same I’ll drop in again. (He goes off.)
MME NYEGIN. I’ll lock up the entrance. I won’t let a soul in now, not even if he’s dying there. (She goes off.)
A sharp exchange of words is heard off stage. Alexandra enters.
ALEXANDRA What’s going on there?
Mme. Nyegin, Vasya, and the tragedian enter. Vasya has a bottle of champagne.
MME NYEGIN. They’re depraved, they’re really depraved! They forced their way in, they won’t listen to reason at all.
VASYA. But you can’t act like that, Domna Pantelyevna. We simply must drink to the health of Alexandra Nikolavna, that’s something we can’t do without. What is all this! We’ve come here with honorable and noble intentions, with all due respect! There’s nothing disgraceful at all, really now!
TRAGEDIAN. Of course not! Since I’m here.
ALEXANDRA. But you’re troubling yourselves for nothing. I won’t drink anything.
VASYA. If that’s the way you want, miss. There’ll be all the more left for us, we’ll drink by ourselves. (He shouts in the direction of the partition.) You there, my dear smart girl, bring us some glasses!
MME NYEGIN. Give me that, I’ll open it. (She takes the bottle and goes off.)
TRAGEDIAN. You say you won’t drink anything, but I’d like to see you not drink with me here!
VASYA. You shouldn’t force her, sir.
TRAGEDIAN. I won’t force her, I’ll ask her.
Mme Nyegin returns. She places the bottle and glasses on the table.
VASYA (pours). We’ll start with you, elders first, ma’am.
MME NYEGIN. I don’t know whether to drink or not. I’m afraid of getting tipsy.
VASYA. What is all this! What’s there to be afraid of? It’s getting on in the night, so even if you do get tipsy, it’s no great catastrophe. He and I aren’t afraid of that.
MME NYEGIN (takes the glass). Well, Sasha, congratulations! (She drinks.)
VASYA (carries a glass to Alexandra). Now let me ask you.
ALEXANDRA. I already told you I won’t drink anything.
VASYA. You can’t do that to us, miss. We’ve come with nothing but good will. Just half!
TRAGEDIAN (falling to his knees). Sasha, Alexandra! Look who’s asking you! Look who’s at your feet! It’s Gromilov, Yerast Gromilov himself!
ALEXANDRA. Well, all right, I’ll drink a little bit. Only I won’t drink more than that for anything. (She drinks.)
VASYA (helping the tragedian to his feet). As much as you want, miss. (He takes her glass.) We’ll drink what’s left and find out your thoughts. (He pours glasses.) Now we’ll drink, sir. (He gives a glass to the tragedian.)
TRAGEDIAN. Congratulate her for the two of us. My eloquence isn’t in good shape tonight.
VASYA. It is my honor, miss, to congratulate you on your success. A hundred years of life and a million rubles! (He clinks glasses with the tragedian, and they drink.)
TRAGEDIAN (giving his glass). Pour some more. (Vasya pours; the tragedian drinks.) Is that all?
VASYA (showing the bottle). That’s all.
TRAGEDIAN. I see. Let’s go.
VASYA (to Alexandra). Farewell! Please give me your hand, miss. And excuse our ignorance, miss. Our thanks to this house, now we’ll go to another.
They leave.
MME NYEGIN. What muddleheads! Going through town like a whirlwind. Now I’ll lock up, they were just too much for us. (She goes off and soon returns.) Well, now we can drink our tea!
ALEXANDRA. I’ll be glad to have some.
MME NYEGIN (at the partition). Matryona, pour each of us a cup of tea. (To Alexandra.) Hand me over that gift there.
ALEXANDRA (giving a small box). But you’ve already seen what’s there, some earrings and a brooch.
MME NYEGIN. I just want to put them away. You know they’re worth a lot. (She puts the small box into her pocket.) What’s good about things like these, what’s so pleasant about them, is that in time of need they can be pawned straight off. Not like all that brushwood.
Matryona brings two cups of tea and goes off.
ALEXANDRA (sipping the tea). You should see the bouquet Velikatov brought me. Look!
MME NYEGIN. Well, what about the bouquet! A bouquet’s a bouquet. Money thrown away for nothing, that’s what I think. (She drinks her tea.)
ALEXANDRA. No, look! The flowers are all expensive. Where do you suppose he got them?
MME NYEGIN (looking over the bouquet). Yes, it is pretty, you have to say that. (She finds a note.) But what’s this?
ALEXANDRA (reads the note to herself). Oh, oh!
ALEXANDRA (grabbing onto her head). Oh no, wait! I have another note. And I forgot it. (She takes a note out of her pocket.) It’s from Peter Yegorych, he gave it to me at the stage door. (She reads it to herself.)
MME NYEGIN. Read it out loud! What kind of secrets does anybody keep from a mother!
ALEXANDRA (reads). “Yes, dear Sasha, art is not nonsense, I am beginning to understand that. Tonight I found so much warmth and sincerity in your acting that I simply must tell you I was amazed. I am very happy for you. These are rare and precious qualities of the soul. After the performance some people will probably visit you at home. In the presence of your guests I always feel something unpleasant, either embarrassment or vexation, I feel awkward. They all look at me in a hostile or mocking way, which you yourself know I don’t deserve. Because of these considerations I won’t drop in on you after the theater, but if you should find two or three free minutes, then run out into the garden, I’ll be waiting for you there. Of course, I could drop in on you tomorrow morning, but, excuse me, my heart is filled to the brim, to the point of overflowing…”(She wipes away tears.)
MME NYEGIN. Well, read the other one.
ALEXANDRA. No, Mama, I don’t want to, it’s embarrassing!
MME NYEGIN. Embarrassing! You get a lot of letters that are embarrassing, and you read those to me.
ALEXANDRA. All right, Mama, prepare yourself. (She reads.) “I fell in love with you at first sight. To see and hear you is an inexpressible delight for me. Forgive me for making my declaration in a letter, but because of inborn timidity I would never dare to transmit my feelings to you aloud. My happiness now depends on you. And my happiness, what I dream about, my adorable Alexandra Nikolavna, is this. At my country home, in my splendid castle, in my palace, there is a young lady of the house to whom all, starting with me, bow, whom all obey like slaves. Thus the summer passes. In the fall my charming lady and I go to one of our southern towns. She goes onto the stage of a theater which is completely dependent on me; she goes on in full glory, and I rejoice and take pride in her successes. Beyond that I do not dream, we shall live and see. Don’t be angry with me for my dreams, for everyone can dream. I shall read my sentence tomorrow in your eyes, they’ll tell me if you accept me. If you don’t accept me, I will go away with a broken heart but without complaint, punished by your scorn for my boldness. Your Velikatov.” (In tears.) Mama, what is this? What is this disgusting man writing here? Who gave him permission?
MME NYEGIN. What permission?
ALEXANDRA. That… to fall in love with me.
MME NYEGIN. Oh you silly girl, does a man have to ask permission for that!
ALEXANDRA I could kill him.
MME NYEGIN (pensively). Swans… He says swans swim on the lake.
ALEXANDRA. Oh, what do I care about that!
Silence.
MME NYEGIN. Sasha, my own little Sasha, you know you and I have never had a serious talk about some things, and now’s the time. You live in poverty, and here’s a chance for wealth! But good heavens, could this be some kind of calamity?! A temptation?! Is it the devil, Lord forgive us, who’s turned up here? At the very time… when we’ve started thinking about our need. That’s just like the devil. But how much kindness is in this man, how much of every virtue! So, my flighty girl, let’s you and I have a serious talk about this business.
ALEXANDRA. “Serious,” you say, a serious talk about such business. But what do you take me for! Is this a “business”? It’s shameful, that’s all! You remember what he said, it was he who said it, my dear boy, my Petya! How can I do any thinking about this, what’s there to think about, what’s there to discuss! And if you can’t stand the uncertainty, then take tea leaves or something and tell from them what I’m going to do! Yes, I’ll be in your hands. And that’s the end of it. (She takes Meluzov’s note.)
MME NYEGIN. But what’s gotten into you! How could I!… It’s your affair. Lord help me! May God and all good people…
ALEXANDRA (reads from Meluzov’s note). “But if you should find two or three free minutes, then run out into the garden, I’ll be waiting for you there.” Oh, my poor, poor boy! How little I’ve loved him! While I feel now that I love him with all my soul. (She takes Narokov’s letter.) Oh, and this one too! I’ll have to save this all my life! Nobody will ever love me like that. Give me my shawl. I’m going.
MME NYEGIN. Where are you going, where? What’s gotten into you?
ALEXANDRA. Oh, stop it, it’s none of your business!
MME NYEGIN. How is it none of my business! You’re my daughter.
ALEXANDRA. All right, I’m your daughter, you can do what you want with me. But my soul’s my own. I’m going to Petya. He really loves me, he feels for me, he’s taught me what’s good and right.
MME NYEGIN. But what about that other business? Just say something.
ALEXANDRA. Oh, that business, that! All right, tomorrow, tomorrow, let’s leave it for tomorrow. But right now don’t you get in my way. Now I’m good and honorable, such as I’ve never been before, and such as I might not be tomorrow. I feel very good in my soul now, very honorable, and you shouldn’t get in the way.
MME NYEGIN. All right, all right, do what you want, do what you want.
ALEXANDRA (covering herself with the shawl). I don’t know, I might come back right away, I might stay till morning… But don’t you say a word to me, no look…
MME NYEGIN. Why say that, don’t you think I’m your mother, don’t you think I’m a woman! Don’t I understand I shouldn’t get in your way, do you think I don’t have a soul?
ALEXANDRA. I’m going then.
MME NYEGIN. Wait, wrap yourself up good and warm, don’t catch cold. Anyway, you really have a heart of gold. I won’t lock up, I’ll drink tea and wait up for you awhile.
Alexandra leaves. Mme. Nyegin goes off behind the partition. The stage is empty awhile, and then Bakin enters.
BAKIN. There’s nobody here, the door’s not locked, and somebody sneaked out, it had to be her. But where was she going, who to? If it’s to her fiancé’s place, there’s no point, he can come here. She’s probably gone into the garden for a breath of fresh air. I’ll wait for her here. She won’t drive me away, she’ll surely let me stay at least a half hour. I made a bet with Velikatov that I’d drink tea with her and stay till morning. And I don’t feel like losing it. I wanted to let him know whether she received me or not. Ah, here’s what I’ll do, I’ll send the coachman to say I’ve stayed here. If she drives me out, then I’ll walk around somewhere till it’s dawn. (He opens the window.)
At this moment Meluzov and Alexandra enter. She goes behind the partition.
Ivan, drive to the railroad station and tell them I’ve stayed here.
MELUZOV. No, you won’t be staying here. Tell the coachman to wait, for you’re leaving here right now. What do you think you’re doing! All right, then I’ll tell him. (Through the window.) Ivan, stay! Your gentleman is coming out right away.
BAKIN. What right do you have to give orders in somebody else’s apartment? I don’t know you and don’t want to know you.
MELUZOV. No, really, why do you want to lie like that? And you’re lying with a bad intent. Do you want to give a girl a bad reputation?
BAKIN. “A bad reputation”? Does a visit after the theater give somebody a bad reputation? Well now, what do you know about it?
MELUZOV. But why were you going to send the coachman to say you were staying here?
BAKIN. You sit up there in the balcony, so how can you understand what goes on between actors and that part of the audience that sits in the front rows of the orchestra!
MELUZOV. Here’s something I understand: that you, with your front seat in the orchestra, are going to leave here while I, with my seat in the balcony, am going to stay here.
BAKIN. You’re going to stay here?
MELUZOV. Yes, I’m going to stay.
BAKIN. How nice! At least I’ve made a discovery I can share with…
MELUZOV. With anyone you want.
BAKIN. Still, haven’t you been bragging a bit too much, in all your excitement?
MELUZOV. No, you can count on it, I’m going to stay.
Alexandra enters, dressed in an overcoat.
ALEXANDRA (places her hand on Meluzov’s shoulder). Yes, he’s going to stay.
MELUZOV. So now your doubts are over, which means you have just one thing left to do…
ALEXANDRA. To leave.
MELUZOV. And the sooner the better.
BAKIN. The better! I know myself what’s better for me.
MELUZOV. No, you don’t know, you didn’t let me finish. The sooner you leave the better for you, because then you can leave through the door, but if you take a long time to get ready, you’ll fly off into space through the window.
ALEXANDRA (embracing Meluzov). Oh, darling.
BAKIN. Young man, you’re going to remember this! (He leaves.)
ALEXANDRA. Oh, dear Petya, my darling, let’s go driving now, all night long. The horses are here.
MELUZOV. Where to, Sasha?
ALEXANDRA. Anywhere you want, anywhere at all. Everything, everything will be as you want it till morning. Mama, good-bye, lock the door. We’re going driving.
Meluzov and Alexandra leave.
Railroad station’s waiting room for first-class passengers. On the right of the actors is a doorway in the form of an arch; it leads into another waiting room. Directly facing is a glass door, behind which can be seen a platform and cars. In the middle, stretching along the room, is a long table, on which are eating utensils, bottles, a candelabra, and a vase with flowers. The tragedian is sitting at the table. From the platform are heard voices: “The station is Bryakhimov. There will be a stop of twenty minutes. A buffet is provided. Bryakhimov! There will be a stop of twenty minutes.”
TRAGEDIAN. Where’s my Vasya? Waiter! (He bangs on the table.)
WAITER. What would you like?
TRAGEDIAN. Where’s my Vasya?
WAITER. Really now, how many times have you asked that already! How are we supposed to know?
TRAGEDIAN. Then in that case, my friend, you can go away.
The waiter leaves.
Where’s my Vasya?
Vasya enters.
VASYA. Here’s your Vasya. What do you want?
TRAGEDIAN. Look, friend, where did you disappear to?
VASYA. What will you ask next! If I disappeared, there was a reason. Tell me what you want!
TRAGEDIAN. Inform me, friend, what is there that you and I haven’t drunk today?
VASYA. What? I think we’ve drunk everything except vitriol. And I’ll tell you something else! That should be enough for a while!
TRAGEDIAN. But do you love me or not?
VASYA. So now you’ve found another topic for conversation.
TRAGEDIAN. What is it you love me for?
VASYA. For the fact that our house is a mess and that you have talent. So, that conversation’s ended. But listen! Why wine and more wine all the time? Let’s give that a little rest.
TRAGEDIAN. All right, let it rest.
VASYA. I’m sending my assistant to Kharkov, so I’ve got to make things good and clear to him. Let’s go into the third-class waiting room. We can stretch our legs there and relax a bit.
TRAGEDIAN. All right, let’s go. (He gets up.)
They go toward the doorway. They are met by Narokov and Meluzov, who are coming from the other waiting room.
NAROKOV (stopping Vasya). Wait, wait! Here, take my watch. (He takes out his pocket watch and gives it to Vasya.)
VASYA. But why are you giving me your watch, Martyn Prokofyich?
NAROKOV. Give me ten rubles for it, give them to me, please.
VASYA. But you’re crazy, I don’t need your watch.
NAROKOV. Do me a favor, do me a favor! It’s an emergency.
VASYA. But if it’s an emergency, I’ll trust you for it.
NAROKOV. There’s no need for that, no need. Take the watch, I’ll buy it back. It’s expensive, I’ll buy it back soon.
VASYA. But what do you need the money for? Tell me, take me into your confidence.
NAROKOV. Oh, why do you go on tormenting me like this? Tell me, will you give me the money or not?
VASYA. I’m just curious to know, my friend, what kind of business you have here, what kind of commerce.
NAROKOV. Excuse me for troubling you. I shouldn’t have.
VASYA. Well, all right, all right. (He puts the watch into his pocket and takes money out of his wallet.) There you are. I won’t take any interest, don’t worry.
NAROKOV (takes the money and shakes Vasya’s hand). Thank you, thank you, you’ve saved my life.
Vasya and the tragedian go off into the other waiting room.
MELUZOV. They’re not here. You must have been mistaken.
NAROKOV. No, I know it, and my heart tells me she’s going away. You can see I still haven’t recovered.
MELUZOV. But it’s just not likely. Why should she hide it from me, why deceive me! This morning I received a note from her, and here’s what she wrote: (He takes a note from his pocket and reads.) “Petya, don’t visit us today. Stay home and wait for me. I’ll drop in on you myself in the evening.”
NAROKOV. Yes, it’s incomprehensible, but she’s leaving, that’s certain. I tried to drop in on them, but they wouldn’t let me in. Domna Pantelyevna came out and shouted at me, “We can’t be bothered with you, not with you, we’re leaving by train right away.” I saw the suitcases, the handbags, the bundles… and I went running to you.
MELUZOV. Let’s go take a look in the other waiting room; we’ll wait for them at the entrance.
NAROKOV. I’ve lost my memory. What is it, morning or evening? I don’t know a thing. When does the train leave?
MELUZOV. Seven p.m., in about twenty minutes.
NAROKOV. Oh, then they’ll still come. Let’s go.
They go off into the other waiting room. Through the glass door enter Alexandra carrying a traveling bag, Mme. Nyegin, Nina Smelsky, Dulyebov, Bakin, and Matryona carrying pillows and packages. Alexandra and Nina come forward. Dulyebov and Bakin sit down at the table. Matryona places the packages and pillows on the divan near the door. Mme. Nyegin sorts out the packages and conceals something in them.
NINA. How soon you got ready, Sasha, and not a word to anyone.
ALEXANDRA. When could I tell anyone! I got the telegram today and began getting ready right away.
NINA. If the Prince and I hadn’t dropped in at the station, then you’d have left without saying good-bye.
ALEXANDRA. I didn’t have any time, I haven’t said good-bye to anyone. I got ready all of a sudden. I planned to write you from Moscow.
NINA. Then you’re going to Moscow?
ALEXANDRA. Yes.
NINA. On what conditions?
ALEXANDRA. They’re offering very good ones, but I still haven’t made up my mind. I’ll write you from there.
DULYEBOV (to Bakin). I thought Velikatov would have to leave today, so I came to catch him. I said to myself, I’ll drink a bottle of champagne with him to punish him for going off on the sly.
BAKIN. Me too and for the same reason.
DULYEBOV. But the train’s already in, and he’s still not here, so he must have stayed in town.
BAKIN. You know, these gentlemen millionaires love to show up at the very last moment.
NINA (to Alexandra). But what about Peter Yegorych?
ALEXANDRA. Oh, don’t talk about him, please!
NINA. You told him?
ALEXANDRA. No, he doesn’t know. I’m afraid he’ll come here. If only we could leave soon.
BAKIN. There’s Ivan Semyonych!
Velikatov and the head conductor enter from the other waiting room. They stop by the doorway.
HEAD CONDUCTOR (to Velikatov). The station master has given the order to add a special parlor car.
VELIKATOV. Yes, I was the one who asked him. (He nods to Dulyebov and Bakin.)
BAKIN. Are you traveling?
VELIKATOV. No, I’m seeing off Alexandra Nikolavna and Domna Pantelyevna. (To the head conductor.) When everything’s ready, then arrange for these things to be transferred. And take pains to make sure that everything is good and comfortable.
HEAD CONDUCTOR. Don’t worry.
MME NYEGIN. Ivan Semyonych, did you get the tickets?
VELIKATOV. I got them, Domna Pantelyevna, and I registered all your luggage.
MME NYEGIN. Then give me the tickets. They won’t let us on without tickets.
VELIKATOV. I’ll give them to you later, when you sit down in the car.
MME NYEGIN. If only we’re not late, Ivan Semyonych. They might leave without us, my heart’s all jumpy.
HEAD CONDUCTOR. Don’t worry. I’ll come for you and seat you myself, without me the train won’t move. And I’ll have them come for your things right away.
MME NYEGIN. Get somebody reliable to keep everything safe.
VELIKATOV. See to it.
HEAD CONDUCTOR (touching his cap). I’ll give the orders right now. (He goes off.)
VELIKATOV. Gentlemen, to see them off we have to drink off a bottle, I’ve already ordered it to be served. Alexandra Nikolavna, Nina Vasilyevna, please join us.
MME NYEGIN. Yes, and before we leave everybody has to sit for a moment. Matryona, you sit too.
They all sit down at the table on the side facing the arch. The waiter enters with a bottle of champagne, puts it on the table, and walks off. Velikatov pours the champagne into the champagne glasses.
VELIKATOV (raising his glass). A happy journey, Alexandra Nikolavna! Domna Pantelyevna!
Dulyebov and Bakin stand up and bow.
MME NYEGIN. Happiness to you who stay, gentlemen!
NINA (kissing Alexandra). I wish you happiness, Sasha! Write me, please!
A conductor enters.
CONDUCTOR. Which things would you like taken?
MME NYEGIN. Over there, sir! Matryona, show him. And go after him, keep a good eye on things.
The conductor picks up the articles.
Conductor!
CONDUCTOR. Yes?
MME NYEGIN. You be careful with those pillows, don’t drag them on the floor.
ALEXANDRA. Mama!
MME NYEGIN. What do you mean, “Mama”! It’s a lot better when you tell them. (To the conductor.) Don’t touch that bag there, the one on the end! I say not to touch it, it has some rolls. You’d probably spill them out.
ALEXANDRA. Mama!
MME NYEGIN. What! Try counting on them!
ALEXANDRA. Take all of it, take it all!
A bell rings on the platform.
MME NYEGIN (gets up quickly from her chair). Aie! They’re going.
VELIKATOV. Don’t worry, Domna Pantelyevna. They won’t go without you.
CONDUCTOR. That ring was for the third-class passengers, there’s still plenty of time. (He goes off, Matryona after him.)
MME NYEGIN. They frightened me to death. They wear a person all out with those damn bells.
Narokov enters from the other room, followed by a waiter with a bottle and then Meluzov. Narokov sits down at the end of the table, near the arch. The waiter sets the bottle in front of him. Meluzov stops by the doorway.
ALEXANDRA (goes up to Meluzov). Not a word, for God’s sake, not a word! If you really love me, be quiet. I’ll tell you everything later. (She goes off and sits down at her place.)
NAROKOV (to the waiter). You had your doubts looking at me, didn’t you, whether I’d pay you? All right! You’re a good waiter! Here’s a reward for your virtue! (He gives him ten rubles.) That’s for the champagne, keep the change.
WAITER. Thank you, thank you very much, sir! (He goes off.)
Meluzov sits down next to Narokov, who, pouring glasses for himself and Meluzov, stands up.
BAKIN. A speech, a speech, gentlemen! Let’s listen.
NAROKOV. Alexandra Nikolavna! The first glass is to your talent! I take pride in being the first to notice it. But then who here beside me could notice and appreciate talent! Can they really understand art here? Do they really want art here? Is it really possible here that… oh damn it!
BAKIN. You’ve gotten mixed up, Martyn Prokofyich.
NAROKOV (angrily). No, I haven’t gotten mixed up. In the shy steps of an actress making her debut, in the first, still naive babbling I foresaw the future celebrity. You have talent. Cherish it, develop it! Talent is the best wealth, the best happiness of man! To your talent! (He drinks.)
ALEXANDRA. Thank you, Martyn Prokofyich!
BAKIN. Bravo!
DULYEBOV. But he speaks quite well.
NAROKOV (to Meluzov). Pour some for me and yourself.
Meluzov pours. Narokov raises his glass.
The second glass is to your beauty!
ALEXANDRA (gets up). Oh, why say that! What for!
NAROKOV. You don’t acknowledge your beauty? No, you’re a woman of beauty. For me where talent is, that’s where beauty is! All my life I’ve bowed to beauty, I’ll bow to it till the grave… To your beauty! (He drinks and puts down the glass.) Now allow me on parting to kiss your hand. (He falls to his knees before Alexandra and kisses her hand.)
ALEXANDRA (in tears). Stand up, Martyn Prokofyich, stand up.
VELIKATOV. That’s enough, Martyn Prokofyich! You’re upsetting Alexandra Nikolavna!
NAROKOV. Yes, it’s enough! (He stands up, takes several steps toward the glass door, and stops.)
In the doorway of the other waiting room appear the head conductor, station attendants, and several passengers.
Not tears, dismay,
Not dreams of weight,
But roses gay
Will be your fate.
Those roses fair
Has God esteemed;
In vain has ne’er
The poet dreamed.
When joys enthrall
In happy reign,
You must recall
The poet’s pain.
He goes off toward the doorway.
No mercy had
From will divine,
The wretch but glad
In joys of thine.*
He walks toward the doorway.
VELIKATOV AND ALEXANDRA. Martyn Prokofyich, Martyn Prokofyich!
NAROKOV. No, enough, enough. I can’t stay any longer. (He leaves.)
ALEXANDRA (with a sign she calls over the head conductor). Say that it’s time to leave. Please.
HEAD CONDUCTOR (looking at his watch). It’s still a bit early. But if that’s what you’d like. Ladies and gentlemen, won’t you please take your seats in the train?
MME NYEGIN. Oh, let me go ahead, gentlemen! Let me go or I won’t make it in time.
HEAD CONDUCTOR. To the right, please, the last car!
Mme. Nyegin exits, followed by the head conductor, Alexandra, Nina, Velikatov, Dulyebov and Bakin. Alexandra soon returns.
ALEXANDRA. So, Petya, good-bye! My fate’s been decided.
MELUZOV. What? What’s that? What did you say?
ALEXANDRA. I’m not yours, my dear! It was impossible, Petya.
MELUZOV. Whose are you then?
ALEXANDRA. Well, why should you know! The result’s the same for you. It had to be this way, Petya. I thought for a long time, Mama and I both thought… You’re a good person, very good! Everything you said was true, all true, but it was impossible… how much I cried, how much I curse myself…It’s something you can’t understand. You see, that’s the way it is, it’s always been that way…All of a sudden I was alone… isn’t it even ridiculous?
MELUZOV. Ridiculous? Even ridiculous?
ALEXANDRA. Yes. What you said is true, it’s all true, people ought to live like that, they really should… But if I have talent… if I have fame ahead of me? What should I do, give that up, should I? And later regret it, grieve over it the rest of my life?… If I was born an actress?
MELUZOV. How can you say that, how can you, Sasha! Are talent and depravity ity really inseparable?
ALEXANDRA. No, it’s not depravity! How can you! (She cries.) You don’t understand a thing… and you don’t want to understand me. After all, I’m an actress. But you expect me to be some kind of a heroine. Can every woman be a heroine? I’m an actress… If I had married you, I’d soon have left you and gone off to the stage, even for a small salary, just to be on the stage. Do you think I can live without the theater?
MELUZOV. That’s news to me, Sasha.
ALEXANDRA. News! The reason it’s news is that you haven’t gotten to know my soul. You thought I could be a heroine, but I can’t… and I don’t even want to. Why should I be a reproach to others? It’s as if I’d be saying, that’s what you women are like, but look at me, an honorable woman!… And that other woman might not be guilty at all. There can be all kinds of circumstances. You can figure them out yourself: one’s family… or some kind of deception… So am I going to reproach others? God forbid!
MELUZOV. Sasha, Sasha, is an honorable life really a reproach to others? An honorable life is a good example for imitation.
ALEXANDRA. That must mean that I’m stupid, that I don’t understand anything… But that’s how Mama and I decided it… we cried, but we decided it… Yet you want me to be a heroine. No, where could I get the strength for the struggle?… What kind of strength do I have! But all you said was true. I’ll never forget you.
MELUZOV. You won’t forget me? Thanks for that!
ALEXANDRA. They were the best days of my life, I won’t have any more like them. Good-bye, darling!
MELUZOV. Good-bye, Sasha!
ALEXANDRA. When I was getting ready I cried the whole time over you. Here! (She takes some hair wrapped in paper out of her traveling bag.) I cut off half a braid for you. Take it as a memento!
MELUZOV (puts it into his pocket). Thank you, Sasha.
ALEXANDRA. If you want, I’ll cut off some more, right now. (She takes scissors from her bag.) There, cut some off yourself.
MELUZOV. No, no.
Velikatov opens the door.
VELIKATOV. Alexandra Nikolavna, please come! They’re about to ring the last bell.
ALEXANDRA. Right away, right away! Go on! (Velikatov goes off.) Good-bye then. Only don’t be mad at me! Don’t scold me! Instead forgive me! Or it’ll be painful for me, I won’t have any joy at all. Forgive me! I’ll beg you on my knees.
MELUZOV. Don’t, don’t. Live as you please, as best you can. All I want is that you be happy. Just manage to be happy, Sasha! You forget about me and my words, but somehow or other, in your own way, manage to find yourself happiness. That’s all there is to it, and the question of life is decided for you.
ALEXANDRA. Then you’re not mad at me? That’s nice… how nice that is! Only listen, Petya. If you’re ever in need, write me.
MELUZOV. What a thing to say, Sasha!
ALEXANDRA. No, please, don’t refuse. I’ll be like a sister to you… like a sister, Petya. So give me that satisfaction… Like a sister! How can I ever repay you for all your goodness!…
The head conductor enters.
HEAD CONDUCTOR. I’ve come for you. Please take your seat. The train’s leaving right away!
ALEXANDRA (throws her arms around Meluzov’s neck). Good-bye, Petya! Goodbye, my dear, my darling! (She tears herself from his embrace and rushes to the door.) Write me, Petya, write. (She leaves, the head conductor after her.)
Meluzov looks at the open door. The bell rings. The conductor’s whistle is heard, then the whistling sound of the engine, and the train starts. From the other waiting room enter the tragedian and Vasya.
TRAGEDIAN. What did you say? She’s left?
VASYA. Yes, brother, our Alexandra Nikolavna’s left us. Good-bye! Just like that and she’s gone.
TRAGEDIAN. Well, so be it. You and I’ll cry together into one urn, and now that she’s gone we’ll wish her a happy journey.
Nina, Dulyebov, and Bakin enter.
BAKIN (laughs heartily). I’ve never seen anything like it! I shout to him, “Get off, or they’ll take you along!” And he says, “Let them take me along, it won’t hurt my feelings. Good-bye, gentlemen!” I’ve never seen anything like it! Does that mean he took them off to his estate?
NINA. It was obvious, I guessed it right off. Do you think Alexandra could travel in a parlor car? On what money? She and her mama would travel in a third-class car, squeezed up in a corner.
BAKIN. But why did he tell a lie, saying he’s seeing them off?
NINA. To avoid talk. If he said he’d be going with them, right off people would make fun of them. There’d be jokes, and you’d be the first to start. Whether that embarrasses him or he simply doesn’t like such talk I don’t know. But he was smart to act as he did.
DULYEBOV. I told you he was a smart man.
BAKIN. And there we were wishing Miss Nyegin a happy journey! So what could be happier? Well, if I had known all that, my cordial traveling wish for Velikatov would have been for him to break his neck. And you know, that sort of thing happens, Prince; a switchman drinks himself dead drunk… A train comes from the other direction, and suddenly bang!
Meluzov rushes toward the door.
What are you doing, where are you going? To save him? You won’t be in time. But don’t worry. People like Velikatov don’t perish, they pass unharmed through fire and water.
Meluzov stops.
Let’s have a little talk, young man. Or are you perhaps in a hurry to shoot yourself? In that case I won’t get in your way, shoot yourself, shoot yourself. After all, students shoot themselves at every setback.
MELUZOV. No, I’m not going to shoot myself.
BAKIN. You don’t have the wherewithal to buy a pistol? Then I’ll buy you one at my expense.
MELUZOV. Buy one for yourself.
BAKIN. So what are you going to do now? What will you take up, teaching again?
MELUZOV. Yes. What more is there to do? That’s our occupation, our obligation.
BAKIN. Another actress?
MELUZOV. Possibly another actress.
BAKIN. And you’ll fall in love again, spin your dreams again, think of yourself as a fiancé?
MELUZOV. Go on, make fun of me, I won’t get mad, I deserve it. I’ll disarm you, I’ll make fun of myself along with you. After all, it’s ridiculous, really ridiculous. Here we have a poor man who’s been taught to work for his living, so let him work. But he took it into his head to fall in love! No, that’s a luxury not meant for people like us.
NINA. Oh, how nice he is! (She sends him a kiss with her hand.)
MELUZOV. We poor devils, we workers, have our own joys that you know nothing about, they’re inaccessible to you. Friendly conversations over a glass of tea, about books over a bottle of beer, books you don’t read, about the progress of science, which is something you don’t know anything about, about the successes of civilization, which is something you’re not interested in. What more could we want! But I encroached, so to speak, on the domain of others, going into the region where time is passed without sorrow or care, into the sphere of beautiful and jolly women, into the sphere of champagne, of bouquets, of expensive gifts. Well now, isn’t that ridiculous? Of course, it’s ridiculous.
NINA. Oh, how nice he is!
BAKIN. I can see you’re not touchy about it. And I thought you might be challenging me to a duel.
MELUZOV. A duel? What for? You and I have a duel as it is, a constant duel, an unending duel. I enlighten, and you deprave.
TRAGEDIAN. That’s noble! (To Vasya.) Ask for champagne!
MELUZOV. So let’s fight. You do your business, and I’ll do mine. And we’ll see who gets tired first. You’ll give up first, There’s nothing very attractive in being lightheaded. You’ll reach a good age, and your conscience will prick you. Of course, there are some people with such happy natures that to deep old age they preserve the capacity to fly with astonishing lightness from flower to flower, but they’re the exception. As for me, I’ll do my business to the end. But if I do stop teaching, if I do stop believing in the possibility of improving people, or if I do cowardly bury myself in idleness and give up on everything, then at that time you can buy me a pistol, and I’ll say thank you. (He pulls his hat down on his head and wraps himself up in his plaid.)
VASYA. A bottle of champagne!
TRAGEDIAN. Make it six.
CURTAIN
1. Paraphrase of a line from Schiller’s play The Robbers.
2. The tragedy Uriel Acosta (1847; Russian translation 1872) is considered the best work of the German playwright Karl Gutzkow (1811-78). As many of the audience in Ostrovsky’s time would have realized, Dulyebov’s remarks at this point in the play expose his muddleheaded ignorance of theatrical culture.
3. P.A. Karatýgin (1805-79), Russian actor and dramatist.
4. P.I. Grigóryev (1806-71), Russian actor and dramatist.
5. N.A. Polevóy (1796-1846), Russian writer, dramatist, and journalist.
6. In the sense of “binge” Narokov actually quotes the first four words of the Russian folksong “Beyond the Urals, beyond the river the Cossacks carouse” (Za Uralom, za rekoi kazaki guliaiut).
7. From Schiller’s The Robbers.
8. Heroine of Frou-frou, a French play (1869) by Henri Meilhac (1831-97) and Ludovic Halévy (1834-1908).
9. “I was born in Arcadia too.” Opening lines of Schiller’s poem “Resignation.”
10. The “unknown actor” and author of the verses was actually D.A. Gorev. Although Ostrovsky was generally good-natured, one may suspect that here he was getting back a bit at Gorev, who had insisted that he was a co-author of Ostrovsky’s first significant play It’s All in the Family.
* Genuine verses by an unknown actor of the forties. (Ostrovsky’s note.)10