Brian Friel Plays 2 (29 page)

Arkady
I can’t tell you how devastated I am. I know I’ll never get over it.

Arina
now
sits.
Pause.
She
looks
at
Arkady
as
if
she
were
trying
to
remember
him,
as
if
she
were
going
to
speak
to
him.
Her
face
is
placid,
child-like,
almost
smiling.
And
when
she
sings
it
is
the
gentle,
high-
pitched
voice
of
a
very
young
girl.

Arina
(
singing
)
Te
Deum
laudamus:
te
Dominum
confitemur.
Te
aeternum
Patrem
omnis
terra
veneratur.

As
soon
as
she
begins
singing
Arkady
looks
in
alarm
at
Vassily.
Vassily
responds
by
putting
his
finger
to
his
lips
and
shaking
his
head
as
if
to
say
–
Say
nothing;
don
’t
interrupt.
Then
he
sits
beside
his
wife,
puts
both
arms
round
her,
and
sings
with
her
and
directly
to
her:

Vassily
and Arina
Tibi
omnes
Angeli,
tibi
Caeli
et
universae
Potestates.
Tibi
Cherubim
et
Seraphim
incessabili
voce
proclament:
Sanctus,
Sanctus,
Sanctus,
Dominus
Deus
Sabaoth.

Slowly
bring
down
the
lights
as
they
sing
together.

Pavel
(
singing
very
softly
)

Fenichka
Very nice, Pavel.

Pavel
realizing
that
he
has
been
overheard
wags
his
finger
in
admonition.
He
then
lapses
into
his
own
private
thoughts.
Two
or
three
times
we
hear
the
faint
sound
of
dance
music
played
on
the
piano-accordion
some
distance
away.
These
brief
coincidences
of
the
two
sounds
–
the
piano
and
the
piano-accordion
–
produce
an
almost
eerie
noise.

The
Princess
is
sitting
alone
downstage
right,
partly
concealed
behind
her
unnecessary
parasol,
vigorously
masticating
and
every
so
often
brushing
her
sleeve
and
skirt.

Prokofyich
and
Piotr
have
assembled
a
large
trestle-
table
in
the
centre
of
the
lawn.
They
now
cover
it
with
a
white
cloth
and
arrange
chairs
around
it.

Fenichka
oversees
this
work
with
a
proprietorial
eye.
She
is
now
very
much
mistress
of
the
house
and
fully
at
ease
in
Pavel
’
s
presence.
Piotr,
slightly
intoxicated,
is
completely
restored
to
health
and
cockiness
and
jaunty
self-assurance.
He
nips
down
behind
the
gazebo
on
the
pretext
of
getting
a
chair
and
tosses
back
a
quick,
secret
drink
from
a
hip-flask.
He
is
about
to
pour
a
second
drink
when
the
Princess
calls
him.

Princess
You, boy! Come here! Come here! Come here!

He
quickly
hides
his
flask
and
does
a
little
dance
as
he
goes
to
her.

Piotr
Princess, can I help you?

Princess
What’s that noise?

Piotr
That noise, Princess, is Arkady singing and Miss Katya playing the piano for –

Princess
The noise! The damn noise! There – d’you hear that?

Piotr
My apologies. That is the musician getting ready for tonight – the annual harvest dance. We hold it in the granary.

Princess
Musician? What musician?

Piotr
A piano-accordion player, Princess. He comes from the town of Orel.

Princess
My brother, Josef, had the first accordion ever brought into Russia. My father lit a bonfire in the yard and burned the damn thing before the whole household. Then he whipped Josef with his own hunting crop until he apologized publicly to everybody – family and servants. Ha-ha. That ended damn accordions in our house!

Piotr
I’m sure it did.

Princess
Josef was black and blue for a month. Tell your friend from Orel that story. Ha-ha. Whipped him! Whipped him! Whipped him!

Piotr
I’ll tell him, Princess.

She
withdraws.
Piotr
returns
to
his
work.
Pavel
comes
down
and
joins
Fenichka.

Pavel
I bought that song-book in London – oh, it must be twenty-five years ago. (
suddenly
remembering
)
I know exactly when I bought it – the day they made Arthur Wellesley foreign secretary. We were out on the town, celebrating!

Fenichka
Who was that, Pavel?

Pavel
Arthur? The first Duke of Wellington. Good man. Good fun. We had a lot of laughs together … Nice time of the day, this.

Fenichka
Lovely.

Pavel
Nice time of the year. Do you like October, Olga?

Princess
I detest every month – for different reasons.

Pavel
It’s my favourite season, the autumn. I tell myself it’s the one time of the year when the environment and my nature are perfectly attuned.

Princess
It seems to me you tell yourself a lot of rubbish. And you’d need to be careful – the way you carry yourself – you could be mistaken for an accordion player.

Pavel
I beg your pardon?

Princess
You look very like one to me, with your shoulders so far back.

Pavel
(
to
Fenichka
)
I didn’t catch what she said. I could be a –?

Fenichka
An accordion player.

Pavel
Me?!

Princess
They all carry their shoulders back. That’s because the weight is all down the front here. Ha-ha, you could end up being whipped by mistake!

Pavel
Good heavens, could I? (
to
Fenichka
)
Why do they whip accordion players?

Fenichka
I don’t know. Do they?

Pavel
So it seems.

Fenichka
(
to
Piotr
)
There’s a vase of dahlias and a vase of
chrysanthemums outside the pantry door. Put the dahlias here and the chrysanthemums there.

Piotr
Anything the lady wishes.

Pavel
Arkady has a pleasing voice. From the mother’s side of the house. Maria had a sweet voice.

Fenichka
(
to
Piotr
as
he
dances
off
)
And napkins from the linen-press. On the top shelf, (
to
Pavel
)
What is that song?

Pavel
‘Drink to me only’.

Fenichka
I never heard him singing that before.

Pavel
(
speaking
)

Fenichka
has
been
counting
the
chairs.

Fenichka
Sorry, Pavel – what was that?

Pavel
Nothing. Just mumbling to myself.

Dunyasha
enters
left.

Fenichka
I’ve noticed you doing that a lot recently. You’re not beginning to dote, are you? There are only wine glasses here, Dunyasha. Bring out the champagne glasses, will you?

Pavel,
wounded,
moves
away.
Dunyasha
is
so
excited
she
can
scarcely
keep
her
voice
down.
Fenichka
continues
moving
around
the
table,
adjusting
the
settings.
Dunyasha
follows
her.
Fenichka
listens
with
interest
but
her
manner
hints
that
the
days
of
confidences
are
over.

Dunyasha
Brilliant news, Fenichka! Absolutely brilliant! The aunt died at half past three this morning! Can you believe it!

Fenichka
Who?

Dunyasha
The aunt – the old aunt – the old bitch that reared Adam!

Fenichka
Oh, I’m sorry to hear –

Dunyasha
He’ll be able to sell her cottage. And she has left him about two hundred roubles. And he wants to get married, Fenichka.

Fenichka
To you?

Dunyasha
Jesus, you don’t think he fancies the Tailor’s Dummy, do you?!

Fenichka
Dunyasha, I –

Dunyasha
Of course it’s to me! At five this morning – the old cow couldn’t have been right stiff – he was up banging on my bedroom door: ‘Little one, will you make me the happiest man in Russia?’ That’s what he said! Can a duck swim, says I to myself. He didn’t go back to the
corp-house
till well after nine. Jesus, you should have seen that glossy black ’tash of his twitching! D’you know what we should do, Fenichka? – you hang on for another couple of months and we’ll get married together! Wouldn’t that be a howl! A double wedding! Drive the poor old Tailor’s Dummy astray in the head altogether!

Fenichka
I don’t want you to call Pavel Petrovich by that name again, Dunyasha.

Dunyasha
The Tailor’s Dummy? Between ourselves, for God’s sake; it’s only to you and Piotr and –

Fenichka
I never want to hear it again.

Dunyasha
Are you –?

Fenichka
Is that clearly understood? Good. I’m sorry about the old aunt. But Adam should have no regrets: he was more than attentive to her. I’ll take those napkins from you, Piotr; thank you. You arranged those flowers beautifully, Dunyasha. I’m glad you’re thinking of marrying him. He’ll make a very reliable husband. Now – what’s missing? The champagne glasses. (
to
Dunyasha
)
Would you get them for me?

Dunyasha
stumps
off.

No, the other way round, Piotr – the dahlias on this side. Don’t you think so?

Piotr
I’m sure you’re right. The dahlias are left-handed. (
While
he
was
out
Piotr
has
had
a
few
more
drinks.
) What else can I do for you, Fenichka? You just tell Piotr.

Fenichka
That’s all for now.

Piotr
Have you enough chairs?

Fenichka
I think so.

Piotr
What about some stools?

Fenichka
They won’t be needed.

Piotr
Stools are a very efficient means of seating large numbers of guests in an outdoor environment, Fenichka.

Fenichka
We haven’t got large numbers, Piotr.

Piotr
Once again you are right. Another few bottles of wine, perhaps?

Fenichka
(
dismissing
him
)
Thank you, Piotr.

Piotr
I know a poem. Would you like me to recite it?

Fenichka
Not now, Piotr.

Piotr
Later perhaps. I could spell chrysanthemum for you.

Fenichka
That is all for the time being, Piotr.

Piotr
Well, as soon as the time being is up, Piotr will be at your elbow and at your command. (
He
bows
formally
and
goes
off
left.
)

Fenichka
The harvest party has begun early. (
She
holds
up
an
empty
bottle.
)
Since lunch time. (
to
Anna
who
comes
out
)
Come and join us, Anna.

Anna
The days are shortening already, aren’t they? (
She
pauses
beside
the
Princess.
)
Are you all right, Auntie?