Delphi Complete Works of Anton Chekhov (Illustrated) (453 page)

KULIGIN. Temper! temper! [A march is played off; they all listen.]

OLGA. They’re going.

[CHEBUTIKIN comes in.]

MASHA. They’re going. Well, well.... Bon voyage!
[To her husband]
We must be going home.... Where’s my coat and hat?

KULIGIN. I took them in... I’ll bring them, in a moment.

OLGA. Yes, now we can all go home. It’s time.

CHEBUTIKIN. Olga Sergeyevna!

OLGA. What is it?
[Pause]
What is it?

CHEBUTIKIN. Nothing... I don’t know how to tell you....
[Whispers to her.]

OLGA.
[Frightened]
It can’t be true!

CHEBUTIKIN. Yes... such a story... I’m tired out, exhausted, I won’t say any more....
[Sadly]
Still, it’s all the same!

MASHA. What’s happened?

OLGA.
[Embraces IRINA]
This is a terrible day... I don’t know how to tell you, dear....

IRINA. What is it? Tell me quickly, what is it? For God’s sake!
[Cries.]

CHEBUTIKIN. The Baron was killed in the duel just now.

IRINA.
[Cries softly]
I knew it, I knew it....

CHEBUTIKIN. [Sits on a bench at the back of the stage] I’m tired....
[Takes a paper from his pocket]
Let ‘em cry....
[Sings softly]
“Tarara-boom-deay, it is my washing day....” Isn’t it all the same!

[The three sisters are standing, pressing against one another.]

MASHA. Oh, how the music plays! They are leaving us, one has quite left us, quite and for ever. We remain alone, to begin our life over again. We must live... we must live....

IRINA. [Puts her head on OLGA’s bosom] There will come a time when everybody will know why, for what purpose, there is all this suffering, and there will be no more mysteries. But now we must live... we must work, just work! To-morrow, I’ll go away alone, and I’ll teach and give my whole life to those who, perhaps, need it. It’s autumn now, soon it will be winter, the snow will cover everything, and I shall be working, working....

OLGA.
[Embraces both her sisters]
The bands are playing so gaily, so bravely, and one does so want to live! Oh, my God! Time will pass on, and we shall depart for ever, we shall be forgotten; they will forget our faces, voices, and even how many there were of us, but our sufferings will turn into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will reign on earth, and people will remember with kindly words, and bless those who are living now. Oh dear sisters, our life is not yet at an end. Let us live. The music is so gay, so joyful, and, it seems that in a little while we shall know why we are living, why we are suffering.... If we could only know, if we could only know!

[The music has been growing softer and softer; KULIGIN, smiling happily, brings out the hat and coat; ANDREY wheels out the perambulator in which BOBBY is sitting.]

CHEBUTIKIN.
[Sings softly]
“Tara... ra-boom-deay.... It is my washing-day.”...
[Reads a paper]
It’s all the same! It’s all the same!

OLGA. If only we could know, if only we could know!

Curtain.

A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS

This Chekhov’s last and most famous play.
The Cherry Orchard
premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain elements of farce and humour; however, Stanislavski insisted on directing the play as a tragedy. Since this initial production, directors have had to contend with the dual nature of this play.

The play concerns an aristocratic Russian woman and her family as they return to the family’s estate, with a large and well-known cherry orchard, just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. While presented with options to save the estate, the family essentially does nothing and the play ends with the estate being sold to the son of a former serf, and the family leaving to the sound of the cherry orchard being cut down. The story presents themes of cultural futility — both the futility of the aristocracy to maintain its status and the futility of the bourgeoisie to find meaning in its newfound materialism. In reflecting the socio-economic forces at work in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, including the rise of the middle class after the abolition of serfdom in the mid-19th century and the sinking of the aristocracy, the play reflects forces at work around the globe in that period.

Since the first production at the Moscow Art Theatre, this play has been translated and adapted into many languages and produced around the world, becoming a classic work of dramatic literature. Some of the major directors of the world have directed this play, each interpreting the work differently. Some of these directors include Charles Laughton, Peter Brook, Andrei Serban, Eva Le Gallienne, Jean-Louis Barrault, Tyrone Guthrie and Giorgio Strehler.

Chekhov with Leo Tolstoy at Yalta, 1900

CHARACTERS

The action takes place on Mme. RANEVSKY’S estate

ACT ONE

[A room which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads into ANYA’S room. It is close on sunrise. It is May. The cherry-trees are in flower but it is chilly in the garden. There is an early frost. The windows of the room are shut. DUNYASHA comes in with a candle, and LOPAKHIN with a book in his hand.]

LOPAKHIN. The train’s arrived, thank God. What’s the time?

DUNYASHA. It will soon be two.
[Blows out candle]
It is light already.

LOPAKHIN. How much was the train late? Two hours at least.
[Yawns and stretches himself]
I have made a rotten mess of it! I came here on purpose to meet them at the station, and then overslept myself... in my chair. It’s a pity. I wish you’d wakened me.

DUNYASHA. I thought you’d gone away.
[Listening]
I think I hear them coming.

LOPAKHIN.
[Listens]
No.... They’ve got to collect their luggage and so on....
[Pause]
Lubov Andreyevna has been living abroad for five years; I don’t know what she’ll be like now.... She’s a good sort — an easy, simple person. I remember when I was a boy of fifteen, my father, who is dead — he used to keep a shop in the village here — hit me on the face with his fist, and my nose bled.... We had gone into the yard together for something or other, and he was a little drunk. Lubov Andreyevna, as I remember her now, was still young, and very thin, and she took me to the washstand here in this very room, the nursery. She said, “Don’t cry, little man, it’ll be all right in time for your wedding.”
[Pause]
“Little man”.... My father was a peasant, it’s true, but here I am in a white waistcoat and yellow shoes... a pearl out of an oyster. I’m rich now, with lots of money, but just think about it and examine me, and you’ll find I’m still a peasant down to the marrow of my bones. [Turns over the pages of his book] Here I’ve been reading this book, but I understood nothing. I read and fell asleep.
[Pause.]

DUNYASHA. The dogs didn’t sleep all night; they know that they’re coming.

LOPAKHIN. What’s up with you, Dunyasha...?

DUNYASHA. My hands are shaking. I shall faint.

LOPAKHIN. You’re too sensitive, Dunyasha. You dress just like a lady, and you do your hair like one too. You oughtn’t. You should know your place.

EPIKHODOV. [Enters with a bouquet. He wears a short jacket and brilliantly polished boots which squeak audibly. He drops the bouquet as he enters, then picks it up] The gardener sent these; says they’re to go into the dining-room. [Gives the bouquet to DUNYASHA.]

LOPAKHIN. And you’ll bring me some kvass.

DUNYASHA. Very well.
[Exit.]

EPIKHODOV. There’s a frost this morning — three degrees, and the cherry-trees are all in flower. I can’t approve of our climate.
[Sighs]
I can’t. Our climate is indisposed to favour us even this once. And, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, allow me to say to you, in addition, that I bought myself some boots two days ago, and I beg to assure you that they squeak in a perfectly unbearable manner. What shall I put on them?

LOPAKHIN. Go away. You bore me.

EPIKHODOV. Some misfortune happens to me every day. But I don’t complain; I’m used to it, and I can smile. [DUNYASHA comes in and brings LOPAKHIN some kvass] I shall go.
[Knocks over a chair]
There....
[Triumphantly]
There, you see, if I may use the word, what circumstances I am in, so to speak. It is even simply marvellous.
[Exit.]

DUNYASHA. I may confess to you, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, that Epikhodov has proposed to me.

LOPAKHIN. Ah!

DUNYASHA. I don’t know what to do about it. He’s a nice young man, but every now and again, when he begins talking, you can’t understand a word he’s saying. I think I like him. He’s madly in love with me. He’s an unlucky man; every day something happens. We tease him about it. They call him “Two-and-twenty troubles.”

LOPAKHIN.
[Listens]
There they come, I think.

DUNYASHA. They’re coming! What’s the matter with me? I’m cold all over.

LOPAKHIN. There they are, right enough. Let’s go and meet them. Will she know me? We haven’t seen each other for five years.

DUNYASHA.
[Excited]
I shall faint in a minute.... Oh, I’m fainting!

[Two carriages are heard driving up to the house. LOPAKHIN and DUNYASHA quickly go out. The stage is empty. A noise begins in the next room. FIERS, leaning on a stick, walks quickly across the stage; he has just been to meet LUBOV ANDREYEVNA. He wears an old-fashioned livery and a tall hat. He is saying something to himself, but not a word of it can be made out. The noise behind the stage gets louder and louder. A voice is heard: “Let’s go in there.” Enter LUBOV ANDREYEVNA, ANYA, and CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA with a little dog on a chain, and all dressed in travelling clothes, VARYA in a long coat and with a kerchief on her head. GAEV, SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, LOPAKHIN, DUNYASHA with a parcel and an umbrella, and a servant with luggage — all cross the room.]

ANYA. Let’s come through here. Do you remember what this room is, mother?

LUBOV.
[Joyfully, through her tears]
The nursery!

VARYA. How cold it is! My hands are quite numb.
[To LUBOV ANDREYEVNA]
Your rooms, the white one and the violet one, are just as they used to be, mother.

LUBOV. My dear nursery, oh, you beautiful room.... I used to sleep here when I was a baby.
[Weeps]
And here I am like a little girl again. [Kisses her brother, VARYA, then her brother again] And Varya is just as she used to be, just like a nun. And I knew Dunyasha.
[Kisses her.]

GAEV. The train was two hours late. There now; how’s that for punctuality?

CHARLOTTA.
[To PISCHIN]
My dog eats nuts too.

PISCHIN.
[Astonished]
To think of that, now!

[All go out except ANYA and DUNYASHA.]

DUNYASHA. We did have to wait for you!

[Takes off ANYA’S cloak and hat.]

ANYA. I didn’t get any sleep for four nights on the journey.... I’m awfully cold.

DUNYASHA. You went away during Lent, when it was snowing and frosty, but now? Darling!
[Laughs and kisses her]
We did have to wait for you, my joy, my pet.... I must tell you at once, I can’t bear to wait a minute.

ANYA.
[Tired]
Something else now...?

DUNYASHA. The clerk, Epikhodov, proposed to me after Easter.

ANYA. Always the same....
[Puts her hair straight]
I’ve lost all my hairpins.... [She is very tired, and even staggers as she walks.]

DUNYASHA. I don’t know what to think about it. He loves me, he loves me so much!

ANYA. [Looks into her room; in a gentle voice] My room, my windows, as if I’d never gone away. I’m at home! To-morrow morning I’ll get up and have a run in the garden....Oh, if I could only get to sleep! I didn’t sleep the whole journey, I was so bothered.

DUNYASHA. Peter Sergeyevitch came two days ago.

ANYA.
[Joyfully]
Peter!

DUNYASHA. He sleeps in the bath-house, he lives there. He said he was afraid he’d be in the way. [Looks at her pocket-watch] I ought to wake him, but Barbara Mihailovna told me not to. “Don’t wake him,” she said.

[Enter VARYA, a bunch of keys on her belt.]

VARYA. Dunyasha, some coffee, quick. Mother wants some.

DUNYASHA. This minute.
[Exit.]

VARYA. Well, you’ve come, glory be to God. Home again.
[Caressing her]
My darling is back again! My pretty one is back again!

ANYA. I did have an awful time, I tell you.

VARYA. I can just imagine it!

ANYA. I went away in Holy Week; it was very cold then. Charlotta talked the whole way and would go on performing her tricks. Why did you tie Charlotta on to me?

VARYA. You couldn’t go alone, darling, at seventeen!

ANYA. We went to Paris; it’s cold there and snowing. I talk French perfectly horribly. My mother lives on the fifth floor. I go to her, and find her there with various Frenchmen, women, an old abbé with a book, and everything in tobacco smoke and with no comfort at all. I suddenly became very sorry for mother — so sorry that I took her head in my arms and hugged her and wouldn’t let her go. Then mother started hugging me and crying....

VARYA.
[Weeping]
Don’t say any more, don’t say any more....

ANYA. She’s already sold her villa near Mentone; she’s nothing left, nothing. And I haven’t a copeck left either; we only just managed to get here. And mother won’t understand! We had dinner at a station; she asked for all the expensive things, and tipped the waiters one rouble each. And Charlotta too. Yasha wants his share too — it’s too bad. Mother’s got a footman now, Yasha; we’ve brought him here.

VARYA. I saw the wretch.

ANYA. How’s business? Has the interest been paid?

VARYA. Not much chance of that.

ANYA. Oh God, oh God...

VARYA. The place will be sold in August.

ANYA. O God....

LOPAKHIN.
[Looks in at the door and moos]
Moo!...
[Exit.]

VARYA.
[Through her tears]
I’d like to....
[Shakes her fist.]

ANYA.
[Embraces VARYA, softly]
Varya, has he proposed to you?
[VARYA shakes head]
But he loves you.... Why don’t you make up your minds? Why do you keep on waiting?

VARYA. I think that it will all come to nothing. He’s a busy man. I’m not his affair... he pays no attention to me. Bless the man, I don’t want to see him.... But everybody talks about our marriage, everybody congratulates me, and there’s nothing in it at all, it’s all like a dream.
[In another tone]
You’ve got a brooch like a bee.

ANYA.
[Sadly]
Mother bought it. [Goes into her room, and talks lightly, like a child] In Paris I went up in a balloon!

VARYA. My darling’s come back, my pretty one’s come back! [DUNYASHA has already returned with the coffee-pot and is making the coffee, VARYA stands near the door] I go about all day, looking after the house, and I think all the time, if only you could marry a rich man, then I’d be happy and would go away somewhere by myself, then to Kiev... to Moscow, and so on, from one holy place to another. I’d tramp and tramp. That would be splendid!

ANYA. The birds are singing in the garden. What time is it now?