Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series
MASHA. [Angrily] I shan’t go in there. [Sobs, but controls herself at
once] I’m not going to go into the house, I won’t go....
IRINA. Let’s sit here together and say nothing. I’m going away
to-morrow.... [Pause.]
KULIGIN. Yesterday I took away these whiskers and this beard from a boy
in the third class.... [He puts on the whiskers and beard] Don’t I look
like the German master.... [Laughs] Don’t I? The boys are amusing.
MASHA. You really do look like that German of yours.
OLGA. [Laughs] Yes. [MASHA weeps.]
IRINA. Don’t, Masha!
KULIGIN. It’s a very good likeness....
[Enter NATASHA.]
NATASHA. [To the maid] What? Mihail Ivanitch Protopopov will sit with
little Sophie, and Andrey Sergeyevitch can take little Bobby out.
Children are such a bother.... [To IRINA] Irina, it’s such a pity you’re
going away to-morrow. Do stop just another week. [Sees KULIGIN and
screams; he laughs and takes off his beard and whiskers] How you
frightened me! [To IRINA] I’ve grown used to you and do you think it
will be easy for me to part from you? I’m going to have Andrey and his
violin put into your room--let him fiddle away in there!--and we’ll put
little Sophie into his room. The beautiful, lovely child! What a little
girlie! To-day she looked at me with such pretty eyes and said “Mamma!”
KULIGIN. A beautiful child, it’s quite true.
NATASHA. That means I shall have the place to myself to-morrow. [Sighs]
In the first place I shall have that avenue of fir-trees cut down, then
that maple. It’s so ugly at nights.... [To IRINA] That belt doesn’t suit
you at all, dear.... It’s an error of taste. And I’ll give orders to
have lots and lots of little flowers planted here, and they’ll smell....
[Severely] Why is there a fork lying about here on the seat? [Going
towards the house, to the maid] Why is there a fork lying about here on
the seat, I say? [Shouts] Don’t you dare to answer me!
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.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS
CHARACTERS
LUBOV ANDREYEVNA RANEVSKY (Mme. RANEVSKY), a landowner
ANYA, her daughter, aged seventeen
VARYA (BARBARA), her adopted daughter, aged twenty-seven
LEONID ANDREYEVITCH GAEV, Mme. Ranevsky’s brother
ERMOLAI ALEXEYEVITCH LOPAKHIN, a merchant
PETER SERGEYEVITCH TROFIMOV, a student
BORIS BORISOVITCH SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, a landowner
CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA, a governess
SIMEON PANTELEYEVITCH EPIKHODOV, a clerk
DUNYASHA (AVDOTYA FEDOROVNA), a maidservant
FIERS, an old footman, aged eighty-seven
YASHA, a young footman
A TRAMP
A STATION-MASTER
POST-OFFICE CLERK
GUESTS
A SERVANT
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