Êîðîòêèå ïüåñû Àíñåëüì Ëþäìèëà
A NNA: She loves… life.
KNIPPER: Maybe…
ANNA: Flighty and fickle…
KNIPPER: In what sense “fickle”?
ANNA: In sex… she is an elderly woman who wants everybody to love her.
KNIPPER: Just what age do you think she is?
ANNA: Fifty-five I suppose.
KNIPPER: My dear, this is “elderly”? I’m 85 and I still want everybody to swoon over me.
ANNA: I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you…
KNIPPER (offended): I’m not offended. Anton wrote me that Ranevskayia is not hard to play… You only need to smile in your soul and move graciously…(Pause) Here… put on this coat, and walk as Ranevskaia’s entrance… This is the grandest, most elegant female entrance of any Chekhov heroine…
(Anna slips into the coat, and walks)
KNIPPER (harshly): You walk like a chambermaid… Don’t turn your back. Chin up… higher. Move slowly with dignity… back straight.
(Anna walks smoothly, slower, erect, and with her head slightly turned pleasantly)
KNIPPER: You’re swimming? Be tense, like a horse before a race. Every vein bulging with just one desire…
ANNA: The desire to gallop?
KNIPPER: To arouse men!
ANNA: What men?
KNIPPER: All… and now smile, and throw your head back…
(Anna smiles and tries to walk as directed)
Now Scene 1,Act 1. Ranevskaya enters…
(Anna recites Ranevskaya’s words in Russian)
ANNA: Äåòñêàÿ, ìèëàÿ ìîÿ, ïðåêðàñíàÿ êîìíàòà… ß òóò ñïàëà, êîãäà áûëà ìàëåíüêîé… È òåïåðü ÿ, êàê ìàëåíüêàÿ…
KNIPPER: No! No! Where have you been these past weeks in these lessons? Watch… Watch me… “The nursery, my dearest perfect place. I slept here when I was a child… (weeps)… alas, now I am like a child again.” Now… like Stanislavski says, feel the words…Please, in Russian language… Like in Chekhov’s play.
ANNA: Äåòñêàÿ, ìèëàÿ ìîÿ…. äåòñêàÿ ìîÿ ìèëàÿ… Ïðåêðàñíàÿ, ìèëàÿ…
(Pause)
Olga Leonardovna, I can’t….
KNIPPER: Anna! What’s the matter?… Your mind doesn’t seem to be here…
ANNA: Olga Leonardovna… I’ve just come from the doctor…
(Pause) I am pregnant! I don’t know what to do…
KNIPPER: How far along are you?
ANNA: Two months…
KNIPPER: Anna, of course you have to decide for yourself… Two months gives some time yet…(Pause)
(Business like)… We will continue to work. Focus… Concentrate.
ANNA: Wait a second… I’ll try…
(Pause, Anna takes jam, a sip of tea, and collects herself,)
KNIPPER: Anna, a great actress has to have a strong character… I performed in any situation, despite sickness… through pain…
(Pause) The moment I walked on the stage, I listened for the breathing in the hall. They followed my every movement… my expression… my smile…
ANNA: You were not just an accomplished actress, but also the wife of Chekhov. They envied you…
KNIPPER: Envied, because they couldn’t imagine how to be the wife of a famous writer and a leading actress too… Envied and hated…
ANNA: Hated?
KNIPPER: All Moscow followed the relationship between Chekhov and me… They thought I was a bad wife… My German Parentage was not a “plus”… They were jealous of their now famous “country Doctor” turned writer. Our romance existed largely in our letters between Moscow and Yalta… over 1000 miles… over 400 letters… I’ve kept them all…
ANNA: Tell me how you married Chekhov?…
KNIPPER: After our first meeting Chekhov invited me to spend some time in Yalta…. We parted with him tenderly, I cried… Our relations changed…
ANNA: Then you were married?
KNIPPER: Not right away… to be lovers is easier than to be married… Winning him turned out to be far harder than I had thought…
ANNA: You pushed him?
KNIPPER: My dear! And just how else do you think a woman can end up with a husband?
ANNA: I think that when a man puts a lot of effort into a relationship, he will highly value his woman.
KNIPPER: Did your director Vadim put much effort into seducing you? (Pause)
It’s clear… Vadim chose you to be the lead, Ranevskaia.
ANNA. Are you implying that actresses who get leading roles are the lovers of the directors?
KNIPPER: It’s in theater’s traditions…
ANNA: It’s rumored that you had a lover too? Stanislavski?
KNIPPER: Nemirovich…
ANNA: And Chekhov? He knew about… about this tradition?
KNIPPER: I believe knew. He wasn’t nave about life.
ANNA: How did you convince him to marry you?
KNIPPER: Do you think it would be useful for you?
ANNA: May be…
KNIPPER: Anna, I will tell you my story… but it’s a long story… you have to be patient… sip some tea… (Pause)
Marriage became the only honorable thing for me! Our new theatre needs in own dramaturg and Nemirovich decided that it would be best if I married Chekhov…That, I thought I could do… I made many trips to Yalta. Then, after two years, I suddenly refused to go. I wrote him, “You have such a sensitive soul. You should understand why I can’t come any more.” After some to-ing and fro-ing, he finally proposed. (Pause) He knew that he needed me… and our theater!
ANNA: After your marriage you were happy?
KNIPPER: I didn’t know that greater problems had just begun…
ANNA: What kind problems?
KNIPPER: Different. You see Anton’s sister Masha was against our marriage, her mother too…
ANNA: Why do you suppose?
KNIPPER: I think they were afraid that Anton would go to Moscow, where his health would quickly become worse…
ANNA: Wasn’t Chekhov very jealous of you? I don’t understand.
KNIPPER: Our relations were very strange… I didn’t understand Anton either… Nobody could understand us… He once said: “A wife is like the moon. You appreciate her more when you don’t have to see her every night”…(Pause) Soon Anton wrote that he wanted a child.
ANNA: Not happy, to have a child with Chekhov?
KNIPPER: Dearie! It’s not so easy to get pregnant with him living in Yalta and me in Moscow…(Pause) But… I got pregnant!
ANNA: You became pregnant? But you don’t have any children…
KNIPPER: Oh, it’s another story…
ANNA: Please tell me… I’m very curious…
KNIPPER: Its a long story too…
ANNA: Please go on..
KNIPPER: Anton and I didn’t see each other for about four months. It was winter. Nemirovich finally gave me permission to go to Yalta. Complete solitude for a week. Then… after a month back in Moscow I was on the operating table… (Pause)
I wrote Anton that I had a miscarriage. He didn’t believe me. Anton found out from the surgeon and that the embryo had not developed in my womb but in a fallopian tube. And– that I’d been at least eight weeks pregnant!
ANNA: Why didn’t you write Anton the truth?
KNIPPER: Why upset him? Eight weeks earlier I had been in Moscow! Not Yalta.
ANNA: Ah! Your quick trip in the middle of the theater season! (with indignation): I see you loved theater life more than you loved your famous husband…
(Anna upset throws off “Ranevckaia’s” coat, and starts to collect her belongings)
KNIPPER: Anna, what’s the matter?
ANNA: Why didn’t you tell Anton the truth about your pregnancy?
KNIPPER: I didn’t want to upset him… Both Anton and I wanted a child…
ANNA (accusingly): How could you?… Chekhov a great writer!
KNIPPER: I’m a great actress!
ANNA: I’d better go… I have to talk with Vadim…
KNIPPER: The lesson is not over!
ANNA: Vadim knows that I went to the doctor…
KNIPPER: You’ll have enough time to speak with Vadim… Sit down… Anna, I want you to practice just one final moment. It’s when Ranevskaya is leaving the estate;
ÀNNA: I better will read you another monologue.
KNIPPER: Good, I’m listen you.
(Ïàóçà)
ÀNNA: «ß – ÷àéêà! Íåò, íå òî… Ïîìíèòå, êàê ïîäñòðåëèëè ÷àéêó?
Ñëó÷àéíî ïðèøåë ÷åëîâåê, óâèäåë è îò íå÷åãî äåëàòü
ïîãóáèë. Ñþæåò äëÿ íåáîëüøîãî ðàññêàçà… Íå òî… Î
÷åì ÿ? ß ãîâîðþ î ñöåíå… ß – àêòðèñà! Òåïåðü óæ ÿ íå
òàêàÿ… ß íàñòîÿùàÿ àêòðèñà, ÿ èãðàþ ñ íàñëàæäåíèåì,
ñ âîñòîðãîì, ïüÿíåþ íà ñöåíå è ÷óâñòâóþ ñåáÿ ïðåêðàñíîé»…
ÊÍÈÏÏÅÐ: Excellent! Why did you chose this monologue?
ÀNNA: I’ m feeling like the heroine from this play.
KNIPPER: Excellent! Anna, listen, your idealism and naivety are out of place… You should know life deals a heavy hand, especially to an actress. (Gradually becoming inspired). Look at my spine…
ANNA: Straight…
KNIPPER: Exactly. I’m 85 years old. I’ve survived two revolutions, two world wars, a civil war, and Stalin…If you are serious about being an actress, be ready to sacrifice your private life…
(Pause)
ANNA: Did you really want children?
KNIPPER: We didn’t have time… He was only 44 when he died.
(Pause)
ANNA: What do you advise me?
KNIPPER: I didn’t finish my story… Sit down… Have tea…
(Anna sits… refuses tea)
Listen… Our theater was growing in stature, it helped the people to think about their own lives. It was an uncertain time… Time before revolution… But in spite of this people were standing in lines, the whole night in winter, to buy tickets for our theater…
ANNA: Olga Leonardovna, you were lucky to have taken part in the creation of the Moscow Art Theater… to have given people meaningful entertainment… but…
KNIPPER: Now times are uncertain too… and I hope theater can still help people to think and build their lives…
ANNA: You are happy… You lived in “Epoch Theater”, but now…
KNIPPER: Anna, somebody must continue our work. You are my best student, talented, serious… I visualize…
ANNA: Olga Leonardovna, after so much success, aren’t you lonely now?
KNIPPER (sadly): Our glory and camaraderie has passed…
ANNA: Just a minute… I don’t want to be lonely in my old age… I came here today thinking about whether I’d have an abortion or not… Now I have decided…
KNIPPER: Yes?
ANNA: I want to be not only an actress…
KNIPPER: The defining question: is art truly so important that it occupies your whole soul? Do you dream of being the best in the world?
ANNA: I want a real life…
KNIPPER: So be it!
ANNA: Thank you! Olga Leonardovna, may I go?…
KNIPPER: Now, you can go… Consider this my “Master Class”… My last “Master Class”.
ANNA: Goodbye, Olga Leonardovna!
KNIPPER: Farewell, Anna. Good luck!
(Anna begins very slowly to collect her things and then sits down and continues to listen Knipper)
KNIPPER: Once, when I asked Anton:” What is a real life?” He answered: “That is like asking: what is a carrot? A carrot is a carrot and nothing more”… It was strange, but the idea that Anton could soon die never came in my mind… (Pause) Why I didn’t asked him: «And what is death? Anton, what is death?(Pause) Anton died 44 years old.
When Anton died I came to him and looked at Anton’s beautiful face, his expression was calm now and seemed to be smiling as if he just understood something that still remains a mystery to me…
(Pause)
I didn’t know then, that Anton would become immortal… and… that I would not ever part from him… during my long, long life…
THE END
THE SAINTLY LIE
CAST:
MOTHER: Thirty-five years old
KATYA: Daughter, twelve years old
SCENES
: It’s night, by lamp light Katya is kneeling, bowing to the floor, and crossing herself. It’s the Soviet era. A picture of Stalin is on the wall. Mother enters quietly closing the door. She stands stock still, resigned, watching her daughter pray. Finally she strides up to her daughter.
MOTHER: Katya! Dear, Katya! What are you doing?
KATYA (frightened, jumping to her feet): I… I was looking for a crayon. It dropped on the floor.
MOTHER: Don’t lie to your mother. You were praying! I saw you crossing yourself!
KATYA: You yourself told me that I shouldn’t spy on people…
MOTHER: Enough! Who taught you to lie?
(Pause)
KATYA: Why shouldn’t I pray?
MOTHER (concerned): It’s very… very dangerous… and… you are still too young and carefree to know more. You wouldn’t understand yet.
KATYA: Mama, I understand more than you think.
MOTHER: What if a neighbor should see you bowing like I did?
KATYA: So what? I would say I was practicing for a play, crying…
MOTHER: Where did you learn to pray?
(Pause)
KATYA: Grandmother… She talked to me while we baked cookies. She talked to me about prayers, about sins.
MOTHER: What prayers do you say?
(Pause)
KATYA: “Our Father whom art in Heaven”… “Virgin Mary Mother of God…”
MOTHER: Does your friend Lucy know those words?
KATYA: I asked her once, but she said she had never heard them.
MOTHER: Why do you think she doesn’t know the words?
KATYA: I don’t know. Maybe because she has no… Grandmother and she doesn’t need to pray…
(Pause)
Lucy is not alone all the time… She has a brother. I am alone, and It’s dark out. I hear creaks and bumps. The house shakes. When I get afraid I say Grandmother’s prayers and cross myself. They make me feel better… I forget my fear.
MOTHER (resigned): I’m trying to change my shifts at the hospital, but I just have to work… There are so many things to buy and food…
KATYA: But I have to talk to somebody.
MOTHER: You… you talk to God?
KATYA: Yes…
MOTHER: What about?
KATYA: My sins… I ask his advice….. I tell him about my fear…
MOTHER: He answers you?
KATYA: Sometimes. It depends on his mood.
(Pause)
MOTHER (sighs and confidently): So! Katya, we have to live; we have to live in this society… Soon you must be a “Komsomol” member…
KATYA: I know. Every body has to be.
MOTHER: What will you say when they ask if you believe in God?
(Long pause. Katya silent. Her attitude, posture by director)
MOTHER: And if they find out or see that you do believe in God you know they will throw you out of “Komsomol”. They will make your life even harder… miserable for as long as you live… you will not be able to go to the university… no matter how many “A’s” you get… you will only be able to work as Lucy’s mother works…
KATYA: I don’t care… I’m not afraid of them, because God will stand by me.
(Long pause)
MOTHER (sadly, lovingly): Katya, your Grandfather thought that God would stand by him, but God didn’t…
KATYA: Mama, tell me about him…
MOTHER: Later…
KATYA: Why later? Now!
MOTHER: I’ve told you before. I was born in a little town named, Kaluga… My father was a teacher… There…
KATYA: It’s a lie! He was not a teacher! He was a priest!
MOTHER: He was a teacher!
KATYA: Grandmother told me the truth! You have never told me the truth! It is you, who taught me to lie!
MOTHER (angry): Insolent!
(Mother slaps the daughter on her cheek)
You are talking to me! Your mother!
KATYA (angry and horror stricken, cries): I hate you!
(Long pause)
MOTHER: Never say “I hate you!” again to anyone.
(Pause)
Words… all words… just words… are the most dangerous thing in our life… I’m your mother! You must show me respect even if you think I’m only telling you half truths.
(Pause)
You don’t know how my life was… What I have endured…
KATYA (crying, shouts): You hit me, but I told the truth… Your father was a priest…
MAMA (frightened): Katya, don’t speak so loudly… The neighbors could hear you…
(Pause)
All right… I’ll tell you some truth… May be you’ll understand how my life was… All my life I have been afraid that somebody would find out that I’m the daughter of a priest!
×èòàòü áåñïëàòíî äðóãèå êíèãè:
