"... to us, of course, periodically come,
but it's not pornography. Moreover, it's not even erotica. Although we
recommended that the theater management still make a mark on the poster,
that children should not watch this performance. After all, not everyone read
the law "On theatrical business", where it is written that all evening performances
not recommended for viewing by children. But what Marcelli does
this is his right as a master. Let's think about something else - what exactly is he
wanted to say this performance? Indeed, it contains a very deep
philosophy! We used to go to concerts or performances to
to have fun, and this production makes us think - and not all of us
summer residents in ordinary life? We are sometimes too
corrupted, but we just don't want to admit it."
Mikhail Anatolievich Andreev,
Minister of Culture of the Government of the Kaliningrad Region

Another scandal in the cultural life of Kaliningrad has received a rather sluggish development. Several critical notes in the media, an indistinct promise to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office, protests from several organizations and individuals. It seems that this is everything. Artists were definitely not bombarded with tomatoes, as was recently the case with the D-theater. I have not seen accusatory articles dedicated to "Summer Residents" in the media. But, it should be noted that in Kaliningrad, a steady trend has been formed to combat negativity in the field of culture. So, Moiseev's tours are steadily preceded by pickets and leaflets, the performances of "Rita Schmidt ..." are disrupted, and now - a showdown with "Summer Residents".

This disassembly, apparently, began spontaneously. For the premiere of the play based on the play by Maxim Gorky "Summer Residents", the Kaliningrad Regional Drama Theater chose very specific days. The Orthodox people, following the teachings of St. John Chrysostom, do not favor the theater anyway. Especially during Lent. And then there's Holy Week! Forty Martyrs of Sebaste! And Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was visiting Kaliningrad just at that very time. This visit was oversaturated with events, including those of a cultural nature, and attracted all the attention of a significant part of Kaliningraders. Which of the Orthodox people needed these days a performance based on the play by the "petrel of the revolution"? No one! On Saturday evening, Patriarch Kirill led an all-night vigil at the cathedral. Taking out the Cross! Therefore, the audience for the premiere of "Summer Residents" gathered a very specific one. The one that needs neither fasting, nor prayer, nor the Patriarch. She, this audience, began to watch the performance with enthusiasm. However, soon someone reached for the exit, and even with shouts: "Shame! Pornography! They have completely lost their shame!" There were quite a few scenes of fornication in the performance, and very frank ones at that. A completely naked man walked in front of the audience. In such an environment, not all parents with children, and not even all the teachers who brought their students, schoolchildren and pet students to the theater, had the endurance to sit through to the end. In general, it turned out to be a spontaneous protest. The artistic director of the Drama Theater, Yevgeny Marchelli, accepted the challenge of the protesters, saying in turn that they were behind the times, that compared to today's television, his performance is "virginally pure and highly moral." Marchelli stood firm on his own, relying on the support of the powerful and authoritative Ministry of Culture of the Government of the Kaliningrad Region, on the critics who patronize his work in various local and metropolitan media, and, of course, on "his" audience. Marchelli seemed to be even satisfied with the attention to his provocative performance.

My position as a critic in this case is unenviable: I did not watch this performance and will not go to see it voluntarily. Therefore, I can easily fall under a crushing counterattack according to the already classic model: "Aha! He has not read Pasternak, but he strongly condemns!" For this reason, I will not even touch on the issue of imitation of sexual acts on the stage of the Kaliningrad Regional Drama Theater, or a naked man, whose photographs are placed in various media ... Is it pornography, is it erotica or virgin purity? I haven't seen it, I don't know... Let interested persons, those who still visit the theater on their own or with children, figure it out without me. I will not touch on the topic of a pornographic scandal at all. I am more interested in what this scandal obscured: what, after all, did Marcelli want to say with his performance? What ideas did he want to bring to the viewer? What was left out of sight of those who saw only a naked man on stage? Kaliningrad Minister of Culture Andreev's words contained a completely constructive call to think about the philosophy of the performance, to try on its content for yourself. Let's follow the call of the regional minister, let's think, let's try on...

So... The play "Summer Residents" was written by Maxim Gorky over a hundred years ago. Somewhere in 1901, he reported in a letter to Pyatnitsky about his creative plans: "You know, I will write a cycle of dramas. This is a fact. One - the life of the intelligentsia. A bunch of people without ideals and suddenly! - among them one - with an ideal! Anger, crackling, howling, roaring!" Work on "Summer Residents" began ... In 1904, describing the already almost finished play in a letter to one of his acquaintances, directors, Maxim Gorky noted: "I wanted to portray that part of the Russian intelligentsia that came out of the democratic strata and, having reached a certain height of social status, lost contact with the people - their blood relatives, forgot about their interests, about the need to expand life for them .... This intelligentsia is worth lonely between the people and the bourgeoisie without influence on life, without strength, she feels fear of life, full of division, she wants to live interestingly, beautifully, and - calmly, quietly, she is only looking for opportunities to justify herself for shameful inaction, for betraying her own stratum - democracy. A rapidly degenerating bourgeois society rushes into mysticism, into determinism - wherever you can hide from the harsh reality that tells people: either you must rebuild your life, or I will mutilate you, crush you. And many of the intelligentsia follow the philistines into dark corners mystical or other philosophy - it doesn't matter - where, as long as you hide. Here is the drama, as I understand it. " Finally, on November 10, 1904, "Summer Residents" were first staged on the stage of the V.F. Komissarzhevskaya in St. Petersburg. During the performance of the play, the Orthodox-monarchist part of the audience tried to disrupt the performance, the revolutionary-democratic part of the audience gave a standing ovation to Gorky, who was present at it. Thus, the scandal occurred at that premiere, but the scandal is qualitatively completely different. Apparently, due to the absence of a naked man on the stage and the imitation of sexual acts, the audience (Orthodox-monarchical) protested precisely against the philosophy inherent in the performance. It was by no means strawberry lovers who defended the Summer Residents, but the politicized, revolutionary-democratic part of the hall. Those who sympathized with the revolution. Today's audience is qualitatively different. And turns his attention to something else. Although, I repeat: there simply could not be an Orthodox spectator at the premiere of Marcelli for the above reasons.

In order not to be unfounded, I will quote a note by a certain Irina Morguleva "Passion for" Summer Residents ", posted on March 25, 2009 on the Kaliningradskaya Pravda website. This correspondent wrote the following: "The new production of Evgeny Marchelli is shown in the regional drama theater. Those of the audience who actually went not" to Gorky ", but" to Marchelli " looked with enthusiasm, empathizing with everything that was happening on the stage. The director, for whom (in his own words) " the theater is always a scandal", remained true to himself. "Summer Residents" - in fact, the performance is a provocation. It is no wonder that there were those in the hall (though only a few people) who succumbed to this provocation and after the first act hurried to leave the audience Hall It's easy to understand people: they came for the "beautiful", but got life as it is. Well, maybe in a slightly more concentrated form... Once upon a time there were 15 confused losers on vacation who once passed by love. That is why they are drawn to each other ... mostly with their bodies. Their hysterical fornication sometimes looks like a kind of act of despair (the scenes of adultery, of which there are plenty in the play, are very harsh, shockingly frank).

Marya Lvovna feels superfluous at this monstrous celebration of life. There are also "background" characters in the performance - multi-colored clowns. They do not leave the stage and seem to be in another dimension. Every now and then they rehearse something, only occasionally throwing sad and interested glances towards summer residents. And "closer to the denouement", when passions run high to the limit, the actors are already in black ... It is noteworthy that all the performers are dressed differently. Someone - in historical costumes of the 19th century, someone in hippie wide trousers with cuffs, others (most of them) look quite "our way". This we are probably given to understand: here the time aspect is not important. This is the place to be and once, and now, and "the day after tomorrow" " The author of the note clearly approves of the performance. We note for ourselves for the future one significant observation by Irina Morguleva: the time aspect is not important for the director, which is emphasized most of the actors on stage. Well done Irina Morguleva, observant! But we also note that from her note it is absolutely incomprehensible what could anger Orthodox monarchists in 1904?! What, on the contrary, aroused the enthusiasm of the revolutionary democrats!? Morguleva wrote about some losers who missed love, about hysterical fornication, about frank scenes of adultery ... Gorky himself wrote something else about his own play ... And the regional minister of culture said in an interview about "very deep philosophy" plays ... Maybe Irina Morguleva, looking at the frank scenes of adultery, did not see something deeper? I remember the fable of three blind men who wanted to know what an elephant is. One began to feel the elephant's trunk and said that the elephant looked like a snake. Another grabbed the tail and declared that the elephant was like a rope. The third, clasping his leg, asserted the resemblance of an elephant to a pillar. This is how broken consciousness manifests itself. It seems that Morguleva saw in the performance and described only what was available to her intellect, what she was able to "grab from the elephant", but something turned out to be inaccessible to her.

Any playwright puts his ideas into the plot of the play, which he wants to convey to the viewer. Therefore, for example, Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit" will only seem to a very superficial viewer a story of deceived love. Although Chatsky's love for Sophia is present in the play. It even constitutes, as it were, the backbone of the play. But on this backbone "strung" and criticism of the "Famous society", and the preaching of the ideas of humanism, and much more. The play, in fact, was written by Griboyedov for the sake of this, and not in order to tell the whole world about the fictitious unhappy love of a fictitious hero.

What was in fact laid down by Gorky in the play "Summer Residents"? What angered the Orthodox-monarchist spectators in 1904? It is known that in the early 1900s, Gorky seriously took up dramaturgy. He gave birth to a number of plays: "Petty Bourgeois" (1902), "At the Bottom" (1902), "Summer Residents" (1904), "Children of the Sun" (1905), "Barbarians" (1906), "Enemies" (1906). .. The plays were written hastily, on the topic of the day. Russia was then shaken by formidable events: the Russo-Japanese War, the first revolution... Gorky during this period of time hastily develops a system of life values, tries to comprehend the constantly changing problems. At the same time, the writer uses his favorite template: the opposition "Falcon-Uzh". After the abstract Sokol and Petrel, after the romantic Danko, Gorky tried to impose on the reader "falcons" - tramps (today these tramps are usually called homeless). Gorky was attracted by their external freedom from any slavery to property. However, the writer began to gradually realize that the creative force in public life declassed tramp Chelkash will not be able to become. He will not be able to, despite all the "greatness" of the exalted soul of a thief and criminal compared to the miserable "snake" - the peasant Gavrila. The theory of Marxism, the elementary truths of which Gorky was mastering at that time, indicated that the true "falcon" must be sought in the proletarian environment. Gorky began this search, simultaneously continuing to denounce all sorts of "snakes", "stupid penguins" and "loons". The future "falcon"-proletarian appeared already in "Petty Bourgeois", but finally took shape somewhat later, in the story "Mother". But "snakes" Gorky mercilessly castigated in all his plays. So, in the "Dachniks" the petty-bourgeois "snakes", Russian intellectuals, who achieved a prosperous life, did not want any revolutions and preferred to rot in drunkenness and fornication in the country, were bred. Such was the creative intention of the writer, which is confirmed by his letters.

It should be noted that the theme of fornication and adultery is embedded in the text of Gorky's play. It is present in abundance, but in conversations. The heroes of the play talk, talk, talk... They talk in hints, they speak frankly, but the theater of the beginning of the 20th century usually did not demonstrate fornication itself on the stage, making do with these conversations and hints. The modern director's theater shows scenes of fornication without hesitation, even where they are inappropriate. But at the same time, both the text of the play and the speeches of the characters remain the same, Gorky's. Only words are already accompanied by deeds on stage.

Russian "snakes" - petty bourgeois in "Summer Residents" are shown in all their vileness. Something, but to describe the bad, to invent the bad, Gorky knew how admirably. And he set the goal of his work to describe "the lead abominations of wild Russian life." Before the viewer of "Dachnikov" are Russian intellectuals - representatives different professions: lawyer, engineer, doctor, writer ... The Russian engineer, of course, designed a prison, during the construction of which a wall collapsed, crushing two workers. The Russian doctor does not visit the juvenile detention center, which causes problems there; saves by order of the authorities on medicines for patients. A Russian lawyer is running some dark, but very profitable business. All this against the backdrop of drunkenness and fornication in the country. "Everything rots and decays." Russian reality, according to Gorky. Gorky fiercely hated the Russian pre-revolutionary state, tried in every possible way to slander and belittle its authorities. And also - citizens loyal to the Russian state. This manifested itself in all the works of Gorky. "Summer Residents" were no exception.

The play emphasizes the inability of Russians to creative activity, their inability both in business and in family life. As an example, we can cite the speeches put by Gorky into the mouth of one of the characters:

"Colon: So - the Germans have come, it means ... I have an old factory, the cars are rubbish, and they, you know, put everything new - well, their goods are better than mine and cheaper ... I see - my seams , I thought - you won’t do better than a German ... Well, I decided - I’ll sell all the music to the Germans ...... I left my house in the city ... a big house, an old one ... And now I have nothing to do, only one thing remains - counting money ... ho-ho! ho-ho! Such an old fool, to tell the truth... I sold it, you know, and immediately felt like an orphan... I got bored, and now I don't know what to do with myself? You understand: here are my hands ... I didn’t notice them before ... but now I see unnecessary objects dangling ... (Laughs. Pause. Varvara Mikhailovna goes out onto the terrace and, with her hands behind her back, slowly, thinking, walks .) There Basov's wife came out. What a woman... a magnet! If only I were ten years younger...
Suslov. After all, you... it seems... married?
Colon. Was. And more than once... But - my wives died, who ran away from me... And there were children... two girls... both died... The little boy too... drowned, you know... As for women, I'm very I was happy ... everything you have, in Russia, got them ... it is very easy to beat off your wives! You are bad husbands... I used to come and look back and forth - I see, you understand, a woman worthy of all attention, and her husband is some kind of nonentity in a hat ... Well, now you will take her into your hands ... ho ho. Yes, it was all ... and now - nothing
there is nothing ... nothing and no one ... you understand ... "

The Russian writer, writer Shalimov, is also a complete creative failure:

“I don’t write anything ... I’ll say it straight ... Yes! And what the hell can you write when you can’t understand anything at all? People are somehow confused, slippery, elusive ... But - you need to eat, then you need to write. for whom? I don't understand..."

Naturally, Gorky shows this dacha society as an enemy of revolutionary change. This runs throughout the play. So, in the second act, one of the characters broadcasts the following:

"Basov: ... Everything happens gradually ... Evolution! Evolution! That's what we must not forget!"

In the fourth act, he states the same:

"Basov: Our country first of all needs benevolent people. A benevolent person is an evolutionist, he is not in a hurry ... A benevolent person ... changes the forms of life imperceptibly, slowly, but his work is the only lasting one ..."

In order to arouse more disgust in the audience with these Russian "snakes", Gorky puts sayings like the following into the mouths of his characters:

Shalimov: We need to tell ourselves that women are still an inferior race.
Basov (as if speaking in other people's words): Of course ... yes, you are my friend. Women are closer to the beast than us. To subjugate a woman to your will, you need to apply to her soft, but strong and beautiful in its strength, certainly beautiful, despotism.
Suslov: She just needs to be pregnant more often, then she is all in your hands.
Such a kind of seminar on the exchange of experience. At the same time, Gorky in his play emphasizes the connection of these "snakes" with the Russian state, with Russia:
"Basov (sinking down on the hay): I'll sit down again ... One must enjoy nature while sitting ... Nature, forests, trees ... hay ... I love nature! (For some reason, in a sad voice.) And I love people .. I love my poor, huge, absurd country... my Russia! I love everything and everyone!... My soul is tender, like a peach! good comparison: the soul is tender, like a peach ... "

Let us ask ourselves: what feelings do these drunken speeches evoke in the average viewer? For the viewer, who sees that they are pronounced by a person, to put it mildly, unworthy? The answer is obvious: dislike for Russia, which these moral freaks love. And in the play "Summer Residents" such provocative speeches are constantly heard. Here is a statement from one of the "snakes", the one who designed the prison:

"Suslov: To hell with him! .. Yes, they were arguing here ... But all this is just antics ... I know. I once philosophized myself ... I once said all the fashionable words and I know their value. Conservatism, intelligentsia, democracy ... and what else is there? All this is dead ... everything is a lie! Man is primarily a zoological type, that's the truth. You know that! And no matter how you grimace, you can't hide the fact that you want to drink, eat ... and have a woman ... That's all your true ... "

It would be naive to think that this "already" is non-national. Gorky puts into his mouth a real manifesto of the Russian layman:

"Suslov (evil). I want to tell you that if we do not live the way you want,
venerable Marya Lvovna, we have our own reasons for this! We got excited and
hungry in youth; it is natural that in adulthood we want to eat and drink a lot and tasty, we want to rest ... in general, to reward ourselves in abundance for the restless, hungry life of young days ...
Shalimov (dryly). Who are we, you might ask?
Suslov (everything is hot). We? It's me, you, he, he, all of us. Yes, yes ... we are all here - the children of the townspeople, the children of poor people ... We, I say, starved a lot and worried in our youth ... We want to eat and rest in adulthood - that's our psychology. You don't like her, Marya Lvovna, but she is quite natural and there can be no other! First of all, a man, venerable Marya Lvovna, and then all other nonsense... And therefore, leave us alone! Because you will swear and incite others to this swearing, because you will call us cowards or lazybones, none of us will rush into social activities ... No! None!
Dudakov. What cynicism! You would stop!
Suslov (everything is hot). And for myself I will say: I am not a young man! It is useless to teach me, Marya Lvovna! I'm a grown man I am an ordinary Russian person, a Russian inhabitant! I am a philistine - and nothing more, sir! Here is my life plan. I like to be an inhabitant... I will live as I want! And finally, I don't give a damn about your stories... appeals... ideas!"

This "ordinary Russian person" is absolutely intolerant of dissidents:

"Suslov (sullenly): ... It is difficult for me to admit the existence of a person who dares to be himself."

It is clear that it is no longer possible to re-educate such Russian inhabitants. They should be mercilessly exterminated physically, like harmful and dangerous animals, which, in fact, the revolutionary-democratic spectators of the 1904 model did during the revolution, during the civil war, and later. It should be noted that in "Summer Residents" Gorky also shows other types of Russian "snakes". Here is an example of a Russian weak-willed "snake" dreamer who wants to hide somewhere under a swamp snag from the difficulties of life:

"Ryumin: About the right of a person to desire deceit! .. You often say - life! What is life? When you talk about it, it stands before me, like a huge, shapeless monster that eternally demands sacrifices to him, sacrifices by people! She is day after day it devours the brain and muscles of a person, greedily drinks his blood... Why is this? .. and more and more longs for the beautiful, bright, pure! .. He cannot destroy the contradictions of life, he does not have the strength to expel evil and dirt from it - so do not take away from him the right not to see what kills the soul! he has the right to turn aside from phenomena that offend him! Man wants oblivion, rest... man wants peace!"

This animal is not dangerous, you can not waste your energy on exterminating such animals. They themselves will rest. At the end of the play, this Russian "already" really tried to shoot himself, but, of course, he did not succeed in such a decisive action. The heart of the Russian inhabitant turned out to be small, but it was beating strongly from fear. You can't even hit this with a pistol bullet.

The average viewer is disgusted by all these people, bred by Gorky as Russian intellectuals, as Russian petty bourgeois, as Russian townsfolk. And here we recall the correct observation of Irina Morguleva: the time aspect is not important for the director. This is emphasized by the fact that the actors are mostly dressed in a modern way. Gorky's fierce hatred for the pre-revolutionary Russian state is directed by Marchelli's performance against modern Russia, against modern Russian inhabitants.

Gorky hated Orthodox Church, and this is reflected in "Summer Residents". This is manifested, for example, in the fact that the weak-willed Russian "already" Ryumin suddenly utters:
"For life to have meaning, you need to do some huge, important work ... traces of which would remain for centuries ... You need to build some temples."

It is clear how the viewer will perceive these words in the mouth of a negative hero, who also tried unsuccessfully to shoot himself? This spectator will be against the construction of churches, against the Cathedral of Christ the Savior built in Kaliningrad.

Gorky's dislike for Orthodoxy is also manifested, for example, in the fact that the negative heroes of the part often quote distorted phrases and certain key words from Holy Scripture, out of place and out of place. It becomes clearer to the viewer what faith these Russian "snakes" are:
"Colon. On the neck of your neighbor, you will sooner reach your well-being."
"Vlas. Oh Martha, Martha! You care about a lot - that's why everything is overcooked or undercooked ... what wise words!"
"Basov. Yes, Valaamova spoke ... [donkey]"

Another incidental observation: the traditional Christian family is denied in Gorky's play. We will not see any positive example. All examples of family life offered to the viewer are negative, deeply tragic. The only mother with many children by our standards - a certain Olga Alekseevna - is shown by Gorky in a state of deep mental disorder precisely because of having many children, because of the need to take care of four children:

"Olga Alekseevna .... I myself sometimes feel disgusting ... and pitiful ... it seems to me that my soul has all wrinkled and become like an old little dog ... there are such lap dogs ... they are evil, no one do not like and always want to quietly bite.
Vlas (in his office he sings "Eternal Memory" in a nasal voice). Family happiness... family happiness..."

In the course of the performance, a certain “woman with a bandaged cheek” flashes on the stage a couple of times, looking for a lost child. A miserable unfortunate creature that summer residents drive away.

Even the only positive hero of the play, Marya Lvovna, calls her marriage "three years of torture." Marya Lvovna deserves a special mention. As I noted above, Gorky built the plots of his works according to the pattern of confrontation "falcon-snake". "Snakes" in the play "Summer Residents" were Russian townsfolk. But in the "falcons" "petrel of the revolution" elected ... a woman. "Woman doctor Marya Lvovna, 37 years old." In Gorky's work, such a "falcon" was a novelty, but it fully corresponded to the spirit of the revolutionary time. Unlike the "snakes", Marya Lvovna has certain ideals. Moreover, the ideals of a female doctor are reinforced by character. The writer gave her the following characterization through the lips of the characters of the play:

"Ryumin .... possesses the cruelty of believers to the highest degree ... blind and cold cruelty."
"Bass. She's as straight as a stick."
"Ryumin. I am positively outraged by her despotism. People of this type are criminally intolerant..."

Maxim Gorky does not refute these characteristics. But, if you look closely, the cruel faith of Marya Lvovna turns out to be somehow vague, based on common slogans, on general concepts: progress, the light of knowledge, the struggle ... "We must all be different, gentlemen! Children of cooks, laundresses, children of healthy working people - we must be different! After all, never before in our country have there been educated people related to the mass of people by kinship blood... This consanguinity should feed us with an ardent desire to expand, rebuild, and illuminate the life of people dear to us, who all their days only work, suffocating in darkness and dirt... We should not work out of pity, not out of mercy, for expansion of life ... we must do this for ourselves ... in order not to feel damned loneliness ... not to see the abyss between us - on high - and our relatives - down there, from where they look at us as enemies They sent us ahead of them so that we could find a way for them to a better life... but we left them and got lost, and created for ourselves loneliness, full of anxious bustle and inner division... Here is our drama! But we ourselves created it, we deserve everything that torments us!" Marya Lvovna does not see a specific creative program. The play contains calls for social activity, for the struggle against... Against whom? The viewer had to understand this for himself: against the pre-revolutionary Russian state, against Orthodox faith. The viewer understood this. The Orthodox-monarchist spectator tried to disrupt the performance. The revolutionary-democratic was inspired and went further for those who called it to fight "against".

Marya Lvovna's lack of a clear program is understandable. In Gorky's idea of ​​"Falcon" it is important to realize oneself in struggle, in battle. But for what - the author usually does not give an answer to this question in his works. Even the words from the "Song of the Falcon": "Oh, if I could rise into the sky at least once! ... I would press the enemy ... to the wounds of my chest and ... he would choke on my blood!" can be understood in any way, up to the gangster desire for bloody showdowns. It is curious to take a closer look at those who adjoin the “falcon”-woman. First of all - her daughter Sonya, 18 years old. A broken girl, having fun in the country with a certain Zimin, a twenty-three-year-old student:
"Sonya. Mom! I'm going for a walk ..."
"Sonya. I recommend - my slave!
It is impossible in a decent society.
Zimin. She tore off the sleeve of my jacket - that's all!
Sonya. Only! This is not enough for him, he is dissatisfied with me ... Mom, I'll come for you, okay? And now I'm going to listen to how Max will tell me about eternal love ... "

Then the overgrown undergrowth Vlas adjoins the “falcon”, at the age of 25 he studied a little at the religious school, at the railway school, at the agricultural school, at the school of painting, at the commercial school ...
"Vlas. At the age of seventeen, an aversion to science filled me to the point of complete impossibility of learning anything, even playing cards and smoking tobacco."
"Vlas. I feel sick, Marya Lvovna, it's ridiculous to me ... All these people ... I don't like them ... I don't respect them: they are miserable, they are small, like mosquitoes ... I can't seriously talk to them .. They arouse in me a nasty desire to grimace, but to grimace more openly than they... My head is clogged with some kind of rubbish... I want to moan, swear, complain... I think I'll start drinking vodka, damn it I can't, I don't know how to live among them otherwise than they live... and it disfigures me... sometimes I really want to shout something angry, harsh, insulting to everyone..."

Vlas saves a few from vodka strange Love to Marya Lvovna, who is 12 years older than him. Rubbish in the head and the desire to scream evil remains. But for Gorky, the main thing was to show that this undergrowth left the ball of Russian "snakes" and rushed after the "falcon". And what kind of "falcon" he himself will become with his rubbish in his head and the desire to grimace, this does not matter to Gorky.
Having stirred up the kingdom of Russian "snakes", where everything was "rotten and decomposed", Marya Lvovna, thus, attracted some of them to her. Gorky did not offer any creative program in his play, and he could not offer the viewer. "Come to us...come!" And where to? What for? What are the newly-minted "falconers" going to do? And here's what:
"Varvara Mikhailovna. I hate you all with inexhaustible hatred. You are pitiful people, unfortunate freaks!
Vlas .... I know: you are mummers! As long as I am alive, I will tear off the rags with which you cover up your lies, your vulgarity... the poverty of your feelings and depravity of thought!...
Varvara Mikhailovna. Yes, I'm leaving! Farther from here, where everything rots and decays around you... Farther from the idlers. I want to live! I will live... And do something... against you! Against you! (Looks at everyone and screams in despair.) Oh, damn you!

The heroes of the play "Summer Residents" were invented by Gorky. The audience was real. It is not difficult to understand where the revolutionary-democratic spectators went in the following year, 1905. Where did they go in 1917? What they could do, and what they did, guided by hatred. Where will today's viewers go, who knows? But for some reason I was more puzzled by the fate of the actors. Rehearse dozens of times, memorize roles, get used to the character, discuss the play, follow the instructions of the artistic director ... Play in a play saturated with hatred for Russia, calling for protest, for the fight against ... This is probably how future Russophobes who do not love the country are fed living, despising the Russian people, always protesting, grimacing like Gorky's Vlas, climbing into politics, denouncing, criticizing, shouting something evil, constantly doing something against, against, against ... This unhappy and tragic people in their own way, actors. Theater actors then become film actors, work on television, on radio ... And we are surprised: why are they like that?

Irina Morguleva: "The works of the actors of the Tilsit Theater and the Regional Drama Theater (this is the first joint project of the two teams) are convincing and interesting. Marina Yungans, Irina Nesmiyanova, Polina Ganshina, Nikolai Zuborenko, Diana Savina, Vitaly Kishchenko, Nikolai Zakharov, Sergey Chernov, Lyubov Orlova, Maxim Patserin live on stage truthfully and scary.

P.S. In 1917, the Falcons conquered Russia. Ten years later, the "petrel of the revolution" Maxim Gorky, together with theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold and some other cultural figures, signed a letter to the Soviet government with a request to destroy the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, built in honor of the victory of the Russian people over Napoleon in 1812. On December 5, 1931, the main Orthodox church in Russia was blown up. Today it has been restored. In Kaliningrad, a cathedral was built by the Orthodox and also consecrated in honor of Christ the Savior. For the first time since his election to the patriarchal throne, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited Kaliningrad in March of this year and led a divine service in the Kaliningrad Cathedral of Christ the Savior. At the same time, the premiere of Marchelli's performance based on Gorky's play "Summer Residents" was held at the Kaliningrad Regional Drama Theater. Symbolically. Coincidence? Confrontation?

Latvian art
in all its manifestations:

art, theatre, culture, society, criticism and my thoughts…

A couple of solos from Olga about herself:

On the this moment I am getting my third degree. I'm one of those people they talk about "eternal student". Today I am in awe of my future profession. And if we talk about personal experience, then I'm sure that if you want to be smarter and happier than everyone, study to be a culturologist!

I do not indifferently breathe in the direction of art and everything connected with it. I am a frequent visitor to theater chairs and art exhibitions. In times of creative explosions, I like to draw, write, and tear something myself. In May of this year, I organized an exhibition “When you need to say: “we are a family!”»In which both my works and the works of Alexandra Kudryashov a (airbrushing), Sandra Dzilna(artist) and Baiby Strazdini(photo exposure).

"Dachniks"

Theatrical production "Summer Residents" is definitely a subject for discussion! I’ll note right away that this performance is not for those who are used to attending low-class entreprises. This is a combinational, non-single-line, deep performance.

The trouble with our viewer is that not everyone is able to perceive complex subtext. And yes, many do not like to look at their own kind from the side, and even more so to admit it!

An unequivocal "Thank you" to the director for this production! She cannot leave anyone indifferent. A bold and daring show. A very solid and reliable interpretation of Maxim Gorky, which does not lose its relevance today.

But there are small “buts”: cigarette smoke interfered with viewing, there is a lot of it, probably too much even for a smoker! And I also share the opinion of the majority - it would be possible to be more modest, now I’m specifically talking about the youthful hormonal explosion on stage (Arthur Trukshs (Zimin, student) and Natalya Smirnova (Sonya)) , I think the viewer will be able to imagine what she is capable of without such an emotional display modern youth, so I would still like to leave at least a hint of chastity. After all, we know how cute these guys are and such a revelation clearly does not suit them, even their images do not fit with what happened on stage.

So, what is the play about? About misfortune, about the emptiness of flawed people. The fact that they are all miserable, with mutilated souls, and this is the tragedy of their existence. Life in general is a complicated thing, especially for a person capable of thinking. Everything is confused, not clear and frightening, the thought of people's unreliability, lack of trust, lack of courage, uncertainty, that no one wants to understand anyone “.. people wander like ice floes in the cold sea of ​​the north and collide with each other. .” Kaleria (Dana Chernetsova)

All this society has been living without strength for a long time, they all feel fear of life, their life is full of bifurcation, they want to live interestingly, beautifully, and - calmly, quietly, they are only looking for opportunities to justify themselves for shameful inaction ...

By expression Ryumin (Andrey Mozheiko), life appears before the heroes as "a huge shapeless monster that eternally demands sacrifices to him, sacrifices to people." All the characters in "Dachnikov" complain about her and are afraid of her, Varvara Mikhailovna (Veronika Plotnikova): "Everything seems alien ... hiddenly hostile to you ..."

To match the existence of summer residents and their habitat. For those who are familiar with Gorkoko's play, the emptiness of the scenery and the choice of color design will not come as a surprise. The director, like Gorky himself, draws the image of a gloomy, dark house in which the characters live. It is not only always dark here, but also uncomfortable: it is cold, the floor creaks, the walls are bare. These everyday details gradually acquire in the play symbolic meaning: "the wind walks" not only in the dacha - it is cold and uncomfortable in the relations of the characters.

The writer Shalimov (Anatoly Fechin) sums up the life of the “summer residents”: “All this, my friend, is so insignificant ... both people and events ...”

"Dachniks"- This is a drama in which, in the words of Dr. Dudakov (Oleg Teterin), "no one dies." Everyone stays alive, and for some this is a painful burden, for others it is a continuation of the search for "the road to a better life."

The acting, as always, does not cause any wrangling, everything went great! I think I, like many others, rarely like derivative material, but this is the rare case when the staged performance is more interesting and stronger than the play itself thanks to the emotional play of the actors! Separately, I would like to note the song coming from the heart performed by Ekaterina Frolova (Yulia Filippovna) - this is the apogee of the emotions of the whole performance!

Thank you very much Dmitry Palees (Basov, Sergey Vasilievich), Veronika Plotnikova (Varvara Mikhailovna), Dana Chernetsova (Kaleria), Alexander Malikov (Vlas), Evgeny Cherkes (Suslov, Pyotr Ivanovich), Ekaterina Frolova (Yulia Filippovna), Oleg Teterin ( Dudakov, Kirill Akimovich), Elena Sigova (Olga Alekseevna), Anatoly Fechin (Shalimov, Yakov Petrovich), Andrey Mozheiko (Ryumin, Pavel Sergeevich), Vadim Grossman (Ryumin, Pavel Sergeevich), Olga Nikulina (Maria Lvovna), Natalya Smirnova ( Sonya, her daughter), Leonid Lenz (Colon, Semyon Semyonovich), Vitaly Yakovlev (Zamyslov, Nikolai Petrovich), Artur Trukshs (Zimin, student). © O.Vlasova, 2014

P.S. Dear viewers, I would like to give a very obvious recommendation: do not go to performances unprepared, then you will not be bitterly disappointed!

Sincerely, Your O.V.

A film performance based on the play of the same name by Maxim Gorky, written by him a year before the revolutionary events of 1905. This play is rightfully considered the most "Chekhovian" by Gorky. In the center of the plot of the drama is an amateur performance that summer residents should play. The atmosphere in which preparations are being made for it introduces a sense of stupidity, fuss, the absurdity of everything that is happening, the illusory nature and unrighteousness of many of the characters' claims. Actors who do not participate in the general action rush to the rehearsal of the performance, which the audience will never see. They are late, then they find out that the rehearsal has not yet begun. Here is what Gorky himself wrote about the play: “I wanted to portray that part of the Russian intelligentsia that came out of the democratic strata and, having reached a certain height of position ... stands alone between the people and the bourgeoisie, without influence on life, without strength, they feel fear of life ... they want to live interestingly , beautiful and - calmly, quietly, she is only looking for opportunities to justify herself ... for betraying her native layer - democracy ".

The history of the first production of "Summer Residents"

“There were many glorious and beautiful pages in the life of our theater.<...>But most beautiful legend, the most attractive page in the history of the Russian theater for me will always be the premiere of Summer Residents at the V.F. Komissarzhevskaya November 10, 1904.

Turning over the stiff, yellowed newspaper pages, you reproduce in your imagination this exceptional evening. Remarkable cast: Varvara - Komissarzhevskaya, Julia - Nikolina, Marya Lvovna - Kholmskaya, Basov - Bravich, Shalimov - Gardin, Colon - Uralov, Vlas - Blumenthal - Tamarin.

After the first act, complete bewilderment reigned. The public hasn't figured it out yet. The faces of connoisseurs and connoisseurs in the auditorium of the Passage are impenetrable. The democratically minded gallery is in suspense... The second act is over. Well, everything is clear: this is an everyday comedy, quite witty, quite well-aimed and generally harmless. The action was a success. The author was summoned and brought two wreaths. The scandal erupted during the third act, when all the intentions of the author became clear. During the intermission, the unthinkable happened. Divided into two hostile parts, the hall admired and resented. The applause was mixed with hissing and whistling. It was almost a clash between two irreconcilable, forever hostile forces. This is a prototype of future battles, future battles. Gorky took the stage. He stood in the midst of the actors applauding him calmly, arms crossed over his chest, carefully peering into the auditorium raging with indignation and delight.

“With the air of a winner, as if showing off, Gorky came out even after the 4th act. At this moment, Gorky was magnificent. How much self-confidence, daring, challenge was on his face, ”wrote one of the newspapers of that time (“Petersburg leaflet”). Yes, it was more than a failure - it was a scandal, but it was more than a success - it was a triumph. Art broke into life, it itself became life. What can be higher than this?<...>

When you read the reviews of that time about "Summer Residents", it seems that the characters of the play - the Shalimovs, Basovs, Kalerii, offended by the rudeness of the author, who hit not in the eyebrow, but in the eye - continue their argument. The theme of the dispute this time was the play "Summer Residents".<...>

After the premiere in St. Petersburg, the triumphal procession of "Summer Residents" began in the theaters of the province. We can safely say that the entire theatrical season of 1905 was held in Russia under the sign of "Summer Residents".<...>

To understand the revolutionary significance of Summer Residents, it is worth reading a letter to the editors of the Theater and Art magazine, No. 13 for 1905. The Dvina entrepreneur talks about how the performances of "Summer Residents" in Dvinsk ended.<...>“... But before this performance, all the others, at the request of the gendarmerie chief, went with cash in the foyer of a patrol of soldiers of 30-40 people in full combat readiness with guns and bandoliers. At the second performance of Summer Residents, during the action, a voice with an “inappropriate phrase” was heard from the gallery. The audience was agitated, the soldiers rushed with a knock and noise to the gallery. Confusion in the public and on the stage ... after the performance, the gendarme commander informs me that he has telegraphed the governor about what has happened. The next day, a telegram is received from the governor: “Close the theater. Give money for tickets sold for subsequent performances.

As can be seen from this characteristic episode, fifty years ago no one had any doubts that Summer Residents was a revolutionary play.<...>

From Boris Babochkin's article "Stage versions of Summer Residents" from the book "In Theater and Cinema" (1968)

Characters

Basov, Sergei Vasilievich, lawyer, under 40 years old.

Varvara Mikhailovna, his wife, aged 27.

Kaleria, Basova's sister, 29 years old.

Vlas, brother of Basov's wife, 25 years old.

Suslov, Petr Ivanovich, engineer, 42 years old.

Yulia Filippovna, his wife, 30 years old.

Dudakov, Kirill Akimovich, doctor, 40 years old.

Olga Alekseevna, his wife, 35 years old.

Shalimov, Yakov Petrovich, writer, 40 years old.

Ryumin, Pavel Sergeevich, 32 years.

Maria Lvovna, doctor, 37 years old.

Sonya, her daughter, 18 years old.

Colon, Semen Semenovich, Uncle Suslova, 55 years old.

Ideas, Nikolai Petrovich, Basov's assistant, 28 years old.

Zimin, student, 23 years old.

empty bike, country caretaker, 50 years old.

Kropilkin, watchman.

Sasha, Basov's maid.

Drama lovers.

Woman with bandaged cheek

Mr. Semyonov

lady in yellow dress

Young h man in a plaid suit

Young lady in blue

The young lady in pink

Juncker

master in top hat

Act one

Dacha of the Basovs. A large room, dining room and living room at the same time. Back wall to the left opened door to Basov's office, to the right is the door to his wife's room. These rooms are separated by a corridor, the entrance to which is hung with a dark curtain. In the right wall there is a window and a wide door to the terrace, in the left there are two windows. In the middle of the room there is a large dining table, against the door to the office is a piano. The furniture is wicker, country, only near the entrance to the corridor there is a wide sofa covered with a gray cover. Evening. bass sits at a table in the study, in front of him is a working lamp under a green shade. He writes, sitting sideways to the door, turns his head, peers at something in the semi-darkness of a large room, and sometimes quietly hums. Varvara Mikhailovna noiselessly leaves his room, lights a match, holds it in front of his face, looks around. The fire goes out.

In the darkness, moving quietly towards the window, she touches a chair.

bass. Who is this?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I.

bass. BUT…

Varvara Mikhailovna. You took a candle?

bass. No.

Varvara Mikhailovna. call Sasha.

bass. Vlas arrived?

Varvara Mikhailovna (at the door to the terrace.) Don't know…

bass. Silly lady. Electric bells have been installed, and there are cracks everywhere ... the floor creaks ... (Sings something funny.) Varya, are you gone?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'm here…

bass (Picks up papers and puts them in.) Is it windy in your room?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Duet…

bass. You see!

(Sasha included.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Give fire, Sasha.

bass. Sasha, has Vlas Mikhailovich arrived?

Sasha. Not yet.

(Sasha comes out, returns with a lamp, puts it on the table near the armchair. Wipes the ashtray, straightens the tablecloth on the dining table. Varvara Mikhailovna pulls down the curtain, takes a book from the shelf, sits down in the armchair.)

bass (good-naturedly). He became sloppy, this Vlas ... and lazy ... Recently, he generally behaves ... somehow ridiculous. It is a fact.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Do you want tea?

bass. No, I'll go to the Suslovs.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Sasha, go to Olga Alekseevna ... find out if she will come to drink tea with me ...

(Sasha leaves.)

bass (locking the papers in the table). Well, that's it! (Leaves office straightening his back.) You, Varya, would have told him, of course, in a mild form ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. What to say?

bass. Well, so that he was more ... attentive to his duties ... huh?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I will tell. Only, it seems to me, you are talking about him in vain ... in that tone in front of Sasha ...

bass (looks around the room). This is rubbish! You can’t hide anything from the servants anyway ... How empty it is here! Varya, you ought to cover those bare walls with something... Some frames... pictures... otherwise, look how uncomfortable!... Well, I'll go. Give me a paw ... How cold you are with me, taciturn ... why, huh? And your face is so boring, why? Tell!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Are you in a hurry to see Suslov?

bass. Yes, we must go. I haven't played chess with him for a long time... and I haven't kissed your paw for a long time, why? That's strange!

Varvara Mikhailovna (hiding a smile). So we will postpone the conversation about my mood for the time being ... when you have more free time ... It doesn’t matter, does it?

bass (calmingly). Well, of course! After all, it's me so ... what can be? You are a nice woman... smart, sincere... and so on. If you had something against me, you would say... And why are your eyes so sparkling?.. Unwell?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No, I'm healthy.

bass. You know... you should do something, my dear Varya! You read everything ... you read a lot! .. But any excess is harmful, this is a fact!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't forget this fact when you drink red wine at Suslov's...

bass (laughing). You said evil! But, you know, all these trendy, spicy books are more harmful than wine, really! There is something narcotic in them... And some nervously torn gentlemen compose them. (Yawns.) Soon a “real” writer, as children say, will come to us ... I wonder what he has become ... probably a little arrogant ... All these public people are painfully ambitious ... in general, crazy people! So Kaleria is not normal, although - what kind of writer is she, strictly speaking? She will be glad to see Shalimov. If only she could marry him, right! She is old ... N-yes! a little old ... and always whines, as if her teeth hurt chronically ... and does not look very much like a beauty ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. How much you say too much, Sergey!

bass. Is it? Well, nothing, because you and I are alone ... Yes, I like to chat ... (A dry cough is heard behind the curtain.) Who is it?

Suslov (behind the curtain). I.

bass (walks towards him). And I was going to you!

Suslov (silently greets Varvara Mikhailovna). Let's go. I came for you... Have you been in the city today?

bass. No. And what?

Suslov (smiling wryly). They say your assistant won two thousand rubles in the club ...

bass. Wow!

Suslov. Some very drunk merchant...

Varvara Mikhailovna. As you always say...

Suslov. How?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yes, here ... I won money - and you emphasize - from a drunkard.

Suslov (grinning). I don't stress.

bass. What's special here? Now, if he said that Zamyslov got the merchant drunk and beat him - this is really a bad genre! .. Let's go, Peter ... Varya, when Vlas comes ... yeah! Here he is... he's here!

Vlas (enters, holding his old briefcase). Did you miss me, my patron? Nice to know! (To Suslov, foolishly, as if with a threat.) Someone is looking for you, apparently just arrived. He walks around the dachas on foot and very loudly asks everyone where you live... (Goes to sister.) Hello Varya.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Hello.

Suslov. Hell! Probably my uncle...

bass. So it's inconvenient to go to you?

Suslov. Well, here's more! Do you think I'll be happy with an uncle I barely know? I haven't seen him for ten years.

bass (Vlas). Please come to me... (Takes Vlas into the office.)

Suslov (smoking). Would you like to come to us, Varvara Mikhailovna?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No... Is your uncle poor?

Suslov. Rich. Highly. Do you think I only dislike poor relatives?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't know…

Suslov (bile cough). And this Plans of yours will compromise Sergey in one mean day, you will see! He is a scoundrel! Do not agree?

Varvara Mikhailovna (calmly). I don't want to talk to you about him.

Suslov. Well, well ... Be on this. (After a pause.) And here you are - a little portrayed by your directness ... Look, the role of a direct person is a difficult role ... to play it only not badly, you need to have a lot of character, courage, intelligence ... Are you offended?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No.

Suslov. And you don't want to argue? Or do you in your heart agree with my words?

Varvara Mikhailovna (simply). I can't argue... I can't talk...

Suslov (sullenly). Do not be offended at me. It is difficult for me to admit the existence of a person who dares to be himself.

Sasha (included). Olga Alekseevna said that they would come immediately. To make tea?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yes please.

Sasha. Nikolai Petrovich is coming towards us. (Exits.)

Suslov (going to the office door). Sergei, are you soon? .. I'm leaving ...

bass. Now, this minute!

Ideas (included). Hello patroness! Hello, Peter Ivanovich.

Suslov (coughing). My regards. What kind of ... moth you are.

Ideas. Easy man! Easy on the heart and in the pocket, and easy on the head!

Suslov (rudely, with irony). I won’t argue about the head and heart, but about the pocket - they say you beat someone in the club ...

Ideas (soft). It should be said about me: I won. Beat - they say about a sharper.

Varvara Mikhailovna. You always hear something sensational about you. They say that this is the fate of remarkable people.

Ideas. At least I myself, listening to gossip about me, gradually become convinced of my remarkableness ... And, unfortunately, I won a little - forty-two rubles ...

(Suslov, coughing dryly, moves away to the left and looks out the window.)

bass (leaving). Only! I already dreamed of champagne ... Well, sir, do you have anything to tell me? I'm in hurry…

Ideas. Are you leaving? So I'm after, it's not in a hurry. Varvara Mikhailovna, what a pity you were not at the performance! Yulia Filippovna played admirably ... wonderfully! ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. I really like the way she plays.

Ideas (with enthusiasm). She is a talent! Cut off my head if I'm wrong!

Suslov (grinning). What if you have to cut it off? Completely without a head - uncomfortable ... Well, let's go, Sergei! .. Goodbye, Varvara Mikhailovna. I have the honor... (Bows to Zamyslov.)

bass (Looking into the office, where Vlas is sorting out papers). So tomorrow by nine in the morning you will copy it all, I hope?

Vlas. Hope ... And may insomnia visit you, dear patron ...

(Suslov and Basov leave.)

Ideas. And I'll go... Your pen, patroness.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Stay drinking tea!

Ideas. If you will, I will come later. And now I can't! (Quickly leaves.)

Vlas (coming from the office). Varya! Will tea be drunk in this house?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Call Sasha. (Puts her hands on his shoulders.) Why are you so exhausted?

Vlas (rubs his cheek against her hand). Tired. From ten to three I sat in court… From three to seven I ran around the city… Shurochka!.. And I didn’t have time to have lunch.

Varvara Mikhailovna. The clerk... This is below you, Vlas!

Vlas (foolishly). You need to try to reach heights and so on ... I know. But Varya! - Loving examples, I take a chimney sweep on the roof: of course, he climbed higher than everyone ... but is he higher than himself?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't be stupid! Why don't you want to look for another job ... more useful, more significant? ..

Vlas (comically indignant). Madam! I take an indirect but intense part in the protection and protection of the sacred institution of property - and you call it useless work! What debauchery of thought!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You don't want to be serious?

(Sasha included.)

Vlas (Sachet). Dear! Be generous, give tea and a snack.

Sasha. Now I will. Cutlets you want?

Vlas. And cutlets and everything else, like them ... I'm waiting!

(Sasha leaves.)

Vlas (hugs her sister by the waist and walks around the room with her). Well, what are you?

Varvara Mikhailovna. For some reason I feel sad, Vlasik! You know... sometimes, all of a sudden, somehow... without thinking about anything, you will feel like a prisoner with your whole being... Everything seems alien... secretly hostile to you... everything that no one needs... And everyone lives somehow frivolously... Here you are... joking ... kidding ...

Vlas (comically standing in front of her in a pose).

Do not reproach me, my friend,
For the fact that I often joke:
A funny joke is my disease.
I want to hide in front of you...

Poems of my own fabrication and much better than those of Kaleria... But I won't read them to the end: they are five arshins long... My dear sister! Do you want me to be serious? So, probably, the crook wants to see all his bottom one-eyed.

(Enters.) Sasha with tea utensils and deftly fussing around the table. The rattle of the night watchman is heard.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Come on, Vlas! No need to chat.

Vlas. Well, he said, and sadly fell silent. N-yes! You are not generous, little sister! The whole day I am silent, copying copies of various slanders and slanders ... it is natural that in the evening I want to talk ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. And now I want to go somewhere where simple people live, healthy people, where they speak a different language and do some serious, big, necessary work for everyone ... Do you understand me? ..

Vlas (thoughtfully). Yes... I understand... But you won't go anywhere, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Or maybe I'll leave. (Pause. Sasha brings in the samovar.) Shalimov will probably arrive tomorrow...

Vlas (yawning). I do not like his latest writings - empty, boring, sluggish.

Varvara Mikhailovna. I saw him once at a party... I was a high school student then... I remember he went out onto the stage, so strong, firm... rebellious, thick hair, his face is open, bold... the face of a man who knows what he loves and what he hates... knows his strength ... I looked at him and trembled with joy that there are such people ... It was good! Yes! I remember how vigorously he shook his head, his wild hair fell like a dark whirlwind on his forehead... and I remember his inspired eyes... Six or seven years have passed - no, already eight years...

Vlas. You dream about him, like a college student about a new teacher. Watch out my sister! Writers, I've heard, are great at seducing women...

V Arvara Mikhailovna. This is not good, Vlas, this is vulgar!

Vlas (simply, sincerely). Well, don't be angry, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You understand ... I'm waiting for him ... like spring! I don't feel good living...

Vlas. I understand, I understand. It’s not good for me myself ... I’m ashamed to live somehow ... awkward ... and you don’t understand what will happen next? ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. Oh yes, Vlas, yes! But why do you...

Vlas. Playing around?.. I don't like it when others see that I'm not feeling well...

Kaleria (included). What a wonderful night! And you sit here - and you smell of fumes.

Vlas (shaking). My respect, Abstraction Vasilievna!

Kaleria. It's so quiet, thoughtful in the forest... glorious! The moon is gentle, the shadows are thick and warm... The day can never be more beautiful than the night...

Vlas (in her tone). Oh yeah! Old ladies are always more fun than girls, and crayfish fly faster than swallows...

Kaleria (sitting down at the table). You don't understand anything! Varya, pour me some tea... No one was with us?

Vlas(instructive-foolishly). No one - can be or not be ... because no one - exists.

Kaleria. Please leave me alone.

(Vlas silently bows to her and goes into the office, sorting through the papers on the table there. Outside the window, in the distance, the night watchman's rattle and a low whistle are heard.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yulia Filippovna came to see you...

Kaleria. To me? Oh yes... about the performance...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Have you been in the forest?

Kaleria. Yes. I met Ryumin... he talked a lot about you...

Varvara Mikhailovna. What did he say?

Kaleria. You know…

(Pause. Vlas sings something, nasally, quietly.)

Varvara Mikhailovna (sighing). This is very sad.

Kaleria. For him?

Varvara Mikhailovna. He once told me that loving a woman is a tragic duty for a man...

Kaleria. You used to treat him differently.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Are you blaming me for this? Yes?

Kaleria. Oh no, Varya, no!

Varvara Mikhailovna. At first I tried to dispel his sad mood ... and, however, I paid a lot of attention to him ... Then I saw what this was leading to ... then he left.

Kaleria. Have you talked to him?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Not a word! Neither I nor he...

(Pause.)

Kaleria. His love must be warm and powerless... all in beautiful words... and without joy. And love without joy is offensive to a woman. Don't you think he's hunchbacked?

Varvara Mikhailovna (surprised). Didn't notice... did you? You're wrong!..

Kaleria. There is something discordant in him, in his soul ... And when I notice this in a person, it begins to seem to me that he is physically a freak.

Vlas (leaves the office, sadly shaking a sheaf of paper). Taking into account the abundance of these slanders and proceeding from this fact, I have the honor to tell you, patroness, that with all my ardent desire - I cannot fulfill the unpleasant duty assigned to me by the deadline set by the patron! ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'll help you later. Drink tea.

Vlas. My sister! You are truly my sister! Be proud of it! Abstraction Vasilievna, learn to love your neighbor while my sister and I myself are alive! ..

Kaleria. And you know - you're a hunchback!

Vlas. From what point of view?

Kaleria. You have a hunchbacked soul.

Vlas. This, I hope, does not spoil my figure?

Kaleria. Rudeness is as ugly as a hump... Stupid people look like lame people...

Vlas (in her tone). Lame - to your aphorisms ...

Kaleria. Vulgar people seem pockmarked to me, and they are almost always blond...

Vlas. All brunettes marry early, and metaphysicians are blind and deaf ... it's a pity that they speak the language!

Kaleria. It's not smart! And you probably don't even know metaphysics.

Vlas. I know. Tobacco and metaphysics are objects of delight for lovers. I don’t smoke and I don’t know anything about the dangers of tobacco, but I read metaphysicians, it causes nausea and dizziness ...

Kaleria. Weak heads are spinning from the smell of flowers!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You will end up in a fight!

Vlas. I'll eat - it's healthier.

Kaleria. I'll play - it's better. How stuffy it is here, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. I will open the door to the terrace... Olga is coming...

(Pause. Vlas drinks tea. Kaleria sits down at the piano. Outside the window there is a quiet whistle of the watchman, and, in response to him, an even quieter whistle is heard from afar. Kaleria quietly touches the keys of the middle register. Olga Alekseevna enters, quickly throwing back the curtain, as if a large, frightened bird flies in, throws off a gray shawl from its head.)

Olga Alekseevna. Here I am... barely escaped! (Kisses Varvara Mikhailovna.) Good evening, Kaleria Vasilievna! Oh play, play! After all, you can do it without shaking hands, right? Hello Vlas.

Vlas. Good evening, mother!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Well, sit down ... Pour some tea? Why didn't you walk for so long?

Olga Alekseevna (nervously). Wait! There, in the wild, it’s terrifying… and it seems that someone… unkind is hiding in the forest… The guards are whistling, and the whistle is so… mockingly sad… Why are they whistling?

Vlas. N-yes! Suspicious! Are they booing us?

Olga Alekseevna. I wanted to come to you as soon as possible... but Nadya became capricious, she must be unwell too... After all, Volka is unwell, you know? Yes, he has a fever… then Sonya had to be bathed… Misha ran off into the woods after dinner, and came back just now, all ragged, dirty and, of course, hungry…

And then a husband came from the city and was annoyed with something ... he was silent, he frowned ... I was completely spun, really ... This new maid is pure punishment! I began to wash milk bottles with boiling water, and they burst!

Varvara Mikhailovna (smiling). You are my poor ... my glorious! You get tired...

Vlas. Oh Martha, Martha! You care about a lot - that's why everything is overcooked or underbaked ... what wise words!

Kaleria. They only sound bad: repe - fi!

Vlas. I beg your pardon - I did not write the Russian language!

Olga Alekseevna (slightly offended). Of course, it’s funny for you to listen to all this ... you are bored ... I understand! But what! Whoever hurts, he talks about it ... Children ... when I think about them, it’s like a bell sounds in my chest ... children, children! It's hard with them, Varya, it's so hard, if you only knew!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Forgive me, it seems to me that you are exaggerating ...

Olga Alekseevna (excitedly). No, don't speak! You can't judge... You can't! You don't know what a heavy, oppressive feeling it is - responsibility to children! After all, they will ask me how to live ... And what will I say?

Vlas. What are you worrying about ahead of time? Maybe they won't ask? Maybe they themselves will guess how it is necessary to live ...

Olga Alekseevna. You don't know! They are already asking, asking! And these are terrible questions, to which neither I, nor you, nor anyone have answers! How painful it is to be a woman!

Vlas (quietly, but seriously). You have to be human... (Goes into the office and sits there at the table. Writes.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Stop, Vlas! (Gets up and slowly walks away from the table towards the terrace door.)

Kaleria (dreamily). But the dawn with its smile extinguished the stars in the sky. (He also gets up from the piano, stands in the door to the terrace next to Varvara Mikhailovna.)

Olga Alekseevna. I seem to make everyone sad? Like an owl at night... oh my god! Well, all right, I won’t talk about it ... Why did you leave, Varya? come to me ... otherwise I will think that it is hard for you with me.

Varvara Mikhailovna (coming quickly). What nonsense, Olga! I just felt unbearably sorry...

Olga Alekseevna. Don’t… You know, sometimes I myself feel nasty… and pitiful… it seems to me that my whole soul has shriveled up and become like an old little dog… there are such lap dogs… they are evil, they don’t like anyone and always want to bite unnoticed…

Kaleria. The sun rises and sets, but there is always twilight in the hearts of people.

Olga Alekseevna. What are you?

Kaleria. Me?.. It's... so I'm talking to myself.

Vlas (in the office he sings “eternal memory” in a nasal voice). Family happiness ... family happiness ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Vlas, I beg you, be quiet!

Vlas. I am silent ...

Olga Alekseevna. This is what I set up...

Kaleria. People came out of the forest. See how beautiful it is! And how funny Pavel Sergeevich is waving his arms...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Who else is with him?

Kaleria. Marya Lvovna... Yulia Filippovna... Sonya, Zimin... and Zamyslov.

Olga Alekseevna (wraps up in a shawl). And I'm such a jerk! That frank Suslova will laugh at me... I don't like her!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Vlas, call Sasha.

Vlas. You, patroness, are tearing me away from my direct duties - just know it!

Olga Alekseevna. This magnificent lady ... does not take care of children at all, and it is strange: they are always healthy with her.

Marya Lvovna (enters the door from the terrace). Your husband said you were unwell, didn't he? What's wrong with you, huh?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'm glad you came, but I'm healthy...

(Noise, laughter on the terrace.)

Marya Lvovna. A little nervous face... (Olga Alekseevna.) And are you here? I haven't seen you in such a long time...

O lga A. Lekseevna. As if it pleases you to see me... always so sour...

Marya Lvovna. What if I like sour? How are your kids?

Julia Filippovna (enters from the terrace). That's how many guests I brought you! But don't be angry - we'll be leaving soon. Hello, Olga Alekseevna... Why don't the men come in? Varvara Mikhailovna, Pavel Sergeevich and Zamyslov are there. I'll call them, can I?

# Together #

Varvara Mikhailovna. Certainly!

Yulia Filippovna. Let's go, Kaleria Vasilievna.

Marya Lvovna (Vlas.) Why did you lose weight?

Vlas. I can not know!

Sasha (Entering the room.) Warm up the samovar?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Please... and hurry.

Marya Lvovna (Vlas.) Why are you grimacing?

Olga Alekseevna. He always…

Vlas. This is my speciality!

Maria Lvovna. Are you all trying to be witty? Yes? And everything is unsuccessful?.. My dear Varvara Mikhailovna, your Pavel Sergeevich is finally sinking into prostration...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Why is mine?

(Included Ryumin. Then Julia Filippovna and Kaleria. Vlas, frowning, goes into the office and shuts the door behind him. Olga Alekseevna takes Marya Lvovna to the left and says something inaudibly to her, pointing to her chest.)

Ryumin. Excuse me for such a late intrusion...

Varvara Mikhailovna. I welcome guests...

Yulia Filippovna. Dacha life is good precisely because of its unceremoniousness ... But if you heard how they argued, he and Marya Lvovna!

Ryumin. I can’t talk calmly about… what is so important, it is necessary to find out…

(Sasha brings in the samovar. Varvara Mikhailovna, at the table, quietly gives her some orders, prepares dishes for tea. Ryumin, standing at the piano, looks at her thoughtfully and stubbornly.)

Yulia Filippovna. You are very nervous, it prevents you from being convincing! (Varvara Mikhailovna.) Your husband is sitting with my suicide weapon, drinking cognac, and I have a feeling that they will get pretty drunk. An uncle suddenly came to her husband - some kind of meat merchant or butter maker, generally a manufacturer, laughs, makes noise, gray-haired and curly ... funny! And where is Nikolai Petrovich? My prudent knight...

Ideas (from the terrace). I'm here, Inezilla, standing under the window...

Julia Filippovna. Come here. What did you say there?

Ideas (entering). He corrupted the youth... Sonya and Zimin convinced me that life was given to man for daily exercise in solving various social, moral and other problems, and I proved to them that life is an art! You understand, life is the art of looking at everything with your own eyes, hearing with your own ears...

Julia Filippovna. This is nonsense!

Ideas. I just invented it now, but I feel that it will remain my firm conviction! Life is the art of finding beauty and joy in everything, even the art of eating and drinking... They swear like vandals.

Julia Filippovna. Kaleria Vasilievna... Stop talking!

Ideas. Kaleria Vasilievna! I know you love everything beautiful - why don't you love me? This is a terrible contradiction.

Kaleria (smiling). You are so ... noisy, motley ...

Ideas. Hm... but that's not the point now... We are me and this beautiful lady...

Julia Filippovna. Stop it! We came…

Ideas (bowing). To you!

Julia Filippovna. To ask...

Ideas (bow even lower). You!

Julia Filippovna. I cant! Let's go to your nice, clean little room... I love it so much...

Ideas. Let's go! Here everything interferes with us.

Kaleria (laughing). Come on!

(They go to the entrance to the corridor.)

Julia Filippovna. Wait! Can you imagine: the surname of the husband's uncle is Colon!

Ideas (Pokes his finger in the air twice). Do you understand? Colon!

(Laughing, they hide behind the curtain.)

Olga Alekseevna. How cheerful she is always, but I know that she does not live very well ... sweetly ... She is with her husband ...

Varvara Mikhailovna (dry). It's none of our business, Olya, I think...

Olga Alekseevna. Am I saying something bad?

Ryumin. How often family dramas have become now ...

Sonya (looking out the door). Mom! I go out…

Marya Lvovna. More walking?

Sonya. More! There are so many women here, and it is always unbearably boring with them ...

Marya Lvovna (jokingly). You - be careful ... Your mother is also a woman ...

Sonya (running in). Mommy! Really? for a long time?

Olga Alekseevna. What is she talking about!

Varvara Mikhailovna. And at least say hello!

Marya Lvovna. Sonya! You are indecent!

Sonya (Varvara Mikhailovna). Why, did we see each other today? But I will kiss you with pleasure ... I am kind and generous if it pleases me ... or at least it costs nothing ...

Marya Lvovna. Sonya! Stop talking and get out.

Sonya. No, what is my mother! Suddenly she called herself a woman! I've known her for eighteen years and this is the first time I hear it! This is significant!

Zimin (poking his head through the curtain). Are you going or not?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Why don't you come in?.. Please.

Sonya. It is impossible in a decent society.

Zimin. She tore off the sleeve of my jacket - that's all! ..

Sonya. Only! This is not enough for him, he is dissatisfied with me ... Mom, I'll come for you, okay? And now I'm going to listen to how Max will tell me about eternal love ...

Zimin. How... wait!

Sonya. Let's see, young man! Goodbye. Is the moon still there?

Zimin. And I'm not a young man ... In Sparta ... Excuse me, Sonya Why push a man who...

Sonya. Not yet a man ... forward - Sparta!

Ryumin. You have a glorious daughter, Marya Lvovna.

Olga Alekseevna. I used to be like her...

Varvara Mikhailovna. I like the way you treat each other... nice! Sit down to drink tea, gentlemen!

Marya Lvovna. Yes, we are friends.

Olga Alekseevna. Friends… how is this achieved?

Marya Lvovna. What?

Olga Alekseevna. Friendship of children.

Marya Lvovna. Yes, it's very simple: you need to be sincere with children, not hide the truth from them ... do not deceive them.

Ryumin (grinning). Well, you know, it's risky! The truth is rough and cold, and there is always a subtle poison of skepticism hidden in it ... You can immediately poison a child by revealing the always terrible face of truth to him.

Marya Lvovna. Do you prefer to poison him gradually? .. So as not to notice how you disfigure a person?

Ryumin (hot and nervous). Allow me! I did not say that! I am only against these ... exposures ... these stupid, unnecessary attempts to disrupt life beautiful clothes poetry, which hides its coarse, often ugly forms... One must decorate life! We need to prepare new clothes for her before throwing off the old ones ...

Marya Lvovna. What are you talking about? - I don't understand!..

Ryumin. About the human right to desire deceit!.. You often say - life! What is life? When you talk about her, she stands before me like a huge, shapeless monster that forever demands sacrifices to him, sacrifices to people! Every day she devours the brain and muscles of a person, greedily drinks his blood. (All the while Varvara Mikhailovna listens attentively to Ryumin, and gradually an expression of bewilderment appears on her face. She makes a movement, as if wishing to stop Ryumin.) Why is this? I don’t see the point in this, but I know that the more a person lives, the more he sees around him dirt, vulgarity, rude and disgusting ... and more and more longs for beautiful, bright, pure! .. He cannot destroy the contradictions of life, he does not have the strength to expel evil and dirt from her - so do not take away from him the right not to see that which kills the soul! Recognize his right to turn away from phenomena that offend him! Man wants oblivion, rest... man wants peace! (Meeting Varvara Mikhailovna's gaze, he shudders and stops.)

Marya Lvovna (calmly). He went bankrupt, your man? It's a pity... That's the only way you explain his right to rest in the world? Not flattering.

Ryumin (Varvara Mikhailovna). I'm sorry that I ... screamed so much! I see you are uncomfortable...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Not because you are so nervous...

Ryumin. But why? Why?

Varvara Mikhailovna (slowly, very calmly). I remember two years ago, you said something completely different... and just as sincerely... just as ardently...

Ryumin (excitedly). Man grows, and his thought grows!

Marya Lvovna. She rushes about like a frightened bat, this small, dark thought! ..

Ryumin (still worried). She's spiraling up, but she's getting higher! You, Marya Lvovna, suspect me of insincerity, don't you?...

Marya Lvovna. I? No! I see: you are sincerely ... screaming ... and, although hysteria is not an argument for me, I still understand that something scared you a lot ... you would like to hide from life ... And I know that you are not the only one who wants this - there are no frightened people few…

Ryumin. Yes, there are many of them, because people feel more and more subtle how terrible life is! Everything in it is strictly predetermined... and only human existence is accidental, meaningless... aimless!..

Marya Lvovna (calmly). And you try to elevate the random fact of your being to the degree of social necessity, and this is where your life will gain meaning ...

SCENES

CHARACTERS:

• Basov, Sergey Vasilyevich, lawyer, under 40 years old.
• Varvara Mikhailovna, his wife, 27 years old.
• Kaleria, Basov's sister, 29 years old.
• Vlas, brother of Basov's wife, 25 years old.
• Suslov, Petr Ivanovich, engineer, 42 years old.
• Yulia Filippovna, his wife, 30 years old.
• Dudakov, Kirill Akimovich, doctor, 40 years old.
• Olga Alekseevna, his wife, 35 years old.
• Shalimov, Yakov Petrovich, writer, 40 years old.
• Ryumin, Pavel Sergeevich, 32 years old.
• Marya Lvovna, doctor, 37 years old.
• Sonya, her daughter, 18 years old.
• Colon, Semyon Semenovich, Uncle Suslova, 55 years old.
• Zamyslov, Nikolai Petrovich, Basov's assistant, 28 years old.
• Zimin, student, 23 years old.
• Pustobike, country watchman, 50 years old.
• Kropilkin, watchman.
• Sasha, Basov's maid.
• Woman with bandaged cheek
• Mr. Semyonov
• lady in yellow dress lovers
• Young man in a plaid dramatic suit
• Young lady in blue art.
• The young lady in pink
• Juncker
• master in top hat

STEP ONE

Dacha of the Basovs. Large room, dining room and living room at the same time. In the back wall to the left is an open door to Basov's office, to the right is the door to his wife's room. These rooms are separated by a corridor, the entrance to which is hung with a dark curtain. In the right wall there is a window and a wide door to the terrace; on the left are two windows. In the middle of the room there is a large dining table, against the door to the office is a piano. The furniture is wicker, country, only near the entrance to the corridor there is a wide sofa covered with a gray cover. Evening. Basov is sitting at a table in his study, in front of him is a work lamp under a green shade. He writes, sitting sideways to the door, turns his head, peers at something in the semi-darkness of a large room, and sometimes quietly hums. Varvara Mikhailovna noiselessly leaves her room, lights a match, holds it in front of her face, looks around. The fire goes out. In the darkness, moving quietly towards the window, she touches a chair.

bass. Who is this?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I.

bass. BUT...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Did you take the candle?

bass. No.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Call Sasha.

bass. Vlas arrived?

Varvara Mikhailovna (at the door to the terrace). Don't know...

bass. Silly lady. Electric bells have been arranged, but there are cracks everywhere... the floor creaks... (Sings something merry.) Varya, have you left?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'm here...

Basov (collects papers, puts them). Is it windy in your room?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Duet...

bass. You see!

(Sasha enters.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Give fire, Sasha.

bass. Sasha, has Vlas Mikhailovich arrived?

Sasha. Not yet.

(Sasha comes out, returns with a lamp, puts it on the table near the armchair. Wipes the ashtray, straightens the tablecloth on the dining table. Varvara Mikhailovna pulls down the curtain, takes a book from the shelf, sits down in the armchair.)

Basov (good-naturedly). He became sloppy, this Vlas ... and lazy ... Recently, he generally behaves ... somehow ridiculous. It is a fact.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Do you want tea?

bass. No, I'll go to the Suslovs.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Sasha, go to Olga Alekseevna ... find out if she will come to drink tea with me ...

(Sasha leaves.)

BASSOV (locking the papers in the table). Well, that's it! (Leaves the office, straightening his back.) You, Varya, would have told him, of course, in a mild form ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. What to say?

bass. Well, so that he was more ... attentive to his duties ... huh?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I will tell. Only, it seems to me, you are talking about him in vain ... in that tone in front of Sasha ...

Basov (looks around the room). This is nonsense! You can't hide anything from the servants anyway... How empty we are! You ought to cover those bare walls with something, Varya... Some frames... pictures... otherwise, look how uncomfortable!... Well, I'll go. Give me a paw ... How cold you are with me, taciturn ... why, huh? And your face is so boring, why? Tell!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Are you in a hurry to see Suslov?

bass. Yes, we must go. I haven't played chess with him for a long time... and I haven't kissed your paw for a long time... why? That's strange!

Varvara Mikhailovna (concealing a smile). So we'll postpone the conversation about my mood for a while... when you have more free time... It doesn't matter, does it?

Basov (reassuringly). Well, of course! After all, it's me so ... what can be? You are a nice woman... smart, sincere... and so on. If you had something against me, you would say... And why do your eyes sparkle so much?... Are you unwell?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No, I'm healthy.

bass. You know... you should do something, my dear Varya! You read everything ... you read a lot! .. But any excess is harmful, this is a fact!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't forget this fact when you drink red wine at Suslov's...

Basov (laughing). You said evil! But, you know, all these trendy, spicy books are more harmful than wine, really! There is something narcotic in them... And some nervously torn gentlemen compose them. (Yawns.) Soon a “realistic” writer, as the children say, will come to us: I wonder what he has become ... probably a little arrogant ... All these public people are painfully ambitious ... in general, crazy people! So Kaleria is not normal, although - what kind of writer is she, strictly speaking? She will be glad to see Shalimov. If only she could marry him, right! She is old ... Y-yes! a little old ... and she always whines, as if her teeth hurt chronically ... and does not look very much like a beauty ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. How much you say too much, Sergey!

bass. Is it? Well, nothing, because you and I are alone ... Yes, I like to chat. (A dry cough is heard behind the curtain.) Who is this?

Suslov (behind the curtain). I.

Basov (goes towards him). And I was going to you!

SUSLOV [greeting Varvara Mikhailovna in silence]. Let's go. I came for you... Have you been in the city today?

bass. No. And what?

Suslov (grinning crookedly). They say your assistant won two thousand rubles at the club...

bass. Wow!

Suslov. Some very drunk merchant...

Varvara Mikhailovna. As you always say...

Suslov. How?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Why ... I won money - and you emphasize - from a drunkard.

Suslov (grinning). I don't stress.

bass. What's special here? Now, if he said that Zamyslov got the merchant drunk and beat him - this is really a bad genre! .. Let's go, Peter ... Varya, when Vlas comes. .. yeah! Here he is... he's here!

VLAS (enters, holding his old briefcase). Did you miss me, my patron? Nice to know! (To Suslov, foolishly, as if with a threat.) Some man, obviously, who has just arrived, is looking for you. He walks around the dachas on foot and very loudly asks everyone where you live... (He goes to his sister.) Hello, Varya.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Hello.

Suslov. Hell! Probably my uncle...

bass. So it's inconvenient to go to you?

Suslov. Well, here's more! Do you think I'll be happy with an uncle I barely know? I haven't seen him for ten years.

Basov (to Vlas). Come to me ... (Takes Vlas into the office.)

Suslov (lighting up). Would you like to come to us, Varvara Mikhailovna?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No... Is your uncle poor?

Suslov. Rich. Highly. Do you think I only dislike poor relatives?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't know...

Suslov (choking biliously). And this Plans of yours will compromise Sergey in one mean day, you will see! He is a scoundrel! Do not agree?

Varvara Mikhailovna (calmly). I don't want to talk to you about him.

Suslov. Well, well ... Be on this. (After a pause.) And here you are, a little bit portrayed by your directness... Look, the role of a direct person is a difficult role... to play it only not badly, you need to have a lot of character, courage, intelligence... Are you not offended?

Varvara Mikhailovna. No.

Suslov. And you don't want to argue? Or do you in your heart agree with my words?

Varvara Mikhailovna (simply). I can't argue... I can't speak...

Suslov (sullenly). Do not be offended at me. It is difficult for me to admit the existence of a person who dares to be himself.

Sasha (enters). Olga Alekseevna said that they would come immediately. To make tea?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yes please.

Sasha. Nikolai Petrovich is coming towards us.

SUSLOV (going to the office door). Sergey, are you coming soon?.. I'm leaving...

bass. Now, this minute!

Ideas (included). Hello patroness! Hello, Peter Ivanovich.

Suslov (coughing). My regards. What kind of ... moth are you.

Ideas. Easy man! Easy on the heart and in the pocket, and easy on the head!

Suslov (roughly, with irony). I won’t argue about the head and heart, but about the pocket - they say you beat someone in the club ...

Ideas (softly). It should be said about me: I won. Beat - they say about a sharper.

Varvara Mikhailovna. You always hear something sensational about you. They say that this is the fate of remarkable people.

Ideas. At least I myself, listening to gossip about me, gradually become convinced of my remarkableness ... And, unfortunately, I won a little - forty-two rubles ...

(Suslov, coughing dryly, moves away to the left and looks out the window.)

Basov (leaving). Only! I was already dreaming of champagne... Well, do you have anything to tell me? I'm in hurry...

Ideas. Are you leaving? So I'm after, it's not in a hurry. Varvara Mikhailovna, what a pity you were not at the performance! Yulia Filippovna played admirably ... wonderfully! ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. I really like the way she plays.

Ideas (with enthusiasm). She is a talent! Cut off my head if I'm wrong!

Suslov (grinning). What if you have to cut it off? Completely without a head - uncomfortable ... Well, let's go, Sergei! .. Goodbye, Varvara Mikhailovna. I have the honor... (Bows to Zamyslov.)

Basov (looking into the office, where Vlas is sorting out papers). So tomorrow by nine in the morning you will copy it all, I hope?

Vlas. Hope ... And may insomnia visit you, dear patron ...

(Suslov and Basov leave.)

Ideas. And I'll go... Your pen, patroness.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Stay drinking tea!

Ideas. If you will, I will come later. And now I can't! (Quickly leaves.)

Vlas (coming from the office). Varya! Will tea be drunk in this house?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Call Sasha. (She puts her hands on his shoulders.) Why are you so exhausted?

Vlas (rubbing his cheek against her hand). Tired. From ten to three I sat in court... From three to seven I ran around the city... Shurochka!... And I didn't have time to have lunch.

Varvara Mikhailovna. The clerk... This is below you, Vlas!

Vlas (foolishly). You need to try to reach the heights and so on ... I know. But Varya! - Loving examples, I take a chimney sweep on the roof: of course, he climbed higher than everyone ... but is he higher than himself?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Don't be stupid! Why don't you want to look for another job ... more useful, more significant? ..

Vlas (comically indignant). Madam! I take part, although indirectly, but intensely, in the protection and protection of the sacred institution of property - and you call it useless work! What debauchery of thought!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You don't want to be serious?

(Sasha enters.)

Vlas (Sasha). Dear! Be generous, give tea and a snack.

Sasha. Now I will. Cutlets you want?

Vlas. And cutlets and everything else, like them ... I'm waiting!

(Sasha leaves.)

VLAS (hugging his sister around the waist and walking around the room with her). Well, what are you?

Varvara Mikhailovna. For some reason I feel sad, Vlasik! You know... sometimes, all of a sudden, somehow... without thinking about anything, you feel with your whole being as if in captivity... Everything seems alien... covertly hostile to you... everything that no one needs... And everyone lives somehow frivolously ... Here you are ... joking ... joking ...

Vlas (comically standing in front of her in a pose).

Do not reproach me, my friend,

For the fact that I often joke:

With a cheerful joke my disease

I want to hide before you... Poems of my own fabrication and much better than Kaleria's... But I won't read them to the end: they are five arshins long... My dear sister! Do you want me to be serious? So, probably, the crook wants to see all his neighbors with one eyes.

(Sasha enters with tea utensils and deftly fusses around the table. The rattle of the night watchman is heard.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Come on, Vlas! No need to chat.

Vlas. Well - he said - and sadly fell silent. N-yes! You are not generous, little sister! All day long I am silent, copying copies of various slanders and slanders... Naturally, in the evening I feel like talking... Varvara Mikhailovna. And now I want to go somewhere where simple, healthy people live, where they speak a different language and do some serious, big, necessary work for everyone ... Do you understand me? ..

Vlas (thoughtfully). Yes... I understand... But you won't go anywhere, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Or maybe I'll leave. (Pause. Sasha brings in the samovar.) Shalimov will probably arrive tomorrow. ..

Vlas (yawning). I do not like his latest writings - empty, boring, sluggish.

Varvara Mikhailovna. I saw him once at a party ... I was a schoolgirl then ... I remember he went out on the stage, so strong, firm ... rebellious, thick hair, his face was open, bold ... the face of a man who knows that he loves and what he hates... knows his strength... I looked at him and trembled with joy that there are such people... It was good! Yes! I remember how vigorously he shook his head, his wild hair fell like a dark whirlwind on his forehead... and I remember his inspired eyes... Six or seven years have passed - no, already eight years...

Vlas. You dream about him, like a college student about a new teacher. Watch out my sister! Writers, I've heard, are great at seducing women...

Varvara Mikhailovna. This is not good, Vlas, this is vulgar!

Vlas (simply, sincerely). Well, don't be angry, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You understand... I'm waiting for it... like spring! I don't feel good living...

Vlas. I understand, I understand. I don’t feel well myself ... I’m ashamed to live somehow ... awkward ... and you don’t understand what will happen next? ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. Oh yes, Vlas, yes! But why do you...

Vlas. Am I fooling around?.. I don't like it when others see that I'm not feeling well...

Kaleria (included). What a wonderful night! And you sit here - and you smell of fumes.

Vlas (shaking himself). My respect, Abstraction Vasilievna!

Kaleria. It's so quiet, thoughtful in the forest... glorious! The moon is gentle, the shadows are thick and warm... The day can never be more beautiful than the night...

Vlas (in her tone). Oh yeah! Old ladies are always more fun than girls, and crayfish fly faster than swallows...

Kaleria (sitting down at the table). You don't understand anything! Varya, pour me some tea... No one was with us?

Vlas (instructively foolishly). No one - can be or not be ... because no one - exists.

Kaleria. Please leave me alone.

(Vlas silently bows to her and goes into the office, sorting through the papers on the table there. Outside the window, in the distance, the night watchman's rattle and a low whistle are heard.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yulia Filippovna came to see you...

Kaleria. To me? Oh yes... about the performance...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Have you been in the forest?

Kaleria. Yes. I met Ryumin... he talked a lot about you...

Varvara Mikhailovna. What did he say?

Kaleria. You know...

(Pause. Vlas sings something, nasally, quietly.)

Varvara Mikhailovna (sighing). This is very sad.

Kaleria. For him?

Varvara Mikhailovna. He once told me that loving a woman is the tragic duty of a man...

Kaleria. You used to treat him differently.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Are you blaming me for this? Yes?

Kaleria. Oh no, Varya, no!

Varvara Mikhailovna. At first I tried to dispel his sad mood ... and, indeed, I paid a lot of attention to him ... Then I saw what this was leading to ... then he left.

Kaleria. Have you talked to him?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Not a word! Neither I nor he...

Kaleria. His love should be warm and powerless... all in beautiful words... and without joy. And love without joy is offensive to a woman. Don't you think he's hunchbacked?

Varvara Mikhailovna (surprised). Didn't notice... did you? You're wrong!..

Kaleria. There is something discordant in him, in his soul... And when I notice this in a person, it begins to seem to me that he is also physically deformed.

VLAS (leaves the office, sadly, shaking a sheaf of paper). Taking into account the abundance of these slanders and proceeding from this fact, I have the honor to tell you, patroness, that with all my ardent desire - I cannot fulfill the unpleasant duty assigned to me by the deadline set by the patron! ..

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'll help you later. Drink tea.

Vlas. My sister! You are truly my sister! Be proud of it! Abstraction Vasilievna, learn to love your neighbor while my sister and I myself are alive! ..

Kaleria. And you know - you're a hunchback!

Vlas. From what point of view?

Kaleria. You have a hunchbacked soul.

Vlas. This, I hope, does not spoil my figure?

Kaleria. Rudeness is as ugly as a hump... Stupid people look like lame...

Vlas (in her tone). Lame - to your aphorisms ...

Kaleria. Vulgar people seem pockmarked to me, and they are almost always blond...

Vlas. All brunettes marry early, and metaphysicians are blind and deaf ... it's a pity that they speak the language!

Kaleria. It's not smart! And you probably don't even know metaphysics.

Vlas. I know. Tobacco and metaphysics are objects of delight for lovers. I don’t smoke and I don’t know anything about the dangers of tobacco, but I read metaphysicians, it causes nausea and dizziness ...

Kaleria. Weak heads are spinning from the smell of flowers!

Varvara Mikhailovna. You will end up in a fight!

Vlas. I'll eat - it's healthier.

Kaleria. I'll play - it's better. How stuffy it is here, Varya!

Varvara Mikhailovna. I will open the door to the terrace... Olga is coming...

(Pause. Vlas drinks tea. Kaleria sits down at the piano. Outside the window there is a quiet whistle from the watchman, and, in response to him, an even quieter whistle is heard from afar. Kaleria quietly touches the keys of the middle register. Olga Alekseevna enters, quickly throwing back the curtain, as if a big one flies in, a frightened bird throws off a gray shawl from its head.)

Olga Alekseevna. Here I am... barely escaped! (Kisses Varvara Mikhailovna.) Good evening, Kaleria Vasilievna! Oh play, play! After all, you can do it without shaking hands, right? Hello Vlas.

Vlas. Good evening, mother!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Well, sit down... Pour some tea? Why didn't I walk for so long?

Olga Alekseevna (nervously). Wait! There, in the wild, it's terrifying... and it seems that someone... unkind is hiding in the forest... The watchmen are whistling, and the whistle is so... mockingly sad... Why are they whistling?

Vlas. N-yes! Suspicious! Are they booing us?

Olga Alekseevna. I wanted to come to you as soon as possible... but Nadya became capricious, she must be unwell too... After all, Volka is unwell, you know? Yes, he had a fever ... then Sonya had to be bathed ... Misha ran off into the forest after dinner, and only now returned, all ragged, dirty and, of course, hungry ... And then a husband arrived from the city and with something then irritated ... silent, frowned ... I completely spun, really ... This new maid is pure punishment! I began to wash milk bottles with boiling water, and they burst!

Varvara Mikhailovna (smiling). You are my poor ... my glorious! You get tired...

Vlas. Oh Martha, Martha! You care about a lot - that's why everything is overcooked or undercooked ... what wise words!

Kaleria. They only sound bad: repe - fi!

Vlas. I beg your pardon - I did not write the Russian language!

Olga Alekseevna (a little offended). Of course, it's funny for you to listen to all this ... you're bored ... I understand! But what! Whoever hurts, he talks about it ... Children ... when I think about them, it’s like a bell sounds in my chest ... children, children! It's hard with them, Varya, it's so hard, if you only knew!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Forgive me, it seems to me that you are exaggerating ...

Olga Alekseevna (excitedly). No, don't speak! You can't judge... You can't! You don't know what a heavy, depressing feeling it is - responsibility to children! After all, they will ask me how to live ... And what will I say?

Vlas. What are you worrying about ahead of time? Maybe they won't ask? Maybe they will figure out how to live...

Olga Alekseevna. You don't know! They are already asking, asking! And these are terrible questions, to which neither I, nor you, nor anyone have answers! How painful it is to be a woman!

Vlas (quietly, but seriously). You have to be human...

(Goes into the office and sits there at the table. Writes.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Stop, Vlas! (Gets up and slowly walks away from the table towards the terrace door.)

Kaleria (dreamy). But the dawn with its smile extinguished the stars in the sky. (He also gets up from the piano, stands in the door to the terrace next to Varvara Mikhailovna.)

Olga Alekseevna. I seem to make everyone sad? Like an owl at night... oh my god! Well, all right, I won't talk about it... Why did you leave, Varya? come to me... otherwise I'll think that it's hard for you with me.

Varvara Mikhailovna (coming quickly). What nonsense, Olga! I just felt unbearably sorry...

Olga Alekseevna. Don't... You know, sometimes I myself feel nasty... and pitiful... it seems to me that my whole soul has shrunk and become like an old little dog... there are such lap dogs... they are evil, no one they do not like and always want to bite unnoticed ...

Kaleria. The sun rises and sets, but there is always twilight in the hearts of people.

Olga Alekseevna. What are you?

Kaleria. Me?.. It's... so I'm talking to myself.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Vlas, I beg you, be quiet!

Vlas. I'm silent...

Olga Alekseevna. I set it up...

Kaleria. People came out of the forest. See how beautiful it is! And how funny Pavel Sergeevich is waving his arms...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Who else is with him?

Kaleria. Marya Lvovna... Yulia Filippovna... Sonya, Zimin... and Zamyslov.

Olga Alekseevna (wraps herself in a shawl). And I'm such a jerk! That frank Suslova will laugh at me... I don't like her!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Vlas, call Sasha.

Vlas. You, patroness, are tearing me away from my direct duties - just know it!

Olga Alekseevna. This magnificent lady ... does not take care of children at all, and it is strange: they are always healthy with her.

Marya Lvovna (entering the door from the terrace). Your husband said you were unwell, didn't he? What's wrong with you, huh?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'm glad you came by, but I'm healthy...

(Noise, laughter on the terrace.)

Maria Lvovna. His face is a little nervous... (to Olga Alekseevna.) Are you here? I haven't seen you in such a long time...

Olga Alekseevna. As if it pleases you to see me... always so sour...

Maria Lvovna. What if I like sour? How are your kids?

Yulia Filippovna (enters from the terrace). That's how many guests I brought you! But don't be angry - we'll be leaving soon. Hello, Olga Alekseevna. .. Why don't men enter? Varvara Mikhailovna, Pavel Sergeevich and Zamyslov are there. I'll call them, can I?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Certainly!

Yulia Filippovna. Let's go, Kaleria Vasilievna.

Marya Lvovna (Vlas). Why did you lose weight?

Vlas. I can not know!

Sasha (entering the room). Warm up the samovar?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Please... and hurry.

Marya Lvovna (Vlas). Why are you grimacing?

Olga Alekseevna. He always...

Vlas. This is my speciality!

Maria Lvovna. Are you all trying to be witty? Yes? And everything is unsuccessful?.. My dear Varvara Mikhailovna, your Pavel Sergeevich is finally sinking into prostration...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Why is mine?

(Ryumin enters. Then Yulia Filippovna and Kaleria. Vlas, frowning, goes into the study and shuts the door behind her. Olga Alekseevna takes Marya Lvovna to the left and says something inaudibly to her, pointing to her chest.)

Ryumin. Excuse me for this late intrusion...

Varvara Mikhailovna. I welcome guests...

Yulia Filippovna. Dacha life is good precisely because of its unceremoniousness ... But if you heard how they argued, he and Marya Lvovna!

Ryumin. I don't know how to talk calmly about... what is so important, it is necessary to find out...

(Sasha brings in the samovar. Varvara Mikhailovna, at the table, quietly gives her some orders, prepares dishes for tea. Ryumin, standing at the piano, looks at her thoughtfully and stubbornly.)

Yulia Filippovna. You are very nervous, it prevents you from being convincing! (To Varvara Mikhailovna.) Your husband is sitting with my instrument of suicide, drinking cognac, and I have a premonition that they will get pretty drunk. An uncle unexpectedly came to her husband - some kind of meat merchant or butter maker, generally a manufacturer, laughs, makes noise, gray-haired and curly ... funny! And where is Nikolai Petrovich? My prudent knight...

Ideas (from the terrace). I'm here, Inezilla, standing under the window...

Yulia Filippovna. Come here. What did you say there?

Ideas (entering). He corrupted the youth... Sonya and Zimin convinced me that life was given to man for daily exercise in solving various social, moral and other problems, and I proved to them that life is an art! You understand, life is the art of looking at everything with your own eyes, hearing with your own ears...

Yulia Filippovna. This is nonsense!

Ideas. I just invented it now, but I feel that it will remain my firm conviction! Life is the art of finding beauty and joy in everything, even the art of eating and drinking... They swear like vandals.

Yulia Filippovna. Kaleria Vasilievna... Stop talking!

Ideas. Kaleria Vasilievna! I know you love everything beautiful - why don't you love me? This is a terrible contradiction.

Kaleria (smiling). You are so ... noisy, motley ...

Ideas. Hm... but that's not the point now... We are me and this beautiful lady...

Yulia Filippovna. Stop it! We came...

Ideas (bowing). To you!

Yulia Filippovna. To ask...

Ideas (bowing even lower). You!

Yulia Filippovna. I cant! Let's go to your nice, clean little room... I love it so much...

Ideas. Let's go! Here everything interferes with us.

Kaleria (laughing). Come on!

(They go to the entrance to the corridor.)

Yulia Filippovna. Wait! Can you imagine: the surname of the husband's uncle is Colon!

Zamyslov (twice pokes his finger in the air). Do you understand? Colon!

(Laughing, they hide behind the curtain.)

Olga Alekseevna. How cheerful she is always, but I know that her life is not very ... sweet ... She is with her husband ...

Varvara Mikhailovna (dryly). It's none of our business, Olya, I think...

Olga Alekseevna. Am I saying something bad?

Ryumin. How often family dramas have become now ...

Sonya (looking out the door). Mom! I go out...

Maria Lvovna. More walking?

Sonya. More! There are so many women here, and it's always unbearably boring with them...

Marya Lvovna (jokingly). You - be careful ... Your mother is also a woman ...

Sonya (running in). Mommy! Really? for a long time?

Olga Alekseevna. What is she talking about!

Varvara Mikhailovna. And at least say hello!

Maria Lvovna. Sonya! You are indecent!

Sonya (to Varvara Mikhailovna). Why, did we see each other today? But I will kiss you with pleasure ... I am kind and generous, if it pleases me ... or at least costs nothing ...

Maria Lvovna. Sonya! Stop talking and get out.

Sonya. No, what is my mother! Suddenly she called herself a woman! I've known her for eighteen years and this is the first time I hear it! This is significant!

Zimin (poking his head through the curtain). Are you going or not?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Why don't you come in?.. Please.

Sonya. It is impossible in a decent society.

Zimin. She tore off the sleeve of my jacket - that's all! ..

Sonya. Only! This is not enough for him, he is dissatisfied with me ... Mom, I'll come for you, okay? And now I'm going to listen to how Max will tell me about eternal love ...

Zimin. How... Wait!

Sonya. Let's see, young man! Goodbye. Is the moon still there?

Zimin. And I'm not a young man ... In Sparta ... Excuse me, Sonya, why push a man who ...

Sonya. Not yet a man ... forward - Sparta!

Ryumin. You have a glorious daughter, Marya Lvovna.

Olga Alekseevna. I used to be like her...

Varvara Mikhailovna. I like the way you treat each other... nice! Sit down to drink tea, gentlemen!

Maria Lvovna. Yes, we are friends

Olga Alekseevna. Friends... how is this achieved?

Maria Lvovna. What?

Olga Alekseevna. Friendship of children.

Maria Lvovna. Yes, it's very simple: you need to be sincere with children, not to hide the truth from them ... not to deceive them.

Ryumin (smiling). Well, you know, it's risky! The truth is rough and cold, and there is always a subtle poison of skepticism hidden in it ... You can immediately poison a child by revealing the always terrible face of truth to him.

Maria Lvovna. Do you prefer to poison him gradually? .. So as not to notice how you disfigure a person?

Ryumin (hotly and nervously). Allow me! I did not say that! I am only against these... exposures... these stupid, unnecessary attempts to rip off the beautiful clothes of poetry from life, which hides its coarse, often ugly forms... One must decorate life! We need to prepare new clothes for her before throwing off the old ones...

Maria Lvovna. What are you talking about? - I don't understand!..

Ryumin. About the human right to desire deceit!.. You often say - life! What is life? When you talk about her, she stands before me like a huge, shapeless monster that forever demands sacrifices to him, sacrifices to people! Every day she devours the brain and muscles of a person, greedily drinks his blood. (All the while Varvara Mikhailovna listens attentively to Ryumin, and gradually an expression of bewilderment appears on her face. She makes a movement, as if wishing to stop Ryumin.) Why is that? I don’t see the point in this, but I know that the more a person lives, the more he sees around him dirt, vulgarity, rude and disgusting ... and more and more longs for beautiful, bright, pure! .. He cannot destroy contradictions life, he does not have the strength to expel evil and dirt from it - so do not take away from him the right not to see that which kills the soul! Recognize his right to turn away from phenomena that offend him! Man wants oblivion, rest... Man wants peace!

(Meeting Varvara Mikhailovna's gaze, he shudders and stops.)

Marya Lvovna (calmly). He went bankrupt, your man? It's a pity... That's the only way you explain his right to rest in peace? Not flattering.

Ryumin (to Varvara Mikhailovna). I'm sorry that I... screamed so much! I can see you are uncomfortable...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Not because you're so nervous...

Ryumin. But why? Why?

Varvara Mikhailovna (slowly, very calmly). I remember, two years ago, you spoke quite differently... and just as sincerely... just as ardently...

Ryumin (excitedly). Man grows, and his thought grows!

Maria Lvovna. She rushes about like a frightened bat, this small, dark thought! ..

Ryumin (still worried). She's spiraling up, but she's getting higher! You, Marya Lvovna, suspect me of insincerity, don't you?...

Maria Lvovna. I? No! I see: you are sincerely ... screaming ... and, although hysteria is not an argument for me, I still understand that something scared you a lot ... you would like to hide from life ... And I know: you are not alone you want it - there are not a few people who are frightened ...

Ryumin. Yes, there are many of them, because people feel more and more subtle how terrible life is! Everything in it is strictly predetermined... and only human existence is accidental, meaningless... aimless!..

Marya Lvovna (calmly). And you try to elevate the random fact of your being to the degree of social necessity, and this is where your life will gain meaning ...

Olga Alekseevna. My God! When they say something strict, accusatory in front of me ... I cringe all over ... it’s as if they are talking about me, they condemn me! How little sweet things are in life! I must go home! You're doing well, Varya... you'll always hear something, you'll tremble with the best part of your soul... It's late already, you have to go home...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Sit down, dove! Why are you so? .. all of a sudden? If need be, they will send for you.

Olga Alekseevna. Yes, they will send ... Well, all right, I'll sit. (Goes and sits down on the couch with her legs curled up into a ball.

Ryumin nervously drums his fingers on the glass as he stands at the door to the terrace.)

Varvara Mikhailovna (thoughtfully). Strange we live! We speak, we speak - and only! We have accumulated a lot of opinions ... we accept them with such ... bad speed and reject them ... But the desires, clear, strong desires We don't... we don't!

Ryumin. Is it at my address? Yes?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I'm talking about everyone. Insincere, ugly, boring we live...

Yulia Filippovna (enters quickly, Kaleria follows her). Lord! Help me...

Kaleria. Right, it's redundant!

Yulia Filippovna. She wrote new poems and gave me her word to read them at our evening in favor of the children's colony ... I ask you to read it now, here! Lord, please!

Ryumin. Read! I love your sweet poetry...

Maria Lvovna. I would have listened too. In disputes, you become rude. Read it, honey.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Anything new, Kaleria?

Kaleria. Yes. Prose. Boring.

Yulia Filippovna. Well, my dear, read! What are you worth? Let's follow them! (Exits, carrying Kaleria.)

Maria Lvovna. And where is ... Vlas Mikhailovich?

Varvara Mikhailovna. He's in the office. He has a lot of work.

Maria Lvovna. I treated him a little harshly ... It's annoying to see him only as a joker, really!

Varvara Mikhailovna. Yes, it's embarrassing. You know, if you would be a little softer with him! .. He is glorious ... Many taught him, but no one caressed.

Marya Lvovna (smiling). Like everyone else ... like all of us ... And that's why we are all rude, harsh ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. He lived with his father, who was always drunk... He beat him...

Maria Lvovna. I'll go to him. (Goes to the office door, knocks and enters.)

Ryumin (to Varvara Mikhailovna). You are getting closer and closer to Marya Lvovna, aren't you?

Varvara Mikhailovna. I like her...

Olga Alekseevna (quietly). How sternly she talks about everything... how sternly.

Ryumin. Marya Lvovna possesses the cruelty of believers to a high degree... blind and cold cruelty... How can one like that?...

Dudakov (enters from the corridor). My respect, I'm sorry... Olga, are you there? Home soon?

Olga Alekseevna. Right now. Did you walk?

Varvara Mikhailovna. A glass of tea, Kirill Akimovich?

Dudakov. Tea? No. I don't drink at night... Pavel Sergeevich, I need you... can I see you tomorrow?

Ryumin. You are welcome.

Dudakov. It's about a colony of juvenile delinquents. They played tricks there again ... damn them! They beat them there ... damn it! Yesterday the papers scolded you and me...

Ryumin. Indeed, I have not been to the colony for a long time ... Somehow everything is once ...

Dudakov. Y-yes ... And in general ... there is no time for everyone ... Everyone has a lot of trouble, but there is no business ... why? I'm... very tired. I was wandering through the forest now - and this calms ... a little ... otherwise - my nerves are inflated ...

Varvara Mikhailovna. Your face is sunken.

Dudakov. Maybe. And today a nuisance ... This donkey, the head, reproaches: uneconomical! Sick people eat a lot, and a huge amount of quinine ... Blockhead! First, it's none of his business... And then, drain the streets of the lower part of the city, and I won't touch your china... I don't devour this china myself, am I? I can't stand chines... and impudent...

Olga Alekseevna. Is it worth it, Kirill, to get annoyed because of such trifles? Okay, time to get used to it.

Dudakov. And if all life is made up of little things? And what does it mean to get used to? .. To what? To the fact that every idiot meddles in your business and interferes with your life? .. You see: here ... I'm getting used to it. The head says - you need to save ... well, I will save! I mean, it's not necessary and it's bad for business, but I'll... I don't have private practice and I can't leave this stupid place...

Olga Alekseevna (reproachfully). Because big family? Yes, Cyril? I have heard this from you more than once ... and here you could not talk about it ... Tactless, rude person! (Throwing a shawl over her head, she quickly goes to Varvara Mikhaylovna's room.)

Varvara Mikhailovna. Olga! What you?! Olga Alekseevna (almost sobbing). Ah, let me go, let me go!.. I know that! I've heard...

(They both hide in Varvara Mikhailovna's room.)

Dudakov (bewildered). Here! And... I didn't mean it at all... Pavel Sergeevich, you'll excuse me... It's completely accidental... I'm so... embarrassed... .)

Yulia Filippovna. The doctor nearly knocked us over! What about him?

Ryumin. Nerves... (Varvara Mikhailovna enters.) Has Olga Alekseevna gone?

Varvara Mikhailovna. Gone... yes...

Yulia Filippovna. I don't trust this doctor... He's so... unhealthy, stammers, distracted... He puts teaspoons in his spectacle case and stirs in the glass with his hammer... He can mix up the recipe and give something harmful.

Ryumin. I think he will end up putting a bullet in his forehead.

Varvara Mikhailovna. You say it so calmly...

Ryumin. Suicide is common among doctors.

Varvara Mikhailovna. Words excite us more than people ... Don't you think?

Ryumin (with a start). Oh, Varvara Mikhailovna!

(Kaleria sits down at the piano. Plots around her.)

Ideas. Are you comfortable?

Kaleria. Thanks...

Ideas. Gentlemen, attention!

(Marya Lvovna and Vlas enter, very animated.)

Kaleria (with annoyance). If you want to listen, you'll have to stop making noise...

Vlas. Die, all living things!

Maria Lvovna. We are silent... We are silent...

Kaleria. I am very happy. This is a prose poem. Over time, music will be written to it.

Yulia Filippovna. Melodeclamation! How good it is! I love! I love everything original... Like a child, even such things as open letters with pictures, cars make me happy...

Vlas (in her tone). Earthquakes, gramophones, influenza...

Kaleria (loud and dry). Will you let me start? (Everyone quickly sits down. Kaleria quietly turns over the keys.) This is called - "Edelweiss". "Ice and snow forever dress the peaks of the Alps with an imperishable shroud, and cold silence reigns over them - the wise silence of proud heights. The desert of heaven over the tops of the mountains is boundless, and the sad eyes of the luminaries over the snows of the peaks are countless. At the foot of the mountains, there, on the cramped plains of the earth, life, anxiously agitating, grows, and the weary lord of the plains, man, suffers.In the dark pits of the earth, groans and laughter, cries of rage, whispers of love... the gloomy music of earthly life is polyphonic!.. people's sighs. Ice and snow forever clothe the peaks of the Alps with an imperishable shroud, and cold silence reigns over them - the wise silence of proud heights. But as if to tell someone about the misfortunes of the earth and the torments of tired people - at the foot of the ice, in the realm of eternally mute silence, a sad mountain flower grows alone - edelweiss ... And above it, in the endless desert of heaven, the silently proud sun floats, the silent moon shines sadly and silently and tremblingly the stars burn ... And the cold cover in silence, descending from heaven, embraces night and day - a lonely flower - edelweiss.

(Pause. Everyone, thoughtful, is silent. The watchman's rattle and a low whistle sound in the distance. Kaleria, eyes wide open, looks straight ahead.)

Yulia Filippovna (quietly). How good it is! Sad... pure...

Vlas (going up to the piano). And I like it, right! (Laughs embarrassedly.) Like it! Good!.. Exactly - cranberry juice on a hot day!

Kaleria. Get away!

Vlas. Yes, I'm sincere, don't be angry!

Sasha (enters). Mr. Shalimov arrived.

(General movement. Varvara Mikhailovna goes to the door and stops at the sight of Shalimov entering. He is bald.)

Shalimov. I have the pleasure of seeing...

Varvara Mikhailovna (quietly, not at once). Please... I beg you... Sergey will come now...