Selected plays

by Anton Chekhov

  MASHA. You really do look like the German teacher.

  OLGA [laughs]. Yes.

  [MASHA weeps.]

  IRINA. There, Masha!

  KULYGIN. Awfully like. . . .

  [Enter NATASHA.]

  NATASHA [to the maid]. What? Mr. Protopopov will sit with Sofochka, and let Andrey Sergeyitch push Bobik's carriage. What a lot there is to do with children . . . [To IRINA] Irina, you're going away tomorrow, what a pity. Why not stay just another week? [Seeing KULYGIN utters a shriek; the latter laughs and takes off the beard and moustache.] Well, what in the. . . you gave me such a fright! [To IRINA] I'm used to you and do you suppose that it will be easy for me to part with you? I'll put Andrey with his violin into your room -- let him saw away there! -- and we will put Sofochka in his room. Adorable, delightful baby! Isn't she a good little girl! Today she looked at me with such eyes and said "Mamma"!

  KULYGIN. A fine child, that's true.

  NATASHA. So tomorrow I'll be all alone here [sighs]. First of all I'll have this avenue of fir trees cut down, and then that maple. . . . It looks so ugly in the evening. . . . [To IRINA] My dear, that sash does not suit you at all. . . . It's in bad taste. You need to wear something brighter. And then I'll have flowers, flowers planted everywhere, and there'll be such a scent. . . . [Severely] Why is there a fork lying about on that seat? [Going into the house, to the maid] Why is there a fork lying about on this seat. I ask you? [Shouts] Hold your tongue!

  KULYGIN. She's at it!

  [Behind the scenes the band plays a march; they all listen.]

  OLGA. They're going.

  [Enter CHEBUTYKIN.]

  MASHA. Our friends are going. Well . . . a happy journey to them! [To her husband] We must go home. . . . Where are my hat and cape?

  KULYGIN. I took them into the house . . . I'll get them directly. . . .

  OLGA. Yes, now we can all go home, it's time.

  CHEBUTYKIN. Olga Sergeyevna!

  OLGA. What is it? [a pause] What?

  CHEBUTYKIN. Nothing. . . . I don't know how to tell you. [Whispers in her ear.]

  OLGA [in alarm]. It can't be!

  CHEBUTYKIN. Yes . . . such a business. . . . I'm so worried and worn out, I don't want to say another word. . . . [With vexation] But, it doesn't matter!

  MASHA. What's happened?

  OLGA [puts her arms round IRINA]. This is a terrible day. . . . I don't know how to tell you, my precious. . . .

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

  CHEBUTYKIN. The baron has just been killed in a duel.

  IRINA [weeping quietly]. I knew, I knew. . . .

  CHEBUTYKIN [in the background of the scene sits down on a garden seat]. I'm worn out . . . [takes a newspaper out of his pocket]. Let them cry. . . . [Sings softly] "Tarara-boom-dee-ay" . . . It doesn't matter.

  [The three sisters stand with their arms round one another.]

  MASHA. Oh, listen to that band! They're going away from us; one has gone altogether, gone forever. We're left alone to begin our life over again, . . . We've got to live . . . we've got to live, . . .

  IRINA [lays her head on OLGA'S bosom]. A time will come when everyone will know what all this is for, why there is this misery; there will be no mysteries and, meanwhile, we have got to live . . . we have got to work, only to work! Tomorrow I'll go alone; I'll teach in the school, and I'll give all my life to those who may need me. Now it's autumn; soon winter will come and cover us with snow, and I will work, I will work.

  OLGA [embraces both her sisters]. The music is so happy, so confident, and you long for life! O my God! Time will pass, and we shall go away for ever, and we shall be forgotten, our faces will be forgotten, our voices, and how many there were of us; but our sufferings will pass into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace will be established upon earth, and they will remember kindly and bless those who have lived before. Oh, dear sisters, our life is not ended yet. We shall live! The music is so happy, so joyful, and it seems as though in a little while we shall know what we are living for, why we are suffering. . . . If we only knew -- if we only knew!

  [The music grows more and more subdued; KULYGIN, cheerful and smiling, brings the hat and cape; ANDREY pushes the baby carriage in which BOBIK is sitting.]

  CHEBUTYKIN [humming softly]. "Tarara-boom-dee-ay!" [Reads his paper.] It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

  OLGA. If we only knew, if we only knew!

  CURTAIN. Notes List of Characters

  The action takes place in a provincial town: In a letter Chekhov suggested that the town was like Perm, located in central Russia Act I

  Act I: Noon, spring of 1897 is the time Bristow suggested in program notes to the play

  a large room is visible: In a large 19th-century house, this room could be used both as a dining-room and a ballroom

  the fifth of May: Russians did not switch to the Gregorian calendar until after the 1917 revolution; the Russian calendar was about 12 days behind

  your name-day, Irina: Russians celebrated the feast-day of their patron saint with festivities resembling a birthday party

  already in a white dress: As opposed to black, the traditional colour of mourning

  at my lessons till the evening: Olga means she gives private lessons

  The only difficulty is poor Masha: Masha can't go because her husband can't leave his job

  half a hundredweight: 54 pounds

  two or even two and a half: 180 pounds, 200 pounds

  or an engine-driver: On the railroad

  wakes at twelve o'clock: Noon

  will kick the bucket: Lit., die of a stroke

  such a person as Dobrolyubov: Probably Chekhov means N. A. Dobrolyubov (1836-1861), a literary critic read by progressive thinkers; that the doctor doesn't know who Dobrolyubov is indicates his shallowness; however, the reference may be to the poet A. M. Dobrolyubov (1876-?), who first appeared in print in 1895

  By the sea-strand: Masha recites the first two lines (she repeats the second line) of A. S. Pushkin's (1799-1837) long poem Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820)

  Nanny dear: The actual Russian word Olga uses is Nyanechka, a diminutive for "nanny."

  A samovar! How awful!: Olga is upset because a samovar would be an appropriate gift for a wedding shower or wedding anniversary, not a name-day party.

  Irinushka, you must be nice: Lit., Arinushka, a deliberate mispronunciation of "Irinuska," a diminutive for Irina

  Nyemetsky Street: Lit., German Street

  fifteen miles away: Lit., twenty versts

  Novo-Dyevitchy: A famous Moscow cemetery; Chekhov himself is buried there

  Chook, chook, chook: Solyony is imitating sounds made by domestic fowl

  Look how small I am: In later editions, Chekhov added: You make me feel better when you say my life is great.

  it gets light so early: Because of their high latitudes, most Russian cities have very short nights in the summer

  mass of darkness: I.e., the ignorant and uneducated masses

  court councilor: Rank 7 in the Table of Ranks for the Civil Service

  Feci quod potui, faciant meliora potentes: I have done my best; let others do better if they can

  mens sana in corpore sano: A healthy mind in a healthy body

  my good girl: Lit., Matushka, an old-fashioned word for mother; the implication is that Masha is trying to treat him like a child

  with a lisp: Lit., with exaggerated r's

  That phrase has been haunting me all day: Educated Russians would immediately recall the next two lines: "And linked to the chain with a scholarly mien/ A tomcat is seen going round and round. . ." (Bristow translation) Act II

  Act II: Bristow suggests that this act begins at 8 p.m., winter of 1899

  It's Carnival: Carnival Week was celebrated just before the beginning of Lent

  Bobik: The nickname of Natasha's first child

  mummers: masked and costumed persons who paraded through the streets or visited houses o
n holidays; in Russia mummers are called skomorokhi and trace their origins to the 10th century

  Andryushantchik: A diminutive for Andrey

  Tyestov's or the Bolshoy Moskovsky: Two famous Moscow restaurants

  Venez ici: Come here (French)

  the Military Academy: Before 1914 almost all major Russian cities had military schools; the Moscow Military Academy was founded in 1832

  Gogol says it's dull living: From the short story "How Ivan Ivanovitch Quarreled with Ivan Nikoforovitch"; N. V. Gogol (1809-1852), famous Russian novelist and dramatist

  Balzac was married at Berditchev: At the time of the play, Berditchev was part of the Russian Empire

  another kind of patience: patience is a type of solitaire card game

  the game is working out right: Russians often used a game of patience to decide questions (as Pierre does in Book 10 of War and Peace)

  Tsitsikar: A city in northeast China

  Masha, come to tea, my dear: Lit, Mataushka, come to tea

  minister was condemned for the Panama affair: Baihot, French minister of public works, was sent to prison in 1893 for accepting a bribe from developers who hoped to build a canal in Panama

  Je vous prie...: I beg of you, excuse me, Masha, but your manners are a little unrefined (Natasha consistently uses clumsy French)

  Il paraît...: It seems my Bobik is no longer asleep

  I am strange, who is not strange: From the play Woe from Wit by A. S. Griboyedov (1795-1829)

  Be not wrath, Aleko!: From Pushkin's poem "The Gypsies" (1824); Aleko is the hero, but the exact words that Solyony quotes do not occur in the poem

  temperament of Lermontov: Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) was a poet who was sometimes called the Russian Byron; Lermontov was killed in a duel

  Oh my porch, oh my new porch: A popular Russian folk song; Paul Schmidt prints the music and words in the notes to his translation of the play (The Plays of Anton Chekhov, HarperCollins, 1997, p. 321)

  Petty, vulgar creature: Lit., Meshchanka!, a female member of the petty bourgeoisie; since Andrey (and his sisters) are members of the gentry, Andrey has married beneath his class

  three-horse sleigh: a troika

  O fallacem...: O delusive hope of man! Act III

  Act III: Bristow suggests the act begins between 2 and 3 a.m. during the summer of 1900

  Behind the scenes a bell is ringing: A jarring noise made by a provincial church bell; Chekhov was particularly concerned with the sounds in Act III; in a letter he wrote that the only noise is off in the distance, off stage, vague and muffled, and everyone on stage is tired and sleepy

  know where father is: Lit., Papasha, an affectionate form of address to an elderly man

  In 1812 Moscow was burnt too: When the French under Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the people of Moscow burned the city rather than let it fall into enemy hands

  baby Sophie: Lit., Sofochka, Natasha's second child

  The vulgarity!: The Russian word used here is poshlost', which has no English equivalent; Nabokov has suggested that it is "not only the obviously trashy but also the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive."

  In vino veritas: There is truth in wine

  May I offer you this fig?: In a letter Chekhov wrote that the song was from an operetta he once heard, but he could not recall its name

  Young and old are bound by love, and precious are its pangs: An aria sung by Prince Gremin in Act III of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin

  Tram-tam-tam: In a letter Chekhov wrote that Vershinin says the words "Tram-tam-tam" as a kind of question and Masha answers in kind; Masha should say "tram-tam" and start to laugh, but not loud, just a little, almost to herself

  I may provoke the geese: Refers to Krylov's fable "The Geese"

  Amo, amas...: Masha declines the Latin verb "love"

  Omnia mea mecum porto: All I own is what I carry with me

  Gogol's madman: Memoirs of a Madman (1835)

  your honour, to you: Lit., "your worship"; Andrey wants to be addressed according to his rank, but Ferapont responds with a title of a higher rank

  Zemstvo: A local council

  you get a pension: A military pension because of their father's service Act IV

  Act IV: Bristow suggests that this act begins at noon in the autumn of 1900

  kochany: Polish for sweetheart

  modus vivendi: mode of living

  thinking it was a Latin word: The joke is that the Russian word for nonsense, chepukha, when written in Cyrillic cursive can be read as renixa in Latin

  My heart of gold: In later editions Chekhov replaced this with: You've gone on far ahead, I won't catch up with you. I'm left behind like a migrant bird grown old and unable to fly. Fly, my dear, fly, and God be with you! [a pause] It's a pity you shaved your moustache, Fyodor Ilyich.

  KULYGIN. Oh, drop it! [sighs]

  ut consecutivum: A Latin grammar term

  order of the Stanislav of the second degree: A civil service decoration

  Maiden's Prayer: A parlour piano favourite written by Baranowski

  with a repeater: his pocket watch strikes the hours

  put an extinguisher over it: an extinguisher was a bell-shaped device that was used to put out candles

  having to challenge him: to a duel

  And the farther you go, the better: In the first version of the play Chekhov added: [a pause]. But do as you like! It doesn't matter. . .

  And, restless, seeks the stormy ocean...: Solyony misquotes slightly from Lermontov's "The Sail"

  ANDREY and FERAPONT come in]: Note that there is no previous stage direction for Andrey to exit

  kvass: a homemade beer

  baby Sophie: Lit., Sofochka

  Il ne faut pas faire du bruit...: Stop making noise, Sophie is asleep already. You are a bear (once again Natasha uses awkward French)

  * * *

  The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov, 1904

  Translated by Julius West, 1916

  CHARACTERS

  LUBOV ANDREYEVNA RANEVSKY (Mme. RANEVSKY), a landowner

  ANYA, her daughter, aged seventeen

  VARYA (BARBARA), her adopted daughter, aged twenty-seven

  LEONID ANDREYEVITCH GAEV, Mme. Ranevsky's brother

  ERMOLAI ALEXEYEVITCH LOPAKHIN, a merchant

  PETER SERGEYEVITCH TROFIMOV, a student

  BORIS BORISOVITCH SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, a landowner

  CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA, a governess

  SIMEON PANTELEYEVITCH EPIKHODOV, a clerk

  DUNYASHA (AVDOTYA FEDOROVNA), a maidservant

  FIERS, an old footman, aged eighty-seven

  YASHA, a young footman

  A TRAMP

  A STATION-MASTER

  POST-OFFICE CLERK

  GUESTS

  A SERVANT

  The action takes place on Mme. RANEVSKY'S estate

  ACT ONE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  DUNYASHA. My hands are shaking. I shall faint.

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

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

  LOPAKHIN. And you'll bring me some kvass.

  DUNYASHA. Very well. [Exit.]

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

  LOPAKHIN. Go away. You bore me.

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

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