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Three Sisters
Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics)
Anton Chekhov
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eBook - ePub
Three Sisters
Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics)
Anton Chekhov
Angaben zum Buch
Buchvorschau
Inhaltsverzeichnis
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Ăber dieses Buch
The NHB Drama Classics series presents the world's greatest plays in affordable, highly readable editions for students, actors and theatregoers. The hallmarks of the series are accessible introductions (focussing on the play's theatrical and historical background, together with an author biography, key dates and suggestions for further reading) and the complete text, uncluttered with footnotes. The translations, by leading experts in the field, are accurate and above all actable. The editions of English-language plays include a glossary of unusual words and phrases to aid understanding.
This Drama Classics edition of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of provincial claustrophobia is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.
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Thema
LiteratureThema
DramaAct Two
The stage is set as in Act One. It is eight oâclock in the evening. Offstage, an accordion is being played outside, faintly audible. The room is unlit. NATASHA enters in her dressing-gown, holding a candle. She crosses the stage and pauses at the door leading to ANDREIâs room.
NATASHA. Andrei, what are you doing? Youâre reading? Oh, it doesnât matter, I was just wondering ⊠(She moves on, opens another door, looks in, then closes it.) No lights left on âŠ
ANDREI.(emerging with a book in his hand). What is it, Natasha?
NATASHA. Iâm checking to see if thereâs a light on ⊠Itâs carnival time, the servants are getting careless, you have to keep an eye on them constantly, to make sure nothingâs wrong. I walked through the dining room at midnight last night, and there was a candle left burning. And I still havenât found out who lit it. (She sets down the candle.) What time is it?
ANDREI (looks at his watch). Quarter past eight.
NATASHA. And Olga and Irina still arenât in. They havenât come home. Theyâre kept busy the whole time, poor things. Olga at her staff meeting, Irina at her telegraph office ⊠(Sighs.) I said that to your sister this morning, âYou must look after yourself, Irina darling,â I said. But she doesnât listen. Quarter past eight, did you say? You know, Iâm afraid our little Bobik isnât at all well. Why is he so cold? He had a fever yesterday, and today heâs freezing ⊠Iâm really worried about him!
ANDREI. Heâs fine, Natasha. The boyâs fine.
NATASHA. Still, weâd better see heâs eating properly. Iâm worried. And thereâs supposed to be carnival people arriving at ten oâclock, Iâd rather they didnât come, Andryusha.
ANDREI. Well, I donât know ⊠After all, we did invite them.
NATASHA. You know, that darling little boy woke up this morning and looked at me, and he suddenly smiled â yes, he recognised me. âHello, Bobik!â I said, âHello, my darling!â And he laughed, yes. Children know everything thatâs going on, they understand perfectly. Anyway, Andryusha, Iâll tell them not to let the musicians in.
ANDREI (indecisively). Well, thatâs surely up to my sisters. I mean, itâs their house âŠ
NATASHA. Yes, of course, Iâll tell them too. Theyâre so kind ⊠(Makes to leave.) Iâve ordered sour milk for supper. The doctor says youâre to have nothing but sour milk, otherwise youâll never lose weight. (Pauses.) Bobik gets a chill so easily. Iâm worried in case itâs too cold for him in there. We ought to put him in another room, at least until the warm weather. Irinaâs room, for instance â thatâs just perfect for a baby: itâs dry, and it gets the sun all day. Sheâll have to be told, and she can move in with Olga meantime ⊠Sheâs not at home during the day anyway, sheâs only here at nights âŠ
A pause.
Andryusha, love, youâre not answering.
ANDREI. Iâm thinking ⊠Anyway, Iâve nothing to say âŠ
NATASHA. Well ⊠There was something I meant to tell you ⊠Oh yes, Ferapontâs come from the council, he wants to see you.
ANDREI (Yawns). Send him in.
NATASHA exits. ANDREI, stooping over the candle she has left behind, goes on reading his book. FERAPONT enters; he is wearing an old shabby overcoat, with the collar turned up, and a scarf round his ears.
Well, hello, old chap â what is it?
FERAPONT. The Chairmanâs sent you a book, and papers of some sort. Iâve got them here ⊠(Hands over a book, and a package.)
ANDREI. Thank you. Thatâs fine. Why didnât you come earlier? Itâs gone eight oâclock.
FERAPONT. What?
ANDREI (louder). I said, youâre late, itâs eight oâclock already.
FERAPONT. Thatâs true. It was still light when I came to see you, but they wouldnât let me in, no. The masterâs busy, they said. Well, never mind. If youâre busy, youâre busy, Iâm in no hurry. (He thinks ANDREI has asked him something.) What?
ANDREI. Nothing. (Inspects the book.) Tomorrowâs Friday, thereâs no meeting, but Iâll go in anyway ⊠itâll give me something to do. Iâm bored stiff at home âŠ
A pause.
Yes, my dear old chap, itâs odd how things change, how life plays tricks on us. Out of sheer boredom today, nothing better to do, I picked up this book â my old university lectures, and I thought it was so funny ⊠Good God, Iâm the secretary to the district council, under chairman Protopopov â Iâm secretary, and the most I can aspire to is to become a member! Yes, me â a member of the district council ⊠and there I am dreaming every night that Iâm a professor at Moscow University, a famous scholar, the pride of all Russia!
FERAPONT. I dunno ⊠I donât hear too well âŠ
ANDREI. Well, if you could hear, I doubt if Iâd be talking like this. Iâve got to talk to somebody, but my wife doesnât understand me, and for some reason or other Iâm afraid of my sisters. Iâm afraid theyâll laugh at me, or make me feel ashamed ⊠I donât drink, I donât like taverns, but oh, my dear old chap, what wouldnât I give to be sitting right now in Moscow at Tyestovâs, or the Grand Hotel!
FERAPONT. A builder at the council was saying just the other day that some merchants in Moscow were eating pancakes; and one of them, whoâd eaten forty of the things, dropped down dead. Maybe it wasnât forty, maybe it was fifty. I donât rightly recall.
ANDREI. Yes, you can sit in Moscow, in an enormous restaurant dining-room, you donât know anybody, nobody knows you, and yet you donât feel like a stranger. But in this place, you know everybody, everybody knows you, but youâre an outsider, a total stranger ⊠Alone, and alien âŠ
FERAPONT. What?
A pause.
That same builder was saying â maybe he was making it up â he said there was a rope stretched right across Moscow, from one end to the other.
ANDREI. What for?
FERAPONT. I dunno. Thatâs what the builder said.
ANDREI. Thatâs rubbish. (Returns to his book.) Have you ever been in Moscow?
FERAPONT (After a pause). I havenât. Itâs not been Godâs will.
A pause.
Shall I go?
ANDREI. You can go now. Take care, old chap.
FERAPONT exits.
Take care. (Reading.) You can come back tomorrow morning, collect these papers ⊠Off you go âŠ
A pause.
Heâs gone.
The door-bell rings.
Yes, more work ⊠(Stretches, and makes his way slowly off to his own room.)
The old nurse is heard singing off-stage, rocking the baby to sleep. MASHA and VERSHININ enter. While they converse, a maid lights the oil-lamp and candles.
MASHA. I donât know.
A pause.
I donât know. Habit counts for a great deal, of course, what youâre accustomed to. After fatherâs death, for example, we just couldnât get used to the fact that we didnât have orderlies any longer. But quite apart from habit, I think Iâm justified in saying this. Maybe it isnât the same in other places, but in this town the most decent, the most honourable and well-bred people are the military.
VERSHININ. Iâm really thirsty. I wouldnât mind some tea.
MASHA (glancing at her watch). Theyâll be bringing it soon. Yes, I got married when I was eighteen â I was in awe of my husband, because he was a teacher, and Iâd only just left school. He was terribly learned, clever and important, so I thought. And now I donât, sad to say.
VERSHININ. Yes ⊠I see.
MASHA. Iâm not talking about my husband, Iâve got used to him, but among civilians in general there are so many boorish people, no manners, badly brought up. It upsets me, rudeness really offends me â when people show a lack of sensitivity, or kindness, or common courtesy, I feel pain. When Iâm with the teachers, for instance, my husbandâs colleagues, I really suffer.
VERSHININ. Yes ⊠Even so, I think the military and civilians are pretty much of a muchness, in this town at any rate. No difference! If you listen to any educated person hereabouts, soldier or civilian, theyâre fed up with their wives, theyâre fed up with their house or their land, theyâre sick to death of their horses ⊠I mean, why is it that Russians, who lay claim to the most exalted ideas, have such low expectations of life? Why is that?
MASHA. Why?
VERSHININ. Why is your average Russian sick to death of his wife and childre...