Brian Friel Plays 2

by Brian Friel

  Arkady And your life?

  Bazarov Equally ridiculous. Maybe more ridiculous. But I’m aware that it is.

  Arkady I’m going out for a walk.

  Bazarov To be in good shape for the revolution or for Anna Sergeyevna?

  Arkady If I stay we’ll fight, Bazarov.

  Bazarov Then by all means stay. Let’s have a fight, Arkady. A fight between us is long overdue.

  Arkady (flushed with anger) I’m fond of you, Bazarov. But there are times when I find your arrogance very hard to take. Only Bazarov has the capacity for real sacrifice. Only Bazarov is a fully authentic revolutionary. Only Bazarov has the courage and the clarity of purpose to live outside ordinary society, without attachments, beyond the consolation of the emotions.

  Bazarov Yes, I have that courage. Have you?

  Arkady I’m not as cleansed as you, Bazarov. I like being with people I’m fond of. I even love some people – if you know what that means.

  Bazarov What what means?

  Arkady Love – loving – do you know what loving means?

  Pause.

  Bazarov Yes, I know what loving means, Arkady. I love my mother. I love her very much. And I love my father very much. I don’t think there are two better people in the whole of Russia.

  Arkady You don’t behave like that.

  Bazarov How do you expect me to behave? Kiss them? Hug them? Paw over them? You’re talking like an idiot. Uncle Pavel would be proud of you.

  Arkady What did you call Uncle Pavel?

  Bazarov An idiot. The Tailor’s Dummy is an idiot.

  Arkady Bazarov, I’m warning you …

  Bazarov It’s interesting, you know, how deep-seated domestic attachments can be. Six weeks ago – a month ago you were preaching the dismantling of the whole apparatus of state, the social order, family life. But the moment I say your Uncle Pavel is an idiot, you revert to the old cultural stereotype. We’re witnessing the death of a Nihilist and the birth – no, the rebirth of a very nice liberal gentleman.

  Arkady goes rapidly and in sudden fury towards Bazarov. He is almost certainly going to strike him when the door opens and Vassily puts his head in. He speaks softly and is very embarrassed.

  Vassily There’s something I – may I come in? – there’s something I want to talk about to both of you. (He comes in and closes the door behind him.) You’re sure I’m not intruding?

  Arkady No, not at all.

  Vassily Well. Before we eat this evening, a local priest, Father Alexei, is going to call on us. At your mother’s request. She’s a very devout woman, as you know, Yevgeny. Unlike myself, as you know, too. And the purpose of his visit is to – to – to gather the family around – your mother, myself in all probability, Yevgeny if he chooses, Arkady if he chooses – you’d be most welcome – to gather us all around in one large domestic circle and – and – well, really to offer up some prayers of thanksgiving for your arrival home. A Te Deum, Laudamus. ‘We praise Thee, Lord’. The little informal service will be held in my study – hence the new curtains. If you’d like to attend, please do. I can’t tell you how grateful your mother would be if you did. But if you don’t – and that’s an attitude I’d respect, I certainly would – then – then – then don’t. And we’ll all meet for our celebratory dinner at seven. With champagne. And that’s it. All right.

  Bazarov Yes. I’ll be at the service, Father.

  Vassily (delighted and relieved) You will?!

  Bazarov Why not. You and Mother would like me to be there.

  Vassily Like you to?! We would –

  Bazarov So I’ll be there.

  Vassily This is – this is just – just magnificent! Thank you, Yevgeny. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea how much I appreciate that – how thrilled your mother will be!

  Bazarov Not at all. (to Arkady) You’ll join us, won’t you? But if you’d prefer not to –

  Arkady I’ll join you of course. And sorry for losing my temper just now, Bazarov. I mean that.

  Bazarov catches his hand.

  Bazarov We were both a bit hasty. But I don’t withdraw anything I said.

  Arina enters.

  Arina Vassily, are you going to help me or are you not?

  Vassily Arina! Good news! Great news!

  Bazarov I’m just telling Father I’d be happy to attend the Te Deum service, Mother.

  Arina Vassily?

  Vassily Yes.

  Bazarov It’s this evening, isn’t it?

  Vassily Before we eat.

  Bazarov Fine. As long as it’s today some time. You see I’m leaving first thing in the morning.

  Arina Leaving?

  Bazarov Yes. I’ve exams in September and I’ve a lot of work to catch up with.

  Arina But, son, you’ve only just arrived.

  Vassily And you can study here, can’t you? Amn’t I right, my pet? My study is –

  Bazarov My books are all at Arkady’s home. I’ll work there – if they will allow me. If they don’t, I’ll go back to Petersburg. But I’ll come and see you for a night or two before next term begins. That’s a solemn promise. Well. What time do you expect Father Alexei to arrive? When do we all sing the Te Deum together?

  Quick black.

  Act Two

  SCENE ONE

  Late August. Just before noon. Scene as in Act One.

  Anna Sergeyevna and Nikolai have spent the morning looking at accounts and touring the Kirsanov estate. They have just returned. She is alone on stage, sitting at a table, examining estate maps and accounts with a quick and efficient eye. Bazarov enters. He is looking for Anna but when he sees her he pretends to be surprised. He is very tense.

  Bazarov Ah. So you’re back.

  Anna Yes.

  Bazarov The grand tour’s over?

  Anna Yes.

  Bazarov It didn’t take you long.

  Anna A few hours.

  Bazarov Nice day for it.

  Anna Lovely.

  Bazarov Beautiful. (Pause.) I think I left a book out here somewhere … (He looks around.) Probably in the living-room.

  Anna (just as he is about to exit) How are the studies going?

  Bazarov Well. No, not well.

  Anna When do the exams begin?

  Bazarov Early September. I didn’t hear you come back.

  Anna Oh, we’re back about half an hour.

  Bazarov Really?

  Anna Yes. Maybe an hour.

  Bazarov I didn’t hear you. Well, you couldn’t have chosen a better day.

  Anna Lovely.

  Bazarov Beautiful. (Pause. Then he moves beside her and speaks softly and with intensity.) We’ve got to have a talk before you leave, Anna. Last Wednesday in your house you said something I’ve thought a lot about –

  He breaks off because Nikolai enters with another bundle of estate maps.

  Nikolai Leave a thing out of your hand for five minutes in this house and somebody’s sure to lift it. D’you know where they were? In the pantry! Maps in the pantry! Bats in the belfry! Ha-ha! (seeing Bazarov) Do you know where Arkady is, Yevgeny?

  Bazarov Yes; he’s gone for a swim with Katya.

  Nikolai I’m glad Master Arkady’s enjoying himself. He ought to have been with Anna and me all morning. This is all going to be his one day and the sooner he masters the very complicated business of running an estate – (He drops one of the maps. Picks it up quickly.) – firmly and efficiently, the better. Now let’s organize our lives.

  He sits at the table beside Anna. Bazarov goes off. Anna watches him go.

  We had got the length of (map) number four. Where’s five? – five? – five? – here we are. (He spreads the fifth map across the table.) Now. That’s where we crossed the river. And somewhere about here – yes, there it is – that’s the old well. Remember? – I pointed it out to you. (aware that Anna is not listening) Are you sure you’re not exhausted?

  Anna Not a bit.

  Nikolai Some tea? Coffee? Perhaps a glass of –?

 
Anna I’m quite fresh. (concentrating fully) Let’s carry on.

  Nikolai This is a tremendous help to me, Anna. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. Now. We drove along that road there and that’s the area that is under wheat. The estate manager’s cottage would be about here; Adam’s house.

  Anna And that’s where the new threshing machine is sunk in the quagmire.

  Nikolai Yes.

  Anna But that’s clearly marked as a swamp ground.

  Nikolai Yes, it is, isn’t it?

  Anna Why didn’t Adam take all the heavy machinery in from the far side?

  Nikolai I suppose he just – just took the short-cut.

  Anna But he must have known he couldn’t get across that swamp.

  Nikolai Do you think I should abandon it – the thresher?

  Anna When your tenants have finished stripping it there won’t be much of a thresher left.

  Nikolai That means I’ve lost the entire wheat crop.

  Anna Where’s the map of the land east of the river?

  Nikolai Here we are. These buildings are my new cheese and yogurt plant. I’m afraid I spent a great deal of money on those buildings. It hasn’t been exactly an unqualified success, that plant.

  Anna Did you sell any cheese at all last year?

  Nikolai Not a lot. Very little. None.

  Anna Yogurt?

  Nikolai A few cases. But the cheese didn’t go to loss. The poorer peasants were very grateful for it when –

  Anna What map is that?

  Nikolai The stables – paddock – the area behind the house here –

  Anna No, don’t open it. I know that area.

  She checks some detail in an account book. He waits. Pause.

  Nikolai The Kirsanov estate; all five thousand acres of it. A bit of a mess, isn’t it? What do you advise?

  Anna Right. We’re now in the last week of August. What I’ll do is this. My crops are ready for harvesting. With a bit of organization I may be able to begin next Monday. That means that in two weeks’ time all my machinery will be available. It will take – say – two days to transport it over here. So you must be ready to start the moment it arrives otherwise your wheat and corn and oats will have become too heavy and the thresher won’t lift them.

  Nikolai But I can’t possibly –

  Anna I want to have another look at your cheese and yogurt accounts for the past year.

  Nikolai Of course. Piotr! Piotr!

  Anna No, no; not now. Later. But from the quick look I had this morning it seems to me that the best thing you can do at this stage is cut your losses and close the dairy plant down.

  Nikolai My new plant? But it’s only –

  Anna I know you’ve spent a lot of money on the buildings but I think you can use them more profitably to store your wheat and oats and hay. You need more storage space anyway.

  Nikolai You’re right.

  Anna And finally you’ve got to sack that estate manager – what’s his name? – Adam.

  Nikolai Sack my Adam?! Oh Anna, I’m afraid that’s something I just couldn’t –

  Anna At best he’s incompetent. And I suspect he may be corrupt. According to these records fifty foals were born last year and yet I counted only twelve yearlings this morning in the paddock.

  Nikolai There’s an explanation for that. Apparently last winter wolves got into the enclosure and –

  Anna That’s his story. I’ve talked to Prokofyich. He says there have been no wolves around here for almost twenty years. You cannot run an estate this size unless you have a manager who is both competent and trustworthy.

  Piotr enters, as usual breathless with haste and a bogus eagerness to serve.

  Piotr You wanted me, sir?

  Nikolai Yes, Piotr?

  Piotr You called me, sir.

  Nikolai I did?

  Piotr No question about it, sir. I heard you myself.

  Nikolai I’m sure I did, Piotr. And I’m sure you pretended you didn’t. (to Anna) Piotr’s hearing is erratic.

  Piotr That’s unfair, sir. With the deepest respect, sir, that’s a bit unfair.

  Nikolai I apologize, Piotr. Your hearing is perfect.

  Piotr I was carrying logs into the kitchen, sir. The moment I heard you I dropped everything.

  Nikolai Very well, Piotr. I’m sure you did. Anyhow, I don’t want you now. Here – take all this stuff with you. You know where to leave it.

  Piotr I certainly do, sir. Leave it to Piotr, the man in the gap. (He takes the maps and account books and exits.)

  Nikolai The man in the gap! I don’t know where he gets these expressions. Well. That’s a splendid morning’s work. Thank you again.

  Anna I hope it’s some help.

  Nikolai I really feel ashamed of – of – of my stewardship. I’m not trying to make excuses for myself but the whole place fell into my lap the year I graduated. I was the same age as Arkady is now. I knew nothing at all about the land … Anyhow. Invaluable. I do mean that. (to Bazarov who has entered as before) Ah, Yevgeny, taking a break from the books, eh? (to Anna) I keep telling him – he studies too much. Excellent. Splendid. I must tell Pavel about my plans. (to Bazarov) Anna Sergeyevna has clarified my thinking wonderfully. I’m going to close down the cheese and yogurt plant and I’m going to get rid of Adam, the estate manager. He is neither competent nor trustworthy. I’ll be back shortly.

  He goes off. Bazarov is as awkward and ill at ease as before. Pause.

  Anna I don’t think I clarified his thinking at all. (Pause.) He sounds full of purpose now but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the resolution is gone before he talks to Pavel. (Pause.) He thinks that his responsibilities ended when he gave the estate to the peasants to farm.

  Bazarov I want to talk to you about a conversation you and I had last Wednesday at your house.

  Anna Last Wednesday?

  Bazarov It was just before dinner. We were sitting together in the conservatory. Somebody was playing a guitar in the distance. Katya’s pup was lying between us and there was a circle of moisture where his nose rested on the tiled floor. You said I should offer him my handkerchief and I laughed very heartily because it sounded very, very funny … at that moment.

  Dunyasha appears briefly to do some housekeeping and exits immediately.

  Anna For no reason at all that maid annoys me intensely.

  Bazarov You were wearing a pale blue dress with a white collar and white lace cuffs. Anyhow Katya and Arkady joined us at that point when I was just about to explain what I had meant a short time before when I had said that it seemed to me that we both appeared to act on the assumption that we talked to one another across some very wide chasm that seemed to separate us even though neither of us knew why that chasm was there, if indeed it was there; but because it seemed to both of us that it was, we behaved towards one another with a certain kind of formality that was more appropriate to people who had only just met … Probably none of this makes much sense to you. You probably don’t remember any of it – do you?

  Anna Yes, I do.

  Bazarov Do you?

  Anna Bits … fragments … more your intensity than what you said …

  Bazarov It was a conversation of some importance to me and I’d just like to summarize it briefly – very briefly – if I may, and to say what I intended to say then if Katya and Arkady hadn’t joined us and interrupted us … me …

  Anna Katya and Arkady are having a long swim, aren’t they?

  Bazarov We were talking about relationships. We were talking about happiness. You said that for you happiness always seemed to be just that one step beyond your reach but that you still believed that some day you would grasp it.

  You said we had a lot in common; that you had been poor, too, and that you had been ambitious.

  You asked me what would become of me. I said I would probably end up a country doctor somewhere in the back of beyond and you said I didn’t believe that for a minute but that I wasn’t prepared to tell you what I really thought.

/>   You said you believed you could talk truthfully and openly about how you felt about things. I said I couldn’t do that. You asked me why not. I said I always found it difficult to express exactly how I felt but that when I was with you I found it – found it even more difficult.

  And that’s how the issue of a chasm between us came up. And how that chasm inhibited us – well, inhibited me. Because at the point when Katya and Arkady joined us, I was about to say that that chasm had prevented me from saying to you what I have wanted to say to you for weeks, what I have wanted to say to you ever since that very first day when we met here away back last May just after I had come from Petersburg – that I’m mad about you, Anna Sergeyevna, hopelessly, insanely, passionately, extravagantly, madly in love with you.

  Anna Oh Yevgeny, Yevgeny –

  Bazarov Yes, I am, I am. You know I am. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t study. I’m obsessed with you. I’m besotted by you. Let me kiss you, Anna. Please. Please let me kiss you.

  He takes her in his arms and kisses her. She does not free herself immediately. Then suddenly she pushes him away roughly.

  Anna Yevgeny! Please! Oh, my God! You shouldn’t have done that.

  Bazarov Yes-yes-yes.

  Anna No, you shouldn’t. You’ve misunderstood the whole situation. You’ve misread the whole thing.

  Bazarov No, I haven’t, Anna. And you wanted me to kiss you. Admit that.

  Anna Yes, you have, Yevgeny. Oh, yes, you have. Misread it totally. Oh, my God … (She rushes into the house.)

  Bazarov Anna –! Anna, please –!

  But she is gone. He is distraught. He does not know whether to run after her or to run away. Then he hears Katya and Arkady approach – they are laughing and calling to one another. He cannot escape that way. The only other hiding place is the gazebo. He rushes to it, sits down, pulls a book from his pocket, opens it at random and pretends to be immersed in it.

  Arkady (off) Give that shoe back to me!

  Katya (off) I will not!

  Arkady (off) Katya, I’m warning you.

  Katya (off) Come and get it yourself. (She runs on laughing; her hair wet, her towel flying, his shoe in her hand.) Oh, my God! (She looks round frantically for somewhere to hide the shoe. She sees Bazarov in the gazebo.) I’ve got his shoe! He’s going mad! Can I hide it here?