Brian Friel Plays 2 (24 page)

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.

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.