ACT+4+SCRIPT



T Two years elapse between the third and fourth acts.       ACT IV    [A living room in SORIN'S house, which has been converted into a writing room for TREPLIEFF. To the right and left are doors leading into inner rooms, and in the centre is a glass door opening onto a terrace. Besides the usual furniture of a sitting room there is a writing desk in the right-hand corner of the room. There is a Turkish divan near the door on the left, and shelves full of books stand against the walls. Books are lying scattered about on the windowsills and chairs. It is evening. A shaded lamp on a table dimly lights the room. The wind moans in the treetops and whistles down the chimney. The watchman in the garden is heard sounding his rattle. MEDVIEDENKO and MASHA come in].   MASHA. [Calling TREPLIEFF] Hello? Mr. Konstantin? [Looking about her] Mr. Konstanin. See? Not here. But the old fart keeps asking for him, “ I need my Kostya. Where is he?” It’s as if the old guy can't live without him.   MEDVIEDENKO. He scared of being alone. [Listening to the wind] Quite the storm; two days and it hasn’t let up.   MASHA. [Turning up the lamp] And the waves on the lake, they’re huge.   MEDVIEDENKO. It’s so dark in the garden. You know, someone should tear down that old stage. It’s just sitting out there, all exposed and hideous like a skeleton; the curtains flapping in the wind. I passed by there last night and I could have sworn someone was crying out there. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Well, whatever…. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [A pause.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Time to head home, Masha. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. [Shaking her head] I’m staying the night. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. [Imploringly] Please, Masha. The baby’ll be hungry. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Don’t be such an idiot. Matryona will feed it. [A pause.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. I feel sorry for him; his third night without his mom. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. When did you become so boring. You used ramble on for hours with your elaborate theories about anything and everything; now, it’s all “the baby” and “come home”, “come home” and “the baby”. It’s all I ever hear out of you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Let’s go home, Masha! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. You go, for chrissakes. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Your Dad won't give me a horse. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Sure he will; ask him. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. I might just do that. Will you be at home tomorrow? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Yeah, yeah, tomorrow, all right? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She takes snuff. TREPLIEFF and PAULINA come in. TREPLIEFF is carrying some pillows and a blanket, and PAULINA is carrying sheets and pillowcases. They lay them on the couch, and TREPLIEFF goes and sits down at his desk. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. What’s all this for, mom? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Mr. Sorin has asked to sleep in Konstantin 's room tonight. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Here, let me do it. [She makes the bed.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. (Sighing)Old people are such children. [PAULINA goes up to the desk rests her elbows on it and looks at the manuscripts lying on it.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [Pause] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Well, I should be going. Good night, Masha. [He kisses his wife's  <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> hand] Good-bye, mother. [He tries to kiss his mother-in-law's hand.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. [Crossly] Oh, for heaven sake; just go if you’re going! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Goodnight, then. I’m off. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF shakes hands with him in silence, and MEDVIEDENKO goes out.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. [Looking at the manuscripts] Who’d have thought you’d turn out to be a real writer, Kostya. You’ve got magazines paying you for your lovely words. [She strokes his hair.] You’re even better looking now. Dear, sweet Kostya, can’t you be a little more affectionate to my Masha. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. [Still making the bed] Leave him alone, mother. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. She’s a good girl. [A pause] A woman doesn’t need much, Kostya, a kind word, a secret glance every now and then. Trust me, I know all about it. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF gets up from his desk and goes out without a word.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Happy now! You’ve pissed him off. I told you to leave him alone. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Oh Masha, I feel so sorry for you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. A lot of good that does. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. My heart aches for you. I can see what’s going on; I understand it all. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. You’re imagining things. Unrequited love is something you only find in novels. What a waste of time. Love needs to be nipped in the bud; all you have to do is keep your head, keep a tight grip on yourself. Pluck it out the minute it burrows into the heart. My husband’s been promised a transfer to another school in another district, once we’re free of this place, I’ll forget everything. I’ll just tear it out of my heart by the roots. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [The notes of a melancholy waltz are heard in the distance.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Konstantin is playing. He must be depressed again. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Out of sight out of mind, that’s the most important thing, mother. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Once we get his transferred I’ll forget it all in a month or two. It’s nothing. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [MASHA silently waltzes a few turns to the music.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [DORN and MEDVIEDENKO come in through the door on the left, wheeling SORIN in a wheelchair.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. I’m just saying, I have six mouths to feed now, and the price of flour is now two kopecks a pound. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Money, the harder you hold on to it, the faster it escapes! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Easy for you to say, you’re rolling in it. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. That’s what you think, my friend. Listen, after practicing medicine for thirty years, on call day and night, no part of my soul to call my own, I’ve only managed to scrape together two thousand rubles; and spent all of that on my last trip abroad. I haven't a penny. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. [To her husband] Haven’t you left yet? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. [Apologetically] I’m not going anywhere without a horse? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. [Under her breath, with bitter anger] Please, just get out of my sight! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [SORIN in his chair is wheeled to the left-hand side of the room. PAULINA, MASHA, and DORN sit down beside him. MEDVIEDENKO stands sadly aside. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. This place has sure changed! This sitting room is now a library. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. It’s Konstantin office now. He likes it because when he’s working he can step out into the garden every once and a while to clear his mind. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [The watchman's rattle is heard.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. Where is my sister? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. She left for the station to pick up Trigorin. She’ll soon be back. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. I must be pretty close to kicking the bucket if you had to send for my sister. [He falls silent for a moment] Goddamn useless country doctor! How sick does a person have to be before you prescribe any medication? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Camomile tea? Bicarbonate of Soda? Quinine? You can have whatever you like. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. Don't insult my intelligence. [He nods toward the sofa] Is that bed for me? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Yes sir, just for you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. Thanks. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. [Sings] "The moon swims in the sky to-night." <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. I have an idea for a novel that Kostya should write. It’ll be called "The Man Who Wanted to? L'Homme qui voulu." As a young man, I wanted to become a writer and failed. Then I wanted to be a great public speaker; another failure. [Exciting himself] I can’t even bare the sound of my own voice droning on and on, stumbling over words, my sentences rambling on and on and on, until I’m just standing there in a sweat unable to speak another word. I wanted to get marry, I didn't; I wanted to live in the city, and here I am stuck out here forced to live out my final days in the country. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. You wanted to become a District Councillor, and look? you are one! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. [Laughing] I didn't try for that; it just happened. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Look at you, quibbling with life when you’re sixty-two years old. A tad petty, don’t you think? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. You are so pig-headed! Can't you see I’m struggling to live? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Well, that’s futile. Nature has ensured that all good things must come to an end. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. You talk like someone who has feasted on life. Your appetite for it is quenched, and so you are calm and indifferent, but even you dread death. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. The fear of death –a primal fear- must be suppressed. To consciously fear death is to embrace the notion of an after-life and to tremble for one’s sins; but you, for one, don't believe in the after life, and two, what sins have you committed? You’ve served in the Department of Justice for twenty-five years, and that’s it. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. [Laughing] Twenty-eight! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF comes in and sits down on a stool at SORIN'S feet. MASHA fixes her eyes on his face and never once tears them away. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. We are keeping Konstantin from his work. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. No, it’s fine. [A pause.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Let me ask you doctor, of all the cities you visited abroad, Doctor, which did you like the best? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Genoa. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Why Genoa? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Because the streets are always crowded, it’s magnificent. You leave the hotel in the evening, and throw yourself into the throng. Suddenly, you’re swept up, moving aimlessly here and there, your lives’ merge, your souls’ connect, and you almost believe in a common spirit, like the one you described in the play that Nina acted in. By the way, whatever happened Nina? Is she well? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Probably. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. I hear her life took a peculiar turn; what happened? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. That, Doctor, is a long story. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Then make a long story short. [A pause.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. You know she ran away from home and met up with Trigorin? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Yes. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. She had a baby. It died. Trigorin lost interest in her, and, as expected, he turned back to his old affections. He had never really left, actually, his spinelessness had always caused him to vacillate between the old and the new. As far as I can figure out and from what I know, Nina's personal life has been a complete disaster. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. And her acting? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Apparently even worse. She made her debut on the stage of the Summer Theatre in Moscow, and then played the provinces. For a while I never let her out of my sight, and wherever she went, I went. She was always drawn to the big roles but her performance was all over the place, her gestures clumsy crude. She had a talent for <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> dying and shrieking, but those were only moments. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. So she has some talent? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Yeah, but it’s kind of hard to nail down. There must be. I saw her once, but she didn’t want to see me, and the servants wouldn’t let me into her room. I mean, I totally understand how she feels. I didn’t want to impose myself. [A pause] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Then what do you know? She wrote me when I got back. Her letters were so clever, so warm and intriguing. She never complained, but I sensed that she was so seriously depressed that every line speaks with the vulnerability of an open wound. She’s has one odd quirk; she signs the letters with "The Seagull." Like the Miller in "Rusalka" who called himself "The Crow," in all her letters she’s The Seagull. Now she’s back here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. What do you mean "here?" <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. In town; staying at the inn. She’s been here for five days. I thought of going to see her; Masha did, but she won’t admit anyone. The neighbors insist they saw her yesterday afternoon in a field about a mile from here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Yes, I saw her. She was walking towards town. I waved and asked her why she hadn’t been to see us. She said she would come. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. I doubt it. [A pause] Her father and stepmother have disowned her. They have even put security guards everywhere to keep her off the estate. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He goes with the doctor toward the desk] It’s easy, Doctor, to be a philosopher on paper, but way more difficult in real life! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SORIN. I always said she was something special. Even the State Councillor Sorin was in love with her for awhile. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. You old ladies man! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [SHAMRAEFF'S laugh is heard. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Looks like they’re back from the station. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Yes, I hear my mother. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [ARKADINA and TRIGORIN come in, followed by SHAMRAEFF. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. We all grow old and the elements weather our looks, while you, dear lady, somehow manage to keep your youth, your lightness and bubbly…grace. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Oh please, the way you go on and on so tediously, you’ll jinx my looks! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. [To SORIN] Hello, Grandpa? What, still under the weather? Shame on you! [With evident pleasure, as he catches sight of MASHA] Masha! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Wiser? [She squeezes his arm.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. Married? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Ages ago. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. Happy ? [He bows to DORN and MEDVIEDENKO, and then goes hesitatingly toward TREPLIEFF] Your mother says you have forgotten the past and are no longer angry. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF gives him a handshake. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. [To her son] Trigorin has brought a magazine with your latest story in it. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. [To TRIGORIN, as he takes the magazine] Thanks; you are very kind. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. Your fans all send their greetings. Every one in Moscow and St. Petersburg is interested in you, they all ask about you. “ What does he look like? How old is he?” Are you fair haired or dark; for some reason they think you’re no longer young. No one knows who you are, because you publish under a pseudonym. You are as great a mystery as the Man in the Iron Mask. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Will you be here long? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. No, I have to leave for Moscow tomorrow. It’s unavoidable. I’m finishing another novel, and have a magazine deadline to meet. You know, it’s the same old same old. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [During their conversation ARKADINA and PAULINA have put up a card-table in the centre of the room; SHAMRAEFF lights the candles and arranges the chairs, then fetches a box of lotto from the cupboard. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. The weather’s given me a rough welcome. That’s a cruel wind. If it dies down by morning I’ll go out to the lake and fish; maybe even have a look at the garden and the place where?...remember?? Where your play was put on. I recall the piece well enough, but I’d like to revisit the place where it was set. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. [To her father] Daddy, let my husband have a horse. He needs to go home. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. [Teasing] A horse … go home… [Severely] I can’t believe it! The horses have just been to the station and back. I can't send them out again. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. But there are other horses. [Seeing that her father remains silent, she waves her hand] You’re impossible! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. Masha, I’ll go on foot. It’s alright. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. [With a sigh] On foot? In this weather? [She takes a seat at the card-table] C’mon everyone? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MEDVIEDENKO. It is only six miles. Good-bye. [He kisses his wife's hand;] Good-bye, mother. [Paulina reluctantly gives him her hand] I hate to interrupt, but the baby? [He bows to every one] Good-bye. [He goes out with an apologetic air.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. He’ll be fine, I think. He is not a major-general. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Let’s get going. We don’t have time to waste; we’ll soon be called in to supper. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [SHAMRAEFF, MASHA, and DORN sit down at the card-table. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. [To TRIGORIN] When the long autumn evenings descend you can always find us in here whiling away the hours playing lotto. See? This set is ancient; we used it as children whenever we played with our late mother. Don't you want to sit in with us for a hand before supper? [She and TRIGORIN sit down at the table] It’s a tedious game at first but once you get used to it…[She deals three cards to each of the players.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. [Looking through the pages of the magazine] He has read his own story, and hasn't even cut the pages of mine. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He lays the magazine on his desk and goes toward the door on the right, stopping as he passes his mother to give her a kiss. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Will you join us, Kostya? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. No, thanks. I don't feel like it. I’ll take a walk. [He goes out.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Ready? I’ll start: twenty-two. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Ah, there. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Three. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. OK. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Have you put down three? Eight. Eighty-one. Ten. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. Not so fast. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Unbelievable. I am still dizzy from the reception I got in Kharkoff. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Thirty-four. [The notes of a melancholy waltz are heard.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. The students gave me a stnading ovation; I received three baskets of flowers, a wreath, and this… [She unclasps a brooch from her breast and lays it on the table. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. That’s really something! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Fifty. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. Did you say “fifty”? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. I wore a perfectly magnificent dress; when it comes to clothes, I am no fool. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Kostya is playing again; so sad. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. His work has been reviled in the papers. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Seventy-seven. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. That’s just a way to sell more papers. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. He’s been very unlucky. He hasn’t found his own voice. There’s something strange and indefinable about his writing; it sometimes verges on delirium. He has never created a single living character. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Eleven. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Are you bored, Peter? [A pause] He is asleep. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. The Councillor is taking a nap. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Seven! Ninety! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. If I lived in such a manor house like this near a lake, could I write? Never! I’d have to fight my passion and replace it with fishing. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Twenty-eight. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. And if I caught a perch or a bass, what bliss it would be! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. I have great faith in Konstantin. He has a certain something. He thinks in images; his and his stories are vivid and full of colour; they always affect me deeply. It is only a pity that he has no specific vision. He creates impressions, and that’s it- you can’t get very far on impressions alone. [To ARKADINA] Are you glad to have an author for a son? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. I’m sure I would be if I ever read anything of his. I’m too busy. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Twenty-six. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF comes in quietly and sits down at his table. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. [To TRIGORIN] We have something that belongs to you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. What? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. Mr. Konstantin shot a seagull a while ago and you told me to have it stuffed. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. I don’t remember.[Thoughtfully] I don't remember. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Sixty-one. One. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF throws open the window and stands listening. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. So dark tonight! If I only knew why I feel so restless. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Shut the window, Konstantin, there is a draught here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF shuts the window.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> MASHA. Ninety-eight. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. Ah – hah! Got one. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. [Gaily] Bravo! Bravo! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. Bravo! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Always such luck wherever he goes and whatever he does. [She gets up] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> And now, lets eat. Our celebrity didn’t all day. We can continue our game after supper. [To her son] Come, Kostya, put your writing away and come to supper. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. I don't want anything to eat, mother; I am not hungry. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. Whatever you say. [She wakes SORIN] Come to supper, Peter. [She takes SHAMRAEFF'S arm] Let me tell you about the reception in Kharkoff. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [PAULINA blows out the candles on the table, then she and DORN roll SORIN'S chair out of the room, and all go out through the door on the left, except TREPLIEFF, who is left alone. TREPLIEFF prepares to write. He runs his eye over what he has already written.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. I’ve talked endlessly about new forms of art, but gradually I’ve started to rely on convention and cliches [He reads] "The poster on the fencepost said”…”a pale face framed by dark hair"? read…framed...this is mediocre. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He scratches out what he has written] I’ll start over from the place where the rain wakes up the protagonist but everything else must go must go. This description of a moonlight night is tedious and flowery. Trigorin has worked out a series of tricks, and descriptions come easy to him. He writes “the neck of the broken bottle lay on the riverbank and glittered in the moonlight through the blackened shadows of the old mill-wheel.” There you vividly see a moonlit night right before your eyes, but I speak of “shimmering light, the twinkling stars, and the distant sounds of a piano melting into the still and scented air”, and the results are painful. [A pause] It’s slowly dawning on me that good literature is not about new or old forms, but more about the free flow of ideas from the writer’s heart, without thinking about the form at all. [A knock is heard at the window nearest the table] What was that? [He looks out of the window] I can't see anything. [He opens the glass door and looks out into the garden] I heard some one run down the steps. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He calls] Who’s there? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He goes out, and is heard walking quickly along the terrace.] Oh, Nina, Nina! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [In a few minutes he comes back with NINA ZARIETCHNAYA. NINA lays her head on TREPLIEFF'S breast and stifles her sobs.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. [Deeply moved] Nina, Nina! It’s you…You! I felt you would come; all day my heart has been aching for you. [He takes off her hat and cloak] Oh my god, my darling, has come back! No crying, we mustn't cry. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. Someone’s here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. No one’s here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. Lock the door, some one might come. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. No one will come. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. I know your mother’s here. Lock the door. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF locks the door on the right and comes back to NINA.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. There is no lock. I’ll use a chair. [He puts an arm-chair against the door] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Don't worry, no one’ll come in. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. [Gazing intently into his face] Let me look at you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She looks about her] So warm in here. This used to be a livingroom. Have I changed much? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Yes, you’ve lost weight, and your eyes are larger. Nina, it’s so strange to see you. Why wouldn’t you let me see you? Why wouldn’t you come? I know you’ve been here almost a week. I’ve been to the place you’re staying several times a day to where standing beneath you window like a beggar. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. I was afraid you hated me. I have dreams every night where you look at me and don’t recognize me. If you only knew…since I got back I’ve been wandering the shores of the lake. I have often been near your house, but I have never had the courage to come in. Let us sit down. [They sit down] Let us sit down and talk our hearts out. You see, it’s so cozy and warm in here. Hear that? The wind? Turgenieff writes: "Happy is he who can sit at night under the roof of his home, who has a warm corner in which to take refuge." Me – a seagull… No, not really. [She passes her hand across her forehead] What was I saying? Oh, right, Turgenieff. He says, "and may God help all homeless wanderers." [She sobs.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Nina! You’re crying again...Nina! <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. It is all right. I feel much better now. I haven’t cried in two years. But late night went into the garden to see if our old theatre was there. It’s still standing. I cried for the first time in two years, and I felt at ease, and my soul became pure. You see, I’m not crying. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She takes his hand in hers] So you are a writer now; you are a writer and I’m… an actress. We have both been sucked into the vortex... I once lived happily like child; I’d wake up in the morning singing; I loved you, dreamt of fame… and now? Early tomorrow morning I head out for Eltz by train in a third-class carriage, with the peasants, and at Eltz the educated merchants will shower me with compliments. It’s a rough life. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Why are you going? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. I have a gig there for the winter. Time to go. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Nina, I have cursed you, hated you, and torn up your letters and photo’s, and yet I’ve known every minute that our lives are forever intertwined. I can’t stop loving you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Nina, I lost you and began to write, and since then my life has been unbearable. I live in agony. My youth has suddenly drained from me, and suddenly I feel I’ve been alive for ninety years. I have called out to you; I’ve kissed the ground you walk on, everywhere I looked I see your face, I see your affectionate smile that had illuminated the happiest years of my life. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. [Despairingly] Why, why tell me all this? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. I’ll all alone, with no one to give me warmth. I am as cold as a prison cell and so everything I write is dull and gloomy and brutal. Stay here, Nina, I beg you, or let me go with you. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [NINA quickly puts on her coat and hat.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Nina, why? For God's sake, Nina… [He watches her as she dresses. A pause.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. My carriage is at the gate. Do not come out to see me off. I shall <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> find the way alone. [Weeping] Let me have some water. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [TREPLIEFF hands her a glass of water. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Where are you going? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. Back to the village. Is your mother here? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Yes, my uncle fell ill on Thursday, and we telegraphed for her to come. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. Why do you say that you’d kiss the ground I walk on? I should probably be killed. [She bends over the table] I’m so tired. Just to rest? Relax! [She raises her head] I’m a seagull. No, not really…I am - an actress. Well, yes. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She hears ARKADINA and TRIGORIN laughing in the distance, runs to the door on the left and looks through the keyhole] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> He’s here. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She goes back to TREPLIEFF] Ah, well…Whatever… Yes…He never believed in the theatre; he always laughed at my dreams, and little by little I stopped believing in it too, and I lost my soul. With all the worries that love brings, the jealousy, and the constant worry for my little… I became a mediocre actor, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage... never knowing what to do with my hands, or how to walk properly or control my voice. You can’t imagine what goes on in the mind of someone on stage that knows how terribly badly they are acting. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Me – the seagull. No…no, that’s not right. Remember you shot a seagull? A man happened to come by and destroyed it for want of something to do. That’s an idea for a short story, but it’s not what I meant. [She passes her hand across her forehead] Where was I? Oh, yes, the theatre. I’ve changed completely. I’m a real actress, now, I act with delight, with exaltation, I am intoxicated by it, and feel that I am superb. I have been walking and walking, and thinking and thinking, ever since I have been here, and I feel the strength of my spirit growing in me every day. I know now, I understand at last, <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Konstantin, that for us, whether we write or act, it is not the honour and glory of which I have dreamt that is important, it is the strength to endure. One must know how to bear one's cross, and one must have faith. I believe, and so do not suffer so much, and when I think of my calling I do not fear life. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. [Sadly] You’ve found your way, you know where you’re going, but I am still groping in the chaos of dreams and images, not knowing for whom and to what end. I do not believe in anything, and I do not know what my calling is. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. [Listening] Shhh! I have to go. Good-bye. When I become a famous actress you must come and see me. Promise? But now? [She takes his hand] It’s too late. I can barely stand. I’m exhausted. I’m hungry. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. Stay, I’ll get you some supper. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> NINA. No, no? And don't follow me; I’ll go myself. My horse is close by. So she brought him along with her? Well, whatever. When you see Trigorin… don’t say anything. I love him. I love him even more than before. Now there’s an idea for a short story. I love him. I love him passionately! I love him to despair. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> We had it so good once. Remember, Konstantin,? What a simple, joyful, pure life we had once? Feelings. Feelings as fragile and as gentle as a flower. Remember,? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She recites] All men and beasts, once plentiful and free; <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Yay all, from the majestic lion down, <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> The sky’s fine eagle, to the lowly flea, <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Small insects that the naked eye confounds; <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> E’en those that in the seas inhabit there: <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> From spouting whales to silent fish, replete: <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> All life! All’s gone and lost its worldly care <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: right 432.0pt; text-autospace: none;"> [She embraces TREPLIEFF impetuously and runs out onto the terrace. ]  <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TREPLIEFF. [After a pause] It would be awful if she spotted in the garden. Mother would be crushed. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He stands for several minutes tearing up his manuscripts and throwing them under the table, then unlocks the door on the right and goes out.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. [Trying to force open the door on the left] That’s odd! The door seems blocked. [He comes in and puts the chair back in its former place] It’s an obstacle course. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [ARKADINA and PAULINA come in, followed by JACOB carrying some bottles; then come MASHA, SHAMRAEFF, and TRIGORIN.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. We’ll need the wine and Trigorin’s beer over on the table, so we can enjoy a drink while we play. Please, everyone let’s sit. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> PAULINA. Hurry. And bring the tea. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [She lights the candles and takes her seat at the card-table. SHAMRAEFF leads TRIGORIN to the cupboard. ] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> SHAMRAEFF. Here’s the thing I was telling you about.[He takes the seagull out of the cupboard] You see. You told me to get it mounted. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> TRIGORIN. [looking at the bird] I don't remember. I don’t remember <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [A shot is heard. Every one jumps.] <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. [Frightened] What is that? <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. It’s probably nothing; sometimes one of my medicine bottles will explode in my kit. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> I wouldn’t worry. [He goes out through the door on the right, and comes back in a few moments] What did I tell you, one of my jars of ether has exploded – not to worry; I’ve opened a window. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-outline-level: 1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [He sings] "Spellbound once more I stand before thee." <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> ARKADINA. [Sitting down at the table] Fuy! That was frightening. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> The sound made me think of… made me? [She covers her face with her hands] We close our eyes and paint ourselves with blackness. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> DORN. [Looking through the pages of a magazine, to TRIGORIN] I saw an article, a letter by an American, probably about two months ago now that I kept wanting to ask you about, well that and other things. [He leads TRIGORIN to the front of the stage] I have a few thoughts of my own about it, but I was really hoping you could shed some light on it. [He lowers his voice and whispers] You have to get Madame Arkadina away from here… [raises his voice] what I wanted to find out is… [He lowers his voice and whispers] Konstantin has just shot himself. <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="line-height: 19.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> [The curtain falls.]