The history of the creation of the play “At the Lower Depths” by M. Gorky. Literature lesson on the topic "M. The play "At the Bottom" as a philosophical drama. Sharp criticism of reality in the play, the tragic fate of the "bottom""

For a long time There was a simplified interpretation of Gorky's play as a social-critical play. Of course, the drama was not denied philosophical content, but conversation about it was often limited to a ritual reference to the dispute with Luke’s “consolation” and quoting Satin’s final monologue. The most common topic for essays on this play in school was the topic “Exposure of capitalist reality in M. Gorky’s drama “At the Depths” (the formulations may not have been so straightforward, but their general meaning boiled down precisely to Gorky’s social criticism). The inertia of such an interpretation is still evident in written works entering the university.

Of course, Gorky's play is not devoid of sociality. At first glance, the title of the drama (if understood as “At the Bottom of Life”), and the choice of location, and the system of characters with its widest social “representation” (former nobleman, former intellectual, former workers and peasants) - all this indicates about the significance for the author social issues. The distorted fates of the characters are direct evidence of the social ill-being of Gorky’s contemporary society. Finally, if you wish, you can identify in the play the socially significant opposition of “masters” and “slaves” by contrasting the Kostylevs with the flophouses.

However, let us think: do social differences play a decisive role in the fate of the characters? Is the border between the hostess of the flophouse and her temporary lover, the flophouse Ash, or between the “representative of the authorities” Medvedev and the market cook Kvashnya, to whom he is wooing, so impassable? Is it by chance that one of the inhabitants of this very shelter turns out to be the sister of the owner Vasilisa? Doesn’t what is happening in the shelter resemble the “normal” situation for Russia in the 20th century? communal apartment or in a hostel “for limiters”?

In the end, let's try to simulate some other not too far-fetched dramatic situation in which we could bring together former officials in the treasury chamber and a country watchman, a telegraph operator and a furrier, a mechanic and an artist. It could be a station, a market, a cheap tavern or a provincial hospital - in a word, some place where people meet against their will different professions and approximately identical destinies. But all the mentioned options for the “assembly point” are dramaturgically less convenient than a shelter - albeit temporary and not very equipped, but still a home for a motley group of Gorky’s characters.

It is fundamentally important that most of the characters in the play are “ former people" At one time each of them was included in its own system social relations, fulfilled his social role. Now, in the shelter, the social differences between them have been erased, now they are just people. Gorky is interested not so much in social certainty as in the most important features of human consciousness that are common to the majority. What makes a person human, what helps and hinders him to live, what are the ways to achieve human dignity- these are the questions he seeks answers to in his play. A play whose content is determined primarily by philosophical and ethical issues.

The uniqueness of the drama is that the most complex philosophical problems are discussed in it not by masters of philosophical debates, but by “people of the street”, uneducated or degraded, tongue-tied or unable to find the “right” words. The conversation is conducted in the language of everyday communication, and sometimes in the language of petty squabbles, kitchen battles, and drunken skirmishes. It is in a prosaic, deliberately mundane context that the word that will become its leitmotif and the most important semantic category is first uttered in the play. This word “truth”, sounding already on the first page of the play, is in Kvashnya’s remark addressed to Klesh: “A-ah! You can’t stand the truth!” The sharp cry of the Tick - “You’re lying!” — sounded in this scene a little before the word “truth.” Truth and lies are one of the two most important semantic oppositions in the play. Another such opposition, which defines the problematics of “At the Bottom,” is formed by the conceptual pair “truth” and “faith.”

It is the different understanding of “truth” and different attitudes towards “faith” and “dream” that determine the positions of the inhabitants of the shelter. The place of each of them in the character system depends not so much on his social biography, how much depends on the peculiarities of his thinking.

With all the diversity of personal destinies, most of the characters in the play are deprived of something most important to them. Actor - opportunities to create on stage and even own name(his stage name is Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky); mechanic Kleshch - full-time job; young woman Nastya - love. However, they still timidly hope for the opportunity to find what they have lost or desired, they still believe that their life can miraculously transform. Passive daydreaming and timid faith in “salvation” unites Actor, Anna, Natasha, and Nastya into one group. Two other characters are also close to this group - Vaska Ash and Tick. This faith, no matter how illusory it may seem to others, is the main thing that supports them in life, their last clue. This is their “truth”: the truth of each of them’s individual dreams, the truth of hope for justice.

The real situation of the “believers” is in glaring contrast with their hopes, with their personal “mirages”. The facts show the groundlessness of their faith. This diagnosis is made by the smartest of the night shelters - the skeptic Bubnov, who is supported by two more educated "non-believers" - Baron and Satin. They are happy to expose the illusions of those suffering salvation, each time reminding them of the ugly “truth” of the night life. The truth of dreams and the truth of reality - these are the semantic facets that already at the beginning of the play turn into its central problem. If Bubnov ( chief ideologist literally understood “truth”), Satin and Baron are far from illusions and do not need an ideal, then for the Actor, Nastya, Anna, Natasha, Ashes, faith is more important than truth. That is why they are the ones who warmly respond to Luke’s remark: “What you believe is what you believe.”

Before Luka’s appearance in the doss house, the relationship between the two groups of characters is clearly in favor of the “insensitive” truth-seekers: for example, the Baron behaves boorishly towards Nastya, forcing her to clean the doss house in his place (in this “hostel” there is a system of “duties”) ; the unsympathetic Bubnov rudely brushes aside the complaints of Anna and Kleshch (“noise is not a hindrance to death”). In general, the “dreamers” suffer, they are dependent, crave compassionate kindness, but do not find sympathy from supporters of the “truth of fact.” They will find such sympathy in the wanderer Luke.

This person is, first of all, kind: he is lenient towards weaknesses, tolerant of the sins of others, and responsive to requests for help. Another attractive feature of Luka is his genuine interest in life, in other people, in each of whom he is able to discern an individual “zest” (by the way, wandering and interest in the “eccentric” - common features Luke and the hero-narrator of Gorky's early stories). Luka does not at all impose his views on others, he is not eager to share his life experience with the first person he meets or demonstrate his extraordinary mind. That’s why he doesn’t try to convert Bubnov and Baron to his faith - they simply don’t need him, and “to impose” is not in his character.

The “sufferers” need it: they need consolation and encouragement - a kind of anesthesia from life’s troubles and a stimulator of interest in life. Like an experienced psychoanalyst, Luka knows how to listen carefully to the “patient.” The tactics of his spiritual “healing” are interesting: in order to console his interlocutor, he does not come up with any recipes of his own, but only skillfully supports the dream that each of them has (let us repeat Luke’s motto once again: “What you believe in is what you believe in”).

In this regard, his recommendations to the Actor are especially interesting. The fact is that even before Luke’s arrival, the Actor turned to a real doctor, who made an accurate diagnosis of his disease (alcoholism). It is difficult to imagine a doctor who would not advise a patient to go to the appropriate medical institution. So the vague idea of ​​a hospital most likely already existed in the Actor’s mind when he confided his troubles to the wise old man. And he only reminded him again about hospitals for alcoholics (by the way, they actually existed in Russia since late XIX V.).

Another thing is how Luke’s remark is transformed in the feverish imagination of the former provincial tragic actor. This is how Luke mentions hospitals for alcoholics: “Nowadays they are treating drunkenness, hear!” Free, brother, they treat... this is the kind of hospital built for drunkards... They recognized, you see, that a drunkard is also a person...” In the Actor’s imagination, the hospital turns into a “marble palace”: “An excellent hospital... Marble.. .marble floor! Light... cleanliness, food... everything for free! And marble floor, yes!” This twice-repeated “marble floor” is indicative: illusion replaces reality, but this happens not according to Luke’s intention, but contrary to his intention, contrary to his subjective kindness. The actor is a hero of faith, and not of the truth of fact, so the loss of the ability to believe will be fatal for him (this will happen after Luka leaves the shelter).

However, before Luka’s forced departure, the well-being of the night shelters noticeably improves: most of them have a growing belief in the possibility of living a better life, some are already taking the first steps towards gaining human dignity. Luke managed to inspire faith and hope in them, warming their souls with his sympathy. The disarming effect of the “truth” of Bubnov and Baron, not enlightened by goodness, is temporarily neutralized. Even Bubnov himself softens somewhat towards his comrades in misfortune (in the last act he will invite his “roommates” to share a simple meal with him); only the Baron, perhaps, remains an incorrigible cynic and misanthrope.

It is the Baron - the least sympathetic of the roommates - who tries to expose Luke as a "charlatan" and a deceiver in the last act of the play. It is important to note here that from the moment of Luke's disappearance until the time last action A lot of time passes (judging by the “meteorological” remarks, about six months). It turns out that the hopes awakened in the souls of the night shelters turned out to be fragile and have almost faded away. The return to prosaic reality is difficult for yesterday’s “dreamers” (the Actor reacts especially painfully to the new situation). Some overnight stayers are inclined to consider Luka to be the culprit of their severe sobering up.

It would seem that the Baron should have been supported in his denunciations by Luke’s yesterday’s opponent Satin. But the unexpected happens: Satin stands up for Luka and utters an angry rebuke to the Baron: “Be silent! You are all brutes! ...keep silent about the old man! (Calm down.) You, Baron, are the worst of all!.. You don’t understand anything... and you’re lying! The old man is not a charlatan! What is the truth? Man - that's the truth! He understood this... you don’t!” Externally motivated by the defense of Luke and the dispute with the Baron, Satin’s monologue outgrows its functional framework. It becomes a compactly stated declaration - a declaration of a life position different from Luke’s (but also sharply different from Bubnov’s).

By the way, in certain fragments of his monologue, Satin almost quotes Luke’s statements, but interprets them in his own way and draws his own conclusions. He affirms the need for a high dream, respect instead of pity, and considers pity as humiliation. On the other hand, the ideal of man that Satin speaks of is unattainable if one remains in the position of a narrowly understood truth - that truth of man’s dependence on the environment, of which Bubnov is an apologist. A person needs active love, but a person must make the movement towards the ideal himself. The “evil” truth, not animated by goodness, and the inactive, “consoling” kindness are equally far from ideal, and equally false. In the study of mobility, fluidity of “truth”, in the discovery of subtle transitions of good into indifferent powerlessness and truth into lies - the philosophical depth of Gorky’s play.

So, in the finale of the play, the night shelters try to “judge” Luka, but the author, through the mouth of Satin, denies them this right. Gorky creates a complex, contradictory, extremely ambiguous image. On the one hand, it is Luka who is the most interesting personality among the characters in the play; it is he who “disturbs” the night shelters and gives impetus to Satin’s awakening consciousness. On the other hand, his strengths(kindness, leniency, subjective desire to help others) can lead to fatal consequences for the “weak in spirit.” True, the blame for this largely falls on the homeless shelters themselves. Gorky managed to reveal one of the most dangerous and painful features of the “vagrant” consciousness and psychology of the social lower classes in Russia - dissatisfaction with reality, anarchic criticism towards it, and at the same time dependence on external help, weakness to promises of “miraculous” salvation, complete unpreparedness to independent life creativity.

The author's position is expressed primarily in the ambiguous, nonlinear development of the plot action. At first glance, the movement of the plot is motivated by the dynamics of the traditional “conflict polygon” - the relationships between Kostylev, Vasilisa, Ash and Natasha. But love affairs, jealousy and the climactic murder scene - the intrigue that binds these four characters together - only superficially motivate stage action. Some of the events that make up the plot of the play take place off stage (the fight between Vasilisa and Natasha, Vasilisa’s revenge - overturning a boiling samovar on her sister). Kostylev’s murder takes place around the corner of the flophouse and is almost invisible to the viewer. All other characters in the play remain uninvolved in the love affair. The author deliberately takes all these events “out of focus”, inviting the viewer to take a closer look, or rather, listen to something else - the content of the numerous conversations and disputes of the night shelters.

Compositionally, the plot disunity of the characters, their alienation from each other (everyone thinks about his own, worries about himself) is expressed in the organization of the stage space. The characters are scattered across different corners of the stage and confined in disconnected, hermetically sealed micro-spaces. Gorky organizes communication between them with an eye to Chekhov’s principles of composition. Here is a typical fragment of the play:

Anna. I don’t remember when I was full......All my life I walked around in rags...all my unhappy life...For what?

Luke. Oh you, baby! Tired? Nothing!

Actor. Move with jack... jack, damn it!

Baron. And we have a king.

Mite. They will always beat you.

Satin. This is our habit...

Medvedev. King!

Bubnov. And I... w-well...

Anna. I'm dying, that's it...

In the above fragment, all the replicas are heard from different angles: dying words Anna is confused with the cries of the night shelters playing cards (Satin and Baron) and checkers (Bubnov and Medvedev). This polylogue, composed of replicas that do not fit together with each other, well conveys the author’s emphasis on the disunity of the night shelters: here communication is revealed that replaces communication. At the same time, it is important for the author to keep the viewer’s attention on the semantic supports of the text. The dotted line of leitmotifs (truth - faith, truth - lies) becomes such a support in the play, organizing the movement of the speech flow.

Other techniques are also noticeable that compensate for the relative weakening of the plot action and deepen the meaning of the drama. This is, for example, the use of “rhyming” (i.e., repeating, mirroring) episodes. Thus, two dialogues between Nastya and Baron, symmetrically located relative to each other, are mirrored. At the beginning of the play, Nastya defends herself from the Baron’s skeptical remarks: his attitude towards Nastya’s stories about “fatal love” and Gastosh is formulated by the saying “if you don’t like it, don’t listen, and don’t bother lying.” After Luka leaves, Nastya and the Baron seem to change roles: all the Baron’s stories about “wealth... hundreds of serfs... horses... cooks... carriages with coats of arms” are accompanied by the same remark from Nastya: “It wasn’t!” .

The exact semantic rhyme in the play consists of Luke’s parable about the righteous land and the episode with the Actor’s suicide. Both fragments coincide verbatim in the final lines: “And after that I went home and hanged myself...” // “Hey... you! Go... come here!... There... The actor... hanged himself!” Such compositional linking reveals the author’s position in relation to the results of Luke’s “preaching” activity. However, as already mentioned, the author is far from placing all the blame for the death of the Actor on Luka. The fate of the Actor is also connected with a twice-repeated episode in which the night shelters sing their song - “The sun rises and sets.” The actor “ruined” this particular song - in the final act the lines “I just want to be free... / I can’t break the chain” were never sung in it.

"Rhyming" episodes do not carry new information about the characters, but connect disparate fragments of action, giving it semantic unity and integrity. Even more subtle techniques of compositional “arrangement”, for example, a system of literary and theatrical allusions, serve the same purpose.

In an early episode, the Actor mentions a "good play", referring to Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. A quote from Hamlet (“Ophelia! O... remember me in your prayers!..”) already in the first act predicts future destiny The Actor himself. His last words before suicide, addressed to Tatarin are as follows: “Pray for me.” In addition to Hamlet, the Actor quotes King Lear several times (“Here, my faithful Kent...”). The phrase “I am on the way to rebirth”, which is important for the Actor, is also attributed to Lear. The Actor’s “favorite poem” was Beranger’s poem, which in the context of the play took on the meaning of a philosophical declaration: “Honor to the madman who will bring / to Mankind a golden dream.” Along with quotes from Western classics, a Pushkin line unexpectedly slips into the Actor’s speech: “Our nets brought in a dead man” (from the poem “The Drowned Man”). The semantic core of all these literary reminiscences is departure from life, death. The Actor’s plot path is thus set at the very beginning of the work, and by those artistic means, which define his profession - a “foreign” word, a quote pronounced from the stage.

In general, spoken speech, in accordance with the dramatic nature of the work, turns out to be an important means of deepening the meaning of the action. In “At the Bottom” the incredibly dense background is striking literary tradition aphorism. Here are just a few examples from a real waterfall of aphorisms and sayings: “such a life that you get up in the morning and howl”; “expect some sense from the wolf”; “when work is a duty, life is slavery!”; “not a single flea is bad: all are black, all jump”; “Where it’s warm for an old man, there’s his homeland”; “Everyone wants order, but there is a lack of reason.”

Aphoristic judgments acquire particular significance in the speech of the main “ideologists” of the play - Luka and Bubnov - heroes whose positions are indicated most clearly and definitely. A philosophical dispute, in which each of the characters in the play takes its own position, is supported by a common folk wisdom expressed in proverbs and sayings. True, this wisdom, as the author subtly shows, is not absolute, it is crafty. A statement that is too “round” can not only “push” towards the truth, but also lead away from it. In this regard, it is interesting that Satin’s most important monologue in the play, also rich in “chased” (and clearly conveyed to the hero by the author) formulations, is deliberately dotted with ellipses, signaling how difficult it is for the most important words in his life to be born in Satin’s mind.

Job description

M. Gorky's play “At the Depths” is rightfully one of the best dramatic works writer. This is evidenced by its incredible success over a long period of time in Russia and abroad. The play has caused and still causes conflicting interpretations about the characters depicted and its philosophical basis. Gorky acted as an innovator in dramaturgy, staging an important philosophical question about a person, about his place, role in life, about what is important to him.
The ambiguity of Gorky's play led to different theatrical productions. Often deep, interesting, sometimes controversial.
The most striking was the first stage embodiment of the drama (1902) by the Art Theater, famous directors K.S. Stanislavsky, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, with the direct participation of A.M. Gorky.

Content

Introduction. About M. Gorky’s drama “At the Lower Depths”………………………………………………………2
The history of stage interpretations of M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths”.……………..2
Performance-manifesto: “At the Depths” at the Moscow Art Theater (1902)………………………………………………………………………………...2
Romantic drama by Leonid Vivien (1956)…………………………………
Psychological drama of the “sixties”………………………………………………………
Modern reading of the drama. Productions by Anatoly Efros (1984) and the version of the “theater of the absurd” by Georgy Tovstonogov (1987)………………………...
Conclusion. The place of M. Gorky’s play in Russian drama…………………..
Notes………………………………………………………………………………………
References………………………………………………………………………………………

Description of the presentation by individual slides:

1 slide

Slide description:

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE NIZHNY NOVGOROD REGION State budgetary professional educational institution"Zavolzhsky Automotive Technical School Creative work on the topic: “The history of the creation of M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”.” Author: student group SA-17 Gurin N.A. Head: Grunicheva K.S. teacher of Russian language and literature at State Budgetary Educational Institution “ZAMT”

2 slide

Slide description:

Publication of M. Gorky’s play “At the Depths” Premiere at the Russia Theater at the turn of the century Heroes of the play Philosophical issues plays Main problem plays Conclusion Contents

3 slide

Slide description:

The play "At the Bottom" was first published in Munich in 1902. It was received by the censor on August 27, 1902, and on September 25 a conclusion was given about it, according to which “individual phrases and harsh, rude expressions should be excluded from the entire play...”.

4 slide

Slide description:

Initially the play was called “Nochlezhka”, then “Without the Sun”. Why "At the Bottom"? It's in the title deep meaning. People who have fallen to the “bottom” will never rise to the light, to a new life. The meaning of the play's title

5 slide

Slide description:

The premiere took place on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater in Moscow on December 18, 1902. The performance was performed 300 times in a row; in the spring of 1905, the 500th performance of the play was celebrated. “The first performance of this play was a complete triumph,” recalled Moscow Art Theater actress M.F. Andreeva. “The public went wild.” At the premiere, the author was called more than 15 times. “Something indescribable happened when M. Gorky finally went out alone to the calls,” noted a newspaper correspondent. Russian word" “We won’t remember such a success of a playwright...” In Russia, “At the Lower Depths” was published by the publishing house “Znanie” in 1903.

6 slide

Slide description:

“At the Bottom” - M. Gorky spent a long time looking for a suitable name for the drama. At the beginning of work on the play (December 1900), Gorky informed Stanislavsky: “I am slowly weaving a four-story dramatic stocking with poetry, but not in verse.<...>I feel that one scene was a success - thanks to the fact that the main thing in it actor appears the sun..." Such a long search for a suitable title for an already written play testifies to the enormous and, of course, symbolic meaning, which the author gave it.

7 slide

Slide description:

In the 1900s, a severe economic crisis broke out in Russia. After each crop failure, masses of ruined, impoverished peasants wandered around the country in search of income. And factories and factories were closed. Under the influence of severe economic oppression, a huge number of tramps appear who sink to the “bottom” of life. . RUSSIA AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURIES

8 slide

Slide description:

The building of the Bugrovskaya Nochlezhka shelter was built in 1880–1883. Construction was carried out at the expense of entrepreneur and philanthropist A.P. Bugrova. The inhabitants of the shelter served as prototypes for Gorky's play "At the Lower Depths". Nochlezhka is recognized as an object cultural heritage regional significance.

Slide 9

Slide description:

Bedroom layout. A drawing sent by Gorky to the Moscow Art Theater in connection with work on the production of the play “At the Depths”. At the top is Gorky's inscription: "This can give general idea about the inside of the shelter, but it’s too spacious, too much air." 1902

10 slide

Slide description:

11 slide

Slide description:

"Fitter, 40 years old." I recently found myself in a shelter due to difficult circumstances - my wife’s illness - and he feels like a stranger among the shelters. He has workplace, tools. He treats the inhabitants of the shelter with contempt: “...I am a working man... I’m ashamed to look at them...” He strives to escape from the shelter: “I’ll get out... I’ll rip off my skin, and I’ll get out... Now... my wife will die. ..” The tick is harsh and callous towards his wife, although he takes her illness and death hard. By the end of the action, he becomes more tolerant and more attentive to others. MITE

12 slide

Slide description:

VASKA ASH 28 years old, thief. This is an “aristocrat” among the night shelters - he has a separate room here. For the night shelters, a man is his own. He has money, and he gives his friends drinks at their request. This way of life does not give him satisfaction. “Come... with me,” he says to Natasha, “... I’ll give up stealing!.. I’m literate... I’ll work... I feel: I have to live... differently!.. I have to live like this... so that I can respect myself... that's why I'm a thief, because no one ever thought of calling me by another name... Call me... Natasha... have pity on me! I live a hard life... the life of a wolf is not very pleasing...”

Slide 13

Slide description:

Slide 14

Slide description:

Hookmaker. In a number of cases, the night shelters call him Asan, sometimes prince - a nickname common at that time and offensive to the Tatars. The Tatar is a kind of reasoner, preaching the need to observe morality and universal law. Most of his remarks in the work are of this nature. “Whoever has the law of the soul is good! Whoever lost the law is lost!.. Don’t offend a person - that’s the law!” But Tatar’s teachings look comical in a society that lives outside the laws and outside of ordinary morality. TATAR

15 slide

Slide description:

BARON Thirty-three years old. A man without a name, the night shelters use his former title when addressing him. It is not known what threw him to the “bottom”, most likely drunkenness. The combination of manners, words characteristic of an aristocrat, the remnants of a lordly gloss with the conditions of a dirty flophouse will often create a comic effect in the behavior of this, perhaps, the most absurd person in the play. “But... for some reason I was born... huh?” This is the tragedy of a person who did not notice how life passed and realized it too late.

16 slide

Slide description:

NASTYA “Girl, 24 years old,” the Baron’s partner. He tries to escape from a harsh and dirty life by escaping into a dream inspired by pulp novels, one of which, called “ Fatal love", she reads in the play, being ridiculed by the night shelters and crying over what she read. Nastya sees nothing bright in the life around her. “I’m tired of... I’m superfluous here.”

Slide 17

Slide description:

A wanderer who has come from nowhere and is on his way to nowhere. He is soft both in speech and in movements, affectionate and kind to everyone, does not have and does not want to have enemies. The only words coming out of his mouth are words of consolation, which he finds for almost every inhabitant of the LUKA shelter

18 slide

Slide description:

BUBNOV Kartuznik, 45 years old “All people on earth are superfluous.” “Noise is not a hindrance to death.” “Everything is like this: they are born, they live, they die. And I will die... and you... Why regret it? “Everyone wants order, but there is a lack of reason.” “And whoever is drunk and smart has two lands in him...” “It’s always better to leave on time.” “What do I need a conscience for? I’m not rich!” "Everything is a fairy tale."

Slide 19

Maxim Gorky (Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov)

(1868 - 1936)

The play “At the Bottom” (1902)

History of creation

• The concept of the play dates back to the early 1900s. In mid-October 1902, Maxim Gorky informed K.P. Pyatnitsky that he conceived a “cycle of dramas” of four plays, each of which would be dedicated to the depiction of a certain layer of Russian society. About the last of them the letter says: “Another one: tramps. Tatar, Jew, actor, hostess of a rooming house, thieves, detective, prostitutes. It will be scary."
• Gorky began writing the play “At the Lower Depths” at the end of 1901. On June 15, 1902, the play was finished. The name changed during the process (“Without a face”, “Nochlezhka”, “Bottom”, “At the bottom of life”).
• The premiere took place on December 31, 1902 at the Moscow Art Theater. K.S. Stanislavsky was not only the production director (together with Nemirovich-Danchenko), but also played the role of Satin. He recalled: “The performance was a tremendous success. They endlessly called directors, all the artists and... Gorky himself.”
• The production of the play on the stage of Russian theaters encountered great obstacles from censorship. Until 1905, playing “At the Bottom” was allowed only with large bills and each time with the consent of local authorities.
• The play was first published as a separate book in Munich (under the title “At the Bottom of Life”) at the end of 1902. In Russia - in the publishing house of the Knowledge Partnership in St. Petersburg at the end of January 1903. The demand for the book was unusually high: the entire circulation of the first St. Petersburg edition of 40,000 copies was sold out within two weeks; by the end of 1903, more than 75,000 copies had been sold - before that, no literary work had enjoyed such success.

Plot and composition

Exposition

Description of the furnishings of Kostylev’s doss house and the “former people” living in it.

Nochlezhka is “a cave-like basement. The ceiling is heavy, stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster.”

The room is, as it were, divided into cells in which people huddle, and tools are also stored here.

The inhabitants of the shelter are representatives of the social bottom, who have fallen due to circumstances.

Here former telegraph operator Satin, alcoholic Actor, thief Vaska Pepel, mechanic Kleshch and his sick wife Anna, prostitute Nastya, cap-maker Bubnov, drunken aristocrat Baron, shoemaker Alyoshka, hook-makers Tatarin and Crooked Zob. Kvashnya, a dumpling seller, and policeman Medvedev, Vasilisa’s uncle, are in the house. They are tied up difficult relationships, scandals often occur. Vasilisa, Kostylev's wife, loves Vaska and persuades him to kill her husband in order to become the sole mistress. Vaska is in love with Natalya, Vasilisa’s sister, whom she beats out of jealousy.

The beginning

At the height of the scandal, the wanderer Luka, a cheerful and kind old man, appears in the shelter. Luke loves people, tries to console everyone and give hope. He predicts happiness after death for Anna, tells the Actor about a free hospital for alcoholics, and advises Vaska and Natasha to move to Siberia. He is like a doctor who sees that a disease is incurable and wants to at least relieve suffering.

Development of action

The night shelter residents’ awareness of the horror of their situation, the emergence of hope under the influence of Luke’s “good” speeches that life will become better.

Climax

Increasing tension in the action, ending with the murder of old man Kostylev and the beating of Natasha.

Denouement

The collapse of the heroes' hopes: Anna dies, the Actor commits suicide, Ashes is arrested.

Topics and problems

Social

The truth about the life of the lower social classes was shown with such mercilessness that world drama has never known. The inhabitants of the “bottom” are thrown out of life due to the fault of society. The tragedy of the destinies of “former people” is shown.

Anna: “I don’t remember when I was full... I was shaking over every piece of bread... I was trembling all my life... I was tormented... so as not to eat anything else... All my life I walked around in rags... all my miserable life...”

WITH woodsman Kleshch: “There is no work... no strength... This is the truth! There is no refuge, there is no refuge! We need to breathe out... That’s the truth!”

In the images of the “masters of life”, the owner of the shelter Kostylev and his wife Vasilisa, the author emphasizes their immorality.

Philosophical

The play raises the problems of the disunity of people, the problems of the “bitter” truth and “elevating” lies, the purpose of man and the meaning of life.

The play is polyphonic in nature - there are many voices in it. The philosophical core of the play is formed by the collision of two philosophical “truths”: Luke and Satin.

“At the bottom” - social philosophical drama.

Main characters

Luke

• Wanderer of sixty years, “with a stick in his hand, with a knapsack over his shoulders, a bowler hat and a kettle at his belt.”
• Luka's past is unknown; apparently, he has problems with the authorities: when the police appear, he disappears. Luke teaches, jokes, consoles. His speech is always friendly and tends to be aphoristic: he speaks in proverbs.
• Luke’s aphorisms express his philosophy of life:

- “I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: all are black, all jump...”

- “And everyone is people! No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, if you were born a man, you will die a man...”

- “To love - you need to love the living... the living...”

- “Girl, someone needs to be kind... you need to feel sorry for people! Christ felt sorry for everyone and told us so... I’ll tell you - it’s time to feel sorry for a person... it happens well!”

- “Prison will not teach you goodness, and Siberia will not teach you... but man will teach you... yes! A person can teach goodness... very simply!”

- “What you believe in is what it is...”

Heroes about Luke

Nastya: “He was a good old man!.. And you... are not people... you are rust!”, “He saw everything... understood everything...”

Satin: “And in general... for many he was... like crumbs for the toothless...”, “The old man is not a charlatan! What is truth? Man - that's the truth! He understood this... you don’t! You are dumb as bricks... I understand the old man... yes! He lied... but it was out of pity for you, damn you!”; “He’s a smart guy!.. He... acted on me like acid on an old and dirty coin...”

Baron: “Like a band-aid for tears...”; "The old man is a charlatan..."

Mite: “He... was compassionate... You have... no pity”; “He... didn’t like the truth, he was an old man... He rebelled very much against the truth... that’s how it should be! True - what is the truth here? And without her, I can’t breathe..."

Tatar: “The old man was good... he had law in his soul! Whoever has the law of the soul is good! He who has lost the law is lost!..”

Luke awakened in the inhabitants of the shelter all the good that was in their souls. But at the most intense moment he disappears. The people who believed him, having lost their support, plunge into despair. The actor hanged himself after the old man left.

Satin

• The name of the hero - Konstantin - becomes known only in the third act of the play. Satin once worked as a telegraph operator, was educated, well-read, but now he is a sharper and an alcoholic. Despite this, words flash through his speech whose meaning he once knew (organon, sicambre, macrobiotics, Gibraltar, transcendental); he quotes Pushkin and uses metaphorical expressions. From Satin’s life history it is known that he served time in prison: “killed a scoundrel in passion and irritation... Because of his own sister...”
• Satin no longer believes in anything, he considers himself dead:

“Actor (poking his head out of the stove). One day you will be completely killed... to death...

Satin. And you are a fool.

Actor. Why?

Satin. Because you can’t kill twice.” (Act 1)

"Satin (shouting). Dead people don't hear! Dead people don’t feel... Scream... roar... dead people don’t hear!..” (Second Act)

• Satin is no stranger to compassion; he is treated with sympathy:

Mite: “You know how not to offend...”

Baron: “You speak... like a decent person”; “You know how to reason calmly.”

Satin is trying to stop the beating of Natasha, he is ready to become a witness in favor of Ash in the case of Kostylev’s murder.

• It is in Satin’s monologues that the author’s position is expressed:

“A person can believe and not believe... it’s his business! Man is free... he pays for everything himself: for faith, for unbelief, for love, for intelligence - man pays for everything himself, and therefore he is free!... Everything is in man, everything is for man!... Man -century! This is great! It sounds... proud! Human! We must respect the person! Don’t feel sorry... don’t humiliate him with pity... you have to respect him!”

Conflict

Two “truths” in the play

The production of the play on the imperial stage was prohibited. Nevertheless, St. Petersburg actors took part in two readings of the play “in person”: in 1903 - in the house of N.P. Karabchevsky and in a noble meeting.

Until 1905, the production of the play was permitted with large bills and each time with the consent of local authorities.

Two opposing forces - truth and lies - come face to face in the play after the appearance of old man Luke, for whom a white lie is equivalent to the truth. “your truth, not theirs.”

Characters

• Mikhail Ivanov Kostylev - 54 years old, hostel keeper
• Vasilisa Karpovna - his wife, 24 years old
• Natasha - her sister, 20 years old
• Medvedev - their uncle, a policeman, 50 years old
• Vaska Ash - 28 years old
• Tick ​​- Andrey Mitrich, mechanic, 40 years old
• Anna - his wife, 30 years old
• Nastya - girl, 24 years old
• Kvashnya - dumpling seller, under 40 years old
• Bubnov - cap player, 45 years old
• Baron - 33 years old
• Satin - under 40 years old
• Actor - under 40 years old
• Luke - wanderer, 60 years old
• Alyoshka - shoemaker, 20 years old
• Crooked Zob, Tatar - hook makers
• A few tramps without names or speeches

Plot

Act one

A cave-like basement. The ceiling is heavy, with crumbling plaster. Light from the audience. To the right behind the fence is Ash's closet, next to Bubnov's bunk, in the corner there is a large Russian stove, opposite the door to the kitchen where Kvashnya, Baron, and Nastya live. Behind the stove is a wide bed behind a chintz curtain. There are bunks all around. In the foreground, on a piece of wood, is a vice with an anvil. Kvashnya, Baron, and Nastya are sitting nearby, reading a book. On the bed behind the curtain, Anna coughs heavily. On the bunk, Bubnov examines the old, torn trousers. Next to him, Satin, who has just woken up, lies and growls. The Actor is fiddling with the stove.

The beginning of spring. Morning.

Kvashnya, talking with the Baron, promises to never marry again. Bubnov asks Satin why he “grunts”? Kvashnya continues to develop her idea that she is a free woman and will never agree to “give herself up to the fortress.” The tick rudely shouts to her: “You're lying! You will marry Abramka yourself.”

The Baron snatches the book from Nastya, who is reading, and laughs at the vulgar title “Fatal Love.” Nastya and Baron are fighting over a book.

Kvashnya scolds Kleshch as an old goat who brought his wife to death. The tick scolds lazily. Kvashnya is sure that Kleshch does not want to hear the truth. Anna asks for silence in order to die in peace, Kleshch reacts impatiently to his wife’s words, and Bubnov philosophically remarks: “Noise is not a hindrance to death.”

Kvashnya is surprised how Anna lived with such a “sinister”? The dying woman asks to be left alone.

Kvashnya and Baron are going to the market. Anna refuses the offer to eat dumplings, but Kvashnya still leaves the dumplings. The Baron teases Nastya, tries to anger her, and then hurriedly leaves to fetch Kvashnya.

Satin, who has finally woken up, asks who beat him the day before and why. Bubnov argues that it doesn’t matter, but they beat him for cards. The actor shouts from the stove that one day Satin will be completely killed. The Tick calls the Actor to get off the stove and start cleaning the basement. The actor objects, it’s the Baron’s turn. The Baron, peeking in from the kitchen, makes an excuse that he is busy - he is going with Kvashnya to the market. Let the Actor work, he has nothing to do, or Nastya. Nastya refuses. Kvashnya asks the Actor to take it away, he won’t break. The actor uses illness as an excuse: it is harmful for him to breathe dust, his body is poisoned by alcohol.

Satin says unclear words: “sicambrus”, “macrobiotics”, “transcendental”. Anna invites her husband to eat the dumplings left by Kvashnya. She herself languishes, anticipating an imminent end.

Bubnov asks Satin what these words mean, but Satin has already forgotten their meaning, and in general he is tired of all this talk, all the “human words” that he has heard probably a thousand times.

The actor recalls that he once played a gravedigger in Hamlet and quotes Hamlet’s words from there: “Ophelia! Oh, remember me in your prayers!”

A tick, sitting at work, creaks with a file. And Satin recalls that once in his youth he worked at the telegraph office, read a lot of books, and was an educated man!

Bubnov skeptically notes that he has heard this story “a hundred times!”, but he himself was a furrier and had his own establishment.

The actor is convinced that education is nonsense, the main thing is talent and self-confidence.

Meanwhile, Anna asks to open the door, she is stuffy. The tick does not agree: he is cold on the floor, he has a cold. The Actor approaches Anna and offers to take her out into the hallway. Supporting the patient, he takes her into the air. Kostylev, who meets them, laughs at them, what a “wonderful couple” they are.

Kostylev asks Kleshch whether Vasilisa was here this morning? I didn't see a tick. Kostylev scolds Kleshch that he takes up space in the shelter for five rubles, but pays two, he should have charged fifty dollars; “It’s better to throw a noose,” Kleshch retorts. Kostylev dreams that with this fifty dollars he will buy lamp oil and pray for his own and other people’s sins, because Kleshch does not think about his sins, so he brought his wife to the grave. The tick can't stand it and starts screaming at its owner. The returning Actor says that he arranged Anna well in the entryway. The owner notes that the good Actor will be credited with everything in the next world, but the Actor would be more satisfied if Kostylev now knocked off half of his debt. Kostylev immediately changes his tone and asks: “Can kindness of heart be compared with money?” Kindness is one thing, but duty is another. The actor calls Kostylev a scoundrel. The owner knocks on Ash's closet. Satin laughs that Ash will open it, and Vasilisa is with him. Kostylev is angry. Opening the door, Ash demands money from Kostylev for the watch, and when he finds out that he didn’t bring any money, he gets angry and scolds the owner. He roughly shakes Kostylev, demanding from him a debt of seven rubles. When the owner leaves, they explain to Ash that he was looking for his wife. Satin is surprised that Vaska hasn’t killed Kostylev yet. Ash replies that “he won’t ruin his life because of such rubbish.” Satin teaches Ash to “kill Kostylev cleverly, then marry Vasilisa and become the owner of the flophouse.” Ash is not happy with this prospect; the roomies will drink all his property in the tavern, because he is kind. Ash is angry that Kostylev woke him up at the wrong time, he just had a dream that he caught a huge bream. Satin laughs that it was not bream, but Vasilisa. Ash sends everyone and Vasilisa to hell. A tick returning from the street is dissatisfied with the cold. He didn’t bring Anna - Natasha took her to the kitchen.

Satin asks Ash for a nickel, but the Actor says that between them they need a dime. Vasily gives until they ask for a ruble. Satin admires the kindness of the thief, “there are no better people in the world.” Mite notices that they get money easily, that’s why they are kind. Satin objects: “Many people get money easily, but few part with it easily,” he reasons that if the work is pleasant, he might work. “When work is pleasure, life is good! When work is a duty, life is slavery!”

Satin and Actor go to the tavern.

Ash asks Kleshch about Anna’s health, he replies that he will soon die. Ash advises Tick not to work. “How to live?” - he is interested. “Others live,” Ash notes. The tick speaks with contempt of those around him; he believes that he will escape from here. Ash objects: those around him are no worse than Tick, and “they have no use for honor and conscience. You can't wear them instead of boots. Those who have power and strength need honor and conscience.”

A chilled Bubnov enters and, in response to Ash’s question about honor and conscience, says that he doesn’t need a conscience: “I’m not rich.” Ash agrees with him, but Tick is against it. Bubnov asks: does Kleshch want to occupy his conscience? Ash advises Tick to talk about conscience with Satin and Baron: they are smart, although they are drunkards. Bubnov is sure: “He who is drunk and smart has two lands in him.”

Ash recalls how Satin said that it is convenient to have a conscientious neighbor, but being conscientious yourself is “not profitable.”

Natasha brings the wanderer Luka. He politely greets those present. Natasha introduces the new guest, inviting him to go to the kitchen. Luke assures: for old people, where it’s warm, there’s a homeland. Natasha tells Kleshch to come for Anna later and be kind to her, she is dying and she is scared. Ash objects that dying is not scary, and if Natasha kills him, then he will also be happy to die from a clean hand.

Natasha doesn't want to listen to him. Ash admires Natasha. He wonders why she is rejecting him; she will disappear here anyway.

“It will disappear through you,” Bubnov assures.

Kleshch and Bubnov say that if Vasilisa finds out about Ash’s attitude towards Natasha, it will be bad for both of them.

In the kitchen, Luka sings a mournful song. Ash wonders why people suddenly feel sadness? He shouts at Luka not to howl. Vaska loved to listen to beautiful singing, and this howl brings melancholy. Luke is surprised. He thought he was a good singer. Luka says that Nastya is sitting in the kitchen and crying over a book. The Baron assures that it was out of stupidity. Ash offers the Baron to bark like a dog on all fours for half a bottle of booze. The Baron is surprised at how happy Vaska is from this. After all, now they are equal. Luka sees the baron for the first time. I saw counts, princes, and the baron for the first time, “and even then he was spoiled.”

Luke says that the night shelters have a good life. But the Baron remembers how he used to drink coffee with cream while still in bed.

Luke notes: people become smarter over time. “They live worse and worse, but they want everything better, stubborn!” The Baron is interested in the old man. Who is this? He answers: wanderer. He says that everyone in the world is a wanderer, and “our land is a wanderer in the sky.” The Baron goes with Vaska to the tavern and, saying goodbye to Luka, calls him a rogue. Alyosha enters with an accordion. He starts screaming and acting like a fool, which is no worse than others, so why doesn’t Medyakin allow him to walk down the street. Vasilisa appears and also swears at Alyosha, driving him out of sight. He orders Bubnov to drive Alyosha away if he appears. Bubnov refuses, but Vasilisa angrily reminds him that since he lives out of mercy, then let him obey his masters.

Interested in Luka, Vasilisa calls him a rogue, since he has no documents. The hostess is looking for Ash and, not finding him, snaps at Bubnov for the dirt: “So that there is no speck!” She angrily shouts at Nastya to clean up the basement. Having learned that her sister was here, Vasilisa becomes even more angry and shouts at the shelters. Bubnov is surprised how much anger there is in this woman. Nastya replies that with a husband like Kostylev, everyone will go wild. Bubnov explains: the “mistress” came to her lover and didn’t find him there, that’s why she’s angry. Luka agrees to clean the basement. Bubnov learned from Nastya the reason for Vasilisa’s anger: Alyoshka blurted out that Vasilisa was tired of Ash, so she was driving the guy away. Nastya sighs that she’s superfluous here. Bubnov replies that she is superfluous everywhere... and all people on earth are superfluous...

Medvedev enters and asks about Luka, why doesn’t he know him? Luka replies that not all the land is included in his plot, there is some left. Medvedev asks about Ash and Vasilisa, but Bubnov denies that he knows nothing. Kvashnya returns. She complains that Medvedev is asking her to marry. Bubnov approves of this union. But Kvashnya explains: a woman is better off in the hole than in marriage.

Luke brings Anna. Kvashnya, pointing to the patient, says that her husband drove her to death.

A noise is heard in the hallway. Kostylev calls Abram Medvedev: to protect Natasha, who is being beaten by her sister. Luka asks Anna what the sisters didn’t share. She replies that they are both well-fed and healthy. Anna tells Luka that he is kind and gentle. He explains: “They crushed it, that’s why it’s soft.”

Act two

Same situation. Evening. On the bunks, Satin, Baron, Crooked Zob and Tatar are playing cards, Kleshch and Actor are watching the game. Bubnov plays checkers with Medvedev. Luka is sitting by Anna's bedside. The stage is dimly lit by two lamps. One is burning near the gamblers, the other is near Bubnov.

Tatar and Crooked Zob sing, Bubnov sings too. Anna tells Luka about her hard life, in which she remembers nothing except beatings. Luke consoles her. The Tatar shouts at Satin, who is wandering into card game. Anna recalls how she was hungry all her life, afraid of eating up her family, of eating an extra piece; Could there really be torment waiting for her in the next world? In the basement you can hear the screams of gamblers, Bubnov, and then he sings a song:

Guard as you wish... I won’t run away anyway... I want to be free - oh! I can't break the chain...

Crooked Zob sings along. The Tatar shouts that the Baron is hiding the card in his sleeve and is cheating. Satin calms Tatarin down, saying that he knows: they are swindlers, why did he agree to play with them? The Baron reassures him that he lost a ten-kopeck piece, but shouts at him for a three-ruble note. Crooked Zob explains to the Tatar that if the shelters begin to live honestly, they will die of hunger in three days! Satin scolds the Baron: educated person, but didn’t learn to cheat at cards. Abram Ivanovich lost to Bubnov. Satin counts the winnings - fifty-three kopecks. The actor asks for three kopecks, and then he himself wonders why he needs them? Satin invites Luka to the tavern, but he refuses. The actor wants to read poetry, but realizes with horror that he has forgotten everything, that he has drunk away his memory. Luka reassures the Actor that there is a cure for drunkenness, but he forgot in which city the hospital is located. Luka convinces the Actor that he will be cured, pull himself together, and begin to live well again. Anna calls Luka to talk to her. The tick stands in front of his wife, then leaves. Luka feels sorry for Kleshch - he feels bad, Anna replies that she has no time for her husband. She withered away from him. Luka consoles Anna that she will die and she will feel better. “Death - it calms everything down... it is gentle for us... If you die, you will rest!” Anna is afraid that suffering will suddenly await her in the next world. Luke says that the Lord will call her and say that she lived hard, let her now rest. Anna asks what if she recovers? Luka asks: for what, for new flour? But Anna wants to live longer, she even agrees to suffer if peace awaits her later. Ash comes in and screams. Medvedev is trying to calm him down. Luka asks to be silent: Anna is dying. Ash agrees with Luka: “If you please, grandfather, I will respect you!” You, brother, are great. You lie well... you tell fairy tales nicely! Lie, there’s nothing... there’s not enough pleasant things in the world, brother!”

Vaska asks Medvedev if Vasilisa beat Natasha badly? The policeman makes an excuse: “it’s a family matter, not his, Ash’s, business.” Vaska assures that if he wants, Natasha will leave with him. Medvedev is outraged that the thief dares to make plans about his niece. He threatens to take Ash to clean water. At first, Vaska says in a passion: try it. But then he threatens that if he is taken to the investigator, he will not remain silent. He will tell you that Kostylev and Vasilisa pushed him into stealing; they sell stolen goods. Medvedev is sure: no one will believe a thief. But Ash confidently says that they will believe the truth. Ash also threatens Medvedev that he himself will be confused. The policeman leaves so as not to run into trouble. Ash smugly remarks: Medvedev ran to complain to Vasilisa. Bubnov advises Vaska to be careful. But you can’t take Yaroslavl’s Ashes with your bare hands. “If there is war, we will fight,” the thief threatens.

Luka advises Ash to go to Siberia, Vaska jokes that he will wait until he is taken at public expense. Luka persuades that people like Ash are needed in Siberia: “They are needed there.” Ash replies that his path was predetermined: “My path is marked out for me! My parent spent his whole life in prison and ordered the same for me... When I was little, at that time they called me a thief, the son of a thief...” Luka praises Siberia, calls it the “golden side.” Vaska wonders why Luka keeps lying. The old man replies: “And what do you really need badly... think about it! She really might be too much for you...” Ash asks Luke if there is a God? The old man replies: “If you believe, it is; If you don’t believe it, no... What you believe in is what it is.” Bubnov goes to the tavern, and Luka, slamming the door as if leaving, carefully climbs onto the stove. Vasilisa goes to Ash’s room and calls Vasily there. He refuses; he was tired of everything and so was she. Ash looks at Vasilisa and admits that, despite her beauty, he never had a heart for her. Vasilisa is offended that Ash suddenly stopped loving her. The thief explains that it’s not all of a sudden, she doesn’t have a soul, like animals, she and her husband. Vasilisa admits to Ash that she loved in him the hope that he would get her out of here. She offers Ash her sister if he frees her from her husband: “Take this noose off me.” Ash grins: she came up with a great idea: her husband - in the coffin, her lover - in hard labor, and herself... Vasilisa asks him to help through her friends, if Ash himself does not want to. Natalya will be his payment. Vasilisa beats her sister out of jealousy, and then she cries out of pity. Kostylev, who entered quietly, finds them and shouts at his wife: “Beggar... pig...”

Ash drives Kostylev, but he is the master and decides where he should be. The ashes shake Kostylev vigorously by the collar, but Luka makes a noise on the stove, and Vaska lets the owner out. Ash realized that Luke heard everything, but he did not deny it. He started making noise on purpose so that Ash wouldn’t strangle Kostylev. The old man advises Vaska to stay away from Vasilisa, take Natasha, and go with her away from here. Ash can't decide what to do. Luke says that Ash is still young, he will have time to “get a woman, let him goes better there’s one from here before they kill him here.”

The old man notices that Anna has died. Ashes don't like dead people. Luke replies that we must love the living. They go to the tavern to inform Kleshch about his wife’s death.

The actor remembered a poem by Paul Beranger, which he wanted to tell Luke in the morning:

Gentlemen! If the holy world does not know how to find the way to truth, - Honor the madman who brings a golden dream to Humanity!

If tomorrow the sun forgot to illuminate the path of our land, Tomorrow the whole world would be illuminated by the thought of some madman...

Natasha, who was listening to the Actor, laughs at him, and he asks where did Luka go? As soon as it gets warm, the Actor is going to go look for a city where he can be treated for drunkenness. He admits that his stage name is Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, but no one here knows or wants to know, it’s a shame to lose his name. “Even dogs have nicknames. Without a name there is no person.”

Natasha sees the deceased Anna and tells Actor and Bubnov about this. Bubnov notes: there will be no one to cough at night. He warns Natasha: The ashes “will break her head,” Natasha doesn’t care who she dies from. Those who enter look at Anna, and Natasha is surprised that no one regrets Anna. Luke explains that the living should be pitied. “We don’t feel sorry for the living... we can’t feel sorry for ourselves... where is it!” Bubnov philosophizes - everyone will die. Everyone advises Klesh to report his wife’s death to the police. He is grieving: he only has forty kopecks, what should he use to bury Anna? Crooked Goiter promises that he will collect a nickel or a dime for each night's shelter. Natasha is afraid to walk through the dark hallway and asks Luka to accompany her. The old man advises her to be afraid of the living.

The actor shouts to Luka to name the city where he is treated for drunkenness. Satin is convinced that everything is a mirage. There is no such city. The Tatar stops them so they don’t shout in front of the dead woman. But Satin says that the dead don't care. Luka appears at the door.

Act three

A vacant lot littered with various rubbish. In the back there is a wall made of refractory bricks, to the right there is a log wall and everything is overgrown with weeds. To the left is the wall of Kostylev’s shelter. In the narrow passage between the walls there are boards and beams. Evening. Natasha and Nastya are sitting on the boards. On the firewood are Luka and Baron, next to them are Kleshch and Baron.

Nastya talks about her alleged former date with a student in love with her, who was ready to shoot himself because of his love for her. Bubnov laughs at Nastya’s fantasies, but the Baron asks not to interfere with her lying further.

Nastya continues to fantasize that the student’s parents do not give consent to their marriage, but he cannot live without her. She supposedly says a tender farewell to Raoul. Everyone laughs - last time the lover’s name was Gaston. Nastya is indignant that they don’t believe her. She claims: she had true love. Luka consoles Nastya: “Tell me, girl, it’s nothing!” Natasha reassures Nastya that everyone behaves this way out of envy. Nastya continues to fantasize about the tender words she spoke to her lover, persuading him not to take his own life, not to upset his beloved parents/The Baron laughs - this is a story from the book “Fatal Love”. Luka consoles Nastya and believes her. The Baron laughs at Nastya’s stupidity, although noting her kindness. Bubnov wonders why people love lies so much. Natasha is sure: it is more pleasant than the truth. So she dreams that tomorrow a special stranger will come and something completely special will happen. And then he realizes that there is nothing to wait for. The Baron picks up her phrase that there is nothing to wait for, and he doesn’t expect anything. Everything has already... happened! Natasha says that sometimes she imagines herself dead and she becomes terrified. The Baron takes pity on Natasha, who is being tormented by her sister. She asks: who has it easier?

Suddenly Mite shouts that not everyone is feeling bad. If only everyone wouldn't be so sad. Bubnov is surprised by Kleshch's cry. The Baron goes to make peace with Nastya, otherwise she won’t give him money for a drink.

Bubnov is unhappy that people lie. Okay, Nastya is used to “touching up her face... it puts a blush on her soul.” But why does Luka lie without any benefit to himself? Luka reprimands the Baron not to upset Nastya’s soul. Let her cry if she wants. Baron agrees. Natasha asks Luka why he is kind. The old man is sure that someone needs to be kind. “It’s time to feel sorry for a person... it happens well...” He tells the story of how, as a watchman, he took pity on the thieves who were breaking into the dacha guarded by Luka. Then these thieves turned out to be good men. Luka concludes: “If I hadn’t had pity on them, they might have killed me... or something else... And then - court, prison, and Siberia... what’s the point? Prison will not teach you goodness, and Siberia will not teach you... but man will teach you... yes! A person can teach goodness... very simply!”

Bubnov himself cannot lie and always tells the truth. The tick jumps up as if stung and screams, where does Bubnov see the truth?! “There is no work - that’s the truth!” The tick hates everyone. Luka and Natasha regret that Tick resembles a madman. Ash asks about Tick and adds that he does not love him - he is painfully angry and proud. What is he proud of? Horses are the most hardworking, so are they superior to humans?

Luka, continuing the conversation started by Bubnov about the truth, tells the following story. There lived a man in Siberia who believed in “ righteous land", which is inhabited by special good people. This man endured all the insults and injustices in the hope that someday he would go there; this was his favorite dream. And when the scientist came and proved that there was no such land, this man hit the scientist, cursed him as a scoundrel, and hanged himself. Luka says that he will soon leave the shelter for the “Khokhols” to look at the faith there.

Ash invites Natasha to leave with him, she refuses, but Ash promises to quit stealing, he is literate and will work. He offers to go to Siberia, assures us that we must live differently from how they live, better, “so that you can respect yourself.”

Since childhood he was called a thief, so he became a thief. “Call me something else, Natasha,” Vaska asks. But Natasha doesn’t trust anyone, she’s waiting for something better, her heart aches, and Natasha doesn’t love Vaska. At times she likes him, and at other times it makes her sick to look at him. Ash persuades Natasha that over time she will love him as he loves her. Natasha asks mockingly how Ash manages to love two people at the same time: her and Vasilisa? Ash replies that he is drowning, as if in a quagmire, no matter what he grabs, everything is rotten. He could have loved Vasilisa if she had not been so greedy for money. But she doesn’t need love, but money, will, debauchery. Ash admits that Natasha is a different matter.

Luka persuades Natasha to leave with Vaska, just to remind him more often that he is good. And who does she live with? Her relatives are worse than wolves. And Ash is a tough guy. Natasha doesn't trust anyone. Ash is sure: she has only one road... but he won’t let her go there, he’d rather kill her himself. Natasha is surprised that Ash is not her husband yet, but is already going to kill her. Vaska hugs Natasha, and she threatens that if Vaska touches her with a finger, she will not tolerate it and will hang herself. Ash swears that his hands will wither if he offends Natasha.

Vasilisa, standing at the window, hears everything and says: “So we got married! Advice and love!..” Natasha is scared, but Ash is sure: no one will dare to offend Natasha now. Vasilisa objects that Vasily does not know how to either offend or love. He was more daring in words than in deeds. Luka is surprised by the poisonousness of the “mistress’s” language.

Kostylev drives Natalya to put the samovar and set the table. Ash intercedes, but Natasha stops him so as not to command her, “it’s too early!”

Ash tells Kostylev that they mocked Natasha and that’s enough. “Now she is mine!” The Kostylevs laugh: he hasn’t bought Natasha yet. Vaska threatens not to have much fun, so that they don’t have to cry. Luka drives Ashes, whom Vasilisa incites and wants to provoke. Ash threatens Vasilisa, and she tells him that Ash’s plans will not come true.

Kostylev wonders if it’s true that Luka decided to leave. He replies that he will go wherever his eyes lead him. Kostylev says that it is not good to wander. But Luke calls himself a wanderer. Kostylev scolds Luka for not having a passport. Luke says that “there are people, and there are men.” Kostylev does not understand Luka and gets angry. And he replies that Kostylev will never be a man, even if “the Lord God himself commands him to.” Kostylev drives Luka away, Vasilisa joins her husband: Luka has a long tongue, let him get out. Luke promises to leave into the night. Bubnov confirms that it is always better to leave on time, tells his story about how, by leaving on time, he avoided hard labor. His wife got involved with the master furrier, and so cleverly that, just in case, they would poison Bubnov so as not to interfere.

Bubnov beat his wife, and the master beat him. Bubnov even thought about how to “kill” his wife, but came to his senses and left. The workshop was registered to his wife, so he turned out to be as naked as a falcon. This is also facilitated by the fact that Bubnov is a heavy drinker and very lazy, as he himself admits to Luka.

Satin and Actor appear. Satin demands that Luka confess to lying to the Actor. The actor didn't drink vodka today, but worked - he washed the street. He shows the money he earned - two five-altyn. Satin offers to give him the money, but the Actor says that he earns his way.

Satin complains that he blew the cards “all to smithereens.” There are “sharps smarter than me!” Luke calls Satin a cheerful person. Satin recalls that in his youth he was funny, loved to make people laugh, and to represent on stage. Luka wonders how Satin got to present life? It’s unpleasant for Satin to stir up his soul. Luka wants to understand how such a smart person suddenly ended up at the very bottom. Satin replies that he spent four years and seven months in prison, and after prison there is no going anywhere. Luka wonders why Satin went to prison? He replies that he is a scoundrel, whom he killed in passion and irritation. In prison I learned to play cards.

For whom did he kill? - asks Luka. Satin replies that because of his own sister, but he does not want to say anything more, and his sister died nine years ago, she was nice.

Satin asks the returning Tick why he is so gloomy. The mechanic doesn’t know what to do, there is no tool - the whole funeral was “eaten”. Satin advises not to do anything - just live. But Kleshch is ashamed of living like this. Satin objects, because people are not ashamed that they doomed Tick to such a bestial existence.

Natasha screams. Her sister hits her again. Luka advises calling Vaska Ash, and the Actor runs away after him.

Crooked Zob, Tatarin, Medvedev take part in the fight. Satin is trying to push Vasilisa away from Natasha. Vaska Pepel appears. He pushes everyone aside and runs after Kostylev. Vaska sees that Natasha’s legs are scalded with boiling water, she, almost unconscious, says to Vasily: “Take me, bury me.” Vasilisa appears and shouts that Kostylev was killed. Vasily does not understand anything, he wants to take Natasha to the hospital, and then settle accounts with her offenders. (The lights on the stage go out. Individual surprised exclamations and phrases are heard.) Then Vasilisa shouts in a triumphant voice that Vaska Ash killed her husband. Calling the police. She says that she saw everything herself. Ash approaches Vasilisa, looks at Kostylev’s corpse and asks if she should also be killed, Vasilisa? Medvedev calls the police. Satin reassures Ash: killing in a fight is not a very serious crime. He, Satin, also beat the old man and is ready to act as a witness. Ash admits: Vasilisa encouraged him to kill her husband. Natasha suddenly shouts that Ash and her sister are at the same time. Vasilisa was disturbed by her husband and sister, so they killed her husband and scalded her by knocking over the samovar. Ash is stunned by Natasha's accusation. He wants to refute this terrible accusation. But she does not listen and curses her offenders. Satin is also surprised and tells Ash that this family “will drown him.”

Natasha, almost delirious, screams that her sister taught her, and Vaska Pepel killed Kostylev, and asks to be put in prison.

Act four

The setting of the first act, but there is no Ashes room. Kleshch sits at the table and repairs the accordion. At the other end of the table are Satin, Baron, Nastya. They drink vodka and beer. The Actor is fiddling with the stove. Night. It's windy outside.

The tick did not even notice how Luka disappeared in the confusion. The Baron adds: “... like smoke from the face of fire.” Satin says in the words of a prayer: “In this way sinners disappear from the face of the righteous.” Nastya stands up for Luka, calling everyone present rusty. Satin laughs: For many, Luka was like a crumb for the toothless, and the Baron adds: “Like a plaster for abscesses.” Kleshch also stands up for Luka, calling him compassionate. The Tatar is convinced that the Koran should be a law for people. Mite agrees - we must live according to Divine laws. Nastya wants to leave here. Satin advises her to take the Actor with her, they are on their way.

Satin and Baron list the muses of art, but cannot remember the patroness of the theater. The actor tells them - this is Melpomene, calls them ignoramuses. Nastya screams and waves her arms. Satin advises the Baron not to interfere with the neighbors doing what they want: let them scream and go to God knows where. The Baron calls Luka a charlatan. Nastya indignantly calls him a charlatan.

Kleshch notes that Luka “really did not like the truth and rebelled against it.” Satin shouts that “man is the truth!” The old man lied out of pity for others. Satin says that he read: there is a truth that is comforting and reconciling. But this lie is needed by those who are weak in soul, who hide behind it like a shield. He who is the master is not afraid of life, does not need lies. “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the God of a free man."

The Baron recalls that their family, which came from France, was rich and noble under Catherine. Nastya interrupts: the Baron made it all up. He's angry. Satin reassures him, “... forget about grandfather’s carriages... in the carriage of the past, you won’t go anywhere...”. Satin asks Nastya about Natasha. She replies that Natasha left the hospital a long time ago and disappeared. The night shelters are discussing who will “seat” whom more tightly, Vaska Ashes Vasilisa or she Vaska. They come to the conclusion that Vasili

and the cunning one will “turn out”, and Vaska will go to hard labor in Siberia. The Baron again quarrels with Nastya, explaining to her that he is no match for him, the Baron. Nastya laughs in response - the Baron lives on her handouts, “like a worm on an apple.”

Seeing that the Tatar went to pray, Satin says: “Man is free... he pays for everything himself, and therefore he is free!.. Man is the truth.” Satin claims that all people are equal. “Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and his brain. Human! This is great! That sounds… proud!” He then adds that a person should be respected, and not humiliated with pity. He talks about himself that he is a “convict, a murderer, a sharpie”; when he walks down the street, people avoid him, call him a charlatan, and say that he needs to work. Why work? To be full? Satin is convinced: “Man is above satiety!” The Baron admires Satin, but he himself is a coward. From the time he became aware of himself, there was a fog in his head. The impression he had from life was that he was just changing clothes: first he wore a uniform, then a tailcoat, then a poor little outfit. When he squandered government money, he put on a convict uniform. This is all pretty stupid. The Baron asks himself: “And... for some reason I was born... huh?” Satin responds with the words of Luke: “Man is born for the best.”

The actor slides off the stove and asks Tatarin to pray for him, but Tatarin replies: “Pray yourself.” The actor, having drunk vodka, almost runs out into the hallway. Satin is surprised by the Actor’s behavior. Bubnov and Medvedev, drunk, enter the shelter. They are surprised by the absence of people and wonder where everyone has gone. Bubnov says that he is kind, if he were rich, he would run a free tavern for the poor. I would take Satin. But Satin now wants to get something from Bubnov, and he gives the only ruble he has left, and small change of five and two kopecks. Satin claims that this money will be safer for him.

Alyosha enters. Having learned that Kleshch repaired the accordion, he takes it and sings.

Kvashnya comes and complains that it’s cold outside. She sees that Medvedev has been drinking and scolds him. Satin intercedes. And Kvashnya explains that she took Medvedev as her roommate so that he would protect her, but he decided to drink. This is no good. Satin laughs that Kvashnya chose a bad assistant. She agrees, but Satin will not go to her roommate, and if he did, he would lose her at cards in a week. He agrees: “That’s right, mistress! I'll lose..."

The night shelters are going to have fun at night. In the meantime, they sing a song: “The sun rises and sets, But it’s dark in my prison!”

The Baron runs in and shouts that the Actor hanged himself. Satin says quietly: “Eh... ruined the song... fool!”

Theater productions

First productions

• December 18 - Moscow Art Theater, directors K. S. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, art. Simov; Kostylev - Burdzhalov, Vasilisa - Muratova, Natasha - Andreeva, Medvedev - Gribunin, Ash - Kharlamov, Kleshch - Zagarov, Anna - Savitskaya, Nastya - Knipper, Kvashnya - Samarova, Bubnov - Luzhsky, Satin - Stanislavsky, Actor - Gromov, Baron - Kachalov, Luka - Moskvin, Alyoshka - Adashev, Krivoy Zob - Baranov, Tatarin - Vishnevsky). By the 60th anniversary of the first production (December 18, 1962), the play was performed at the Moscow Art Theater 1451 times.

Among the subsequent pre-revolutionary and Soviet performers at the Moscow Art Theater (in chronological order): Khmelev, Raevsky (Kostylev), Shevchenko (Vasilisa), Alexandrov, Kaluzhsky, Batalov, Gribov, Gotovtsev (Medvedev), Leonidov, Sudakov, Dobronravov, Yarov (Ashes), Giatsintova, Tarasova, Popova (Nastya), Istrin, Tarkhanov , Toporkov, V. Verbitsky (Bubnov), Sudbinin, Massalitinov, Podgorny, Boleslavsky, Ershov, Prudkin (Satin), Geyrot, Ershov; V. Verbitsky, Massalsky (Baron), Artem, Shakhalov, Orlov, Sinitsyn, Sudakov, V. Popov (Actor), Tarkhanov, Shishkov, Gribov (Luka).

Staging the play on the imperial stage was prohibited, but with the participation of St. Petersburg actors there were two readings of the play “in person”: in 1903 - in the house of N.P. Karabchevsky and in the noble assembly (Vasilisa - Strepetova, Natasha - Muzil-Borozdina, Ashes - Apollonsky , Nastya - Pototskaya, Bubnov - Sanin, Satin - Dalsky, Baron - Dalmatov, Luka - Davydov).

Until 1905, the production of the play was permitted with large bills and with the consent of local authorities. Nevertheless, productions took place in 1903: Vyatka City Theater; Kyiv theaters Solovtsova (dir. Ivanovsky, Satin - Nedelin, Luka - Borisovsky) and Borodaya (dir. Sokolovsky, Ashes - Muromtsev, Baron - Ludvigov); Nizhny Novgorod Theater (Basmanov's enterprise), St. Petersburg theaters: Vasileostrovsky Theater, Nekrasova-Kolchitskaya Theater, New theater Nemetti (Actor –