Peshekhonova O.: The history of writing and the first publications of A. Ostrovsky's plays. "Our people - we will be numbered!" A.N. Obvious and unknown facts of the biography of Ostrovsky and the play people are numbered

Ostrovsky's play "Our people - we will count" is very interesting to the modern reader. In the play, the author, with his inherent humor, describes the merchant environment with its own habits and aspirations. The main characters of the work are simultaneously narrow-minded and arrogant, stubborn and short-sighted. Each of the characters in the play deserves close attention.

Samson Silych Bolshov, a merchant, head of the family, is above all concerned with his financial affairs. He is ignorant and self-serving, it was these qualities that played a cruel joke on him. His wife, Agrafena Kondratyevna, is a typical merchant's wife. Having received no education, she nevertheless has a very high opinion of herself. Agrafena Kondratyevna leads a surprisingly primitive life. She does not care about anything, does not seek to somehow diversify everyday reality. She lives only by pressing, everyday problems.

Daughter Olympiada Samsonovna, or Lipochka, is extremely funny. She is ill-mannered, uneducated, does not even know how to dance properly. But at the same time, she is firmly convinced that she deserves the most profitable groom. Especially ridiculous and absurd are Lipochka's arguments about the desire to marry a noble. The clerk Lazar Elizarych Podkhalyuzin, whom Lipochka marries as a result, is selfish, selfish, he has not the slightest gratitude to the merchant Voltov, to whom Podkhalyuzin, one might say, owes everything. Podkhalyuzin values ​​his own person above all else. And as a result, he achieves what is so important to him.

The rest of the characters complement the picture of the merchant's life drawn by the author. Among the characters are the lively matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna, the solicitor Sysoy Psoich Rispozhensky, and the housekeeper Fominishna, and the boy Tishka, who served in the Bolshovs' house. All the heroes of the play are equally primitive, there is not the slightest hint of nobility, striving for the beautiful and the sublime in them. The ultimate dream for them is the provision of everyday, everyday needs.

The relationship between "fathers" and "children" in this play is interesting. At the very beginning of the work, the reader gets the opportunity to observe the quarrel between Lipochka and her mother. There is not the slightest respect in the daughter. Lipochka simply and frankly declares: “That's what God created for you to complain about. You yourself are not very important to me! "

Lipochka is firmly convinced that she is much better educated and educated than her mother. Of course, such statements from the outside seem especially ridiculous. Lipochka arrogantly says: "... you yourself, I must confess, have not been brought up to anything." And then she proudly boasts: “But I grew up and looked at the secular tone, and I see that I am much more educated than others. Well, I should indulge your nonsense! "

During a quarrel between Liplets and their mother, they exchange characteristics that are unflattering to each other. Then, however, they reconcile. As a result, Ag-rafena Kondratyevna promises to buy bracelets with emeralds. And on this, complete agreement reigns between them. What can such a scene testify to? Lipochka is completely devoid of such a quality as respect for elders. She is indifferent to her mother and father. Lipochka thinks only of herself. She is petty and stupid. Lipochka fully corresponds to the family atmosphere depicted in this play.

“Fathers” also treat their “children” with complete indifference. For the merchant Bolshova, the daughter is only a means to increase capital. Initially, he intends to marry his daughter to a wealthy man. And then, when a money gamble comes to the merchant's mind, which will allow him to look bankrupt in the eyes of everyone around him, while remaining in fact a wealthy person, Podkhalyuzin becomes Lipochka's fiancé.

In relation to his daughter, the big merchant seems to be a real tyrant. He keeps Lipochka locked up, then gives her in marriage solely at his discretion. the big one confidently declares about his daughter: “For whom I command, for that and will go, my brainchild: I want to eat with porridge, I want butter”. This attitude towards the daughter subsequently yields its results. Lipochka becomes the wife of Podkha-lyuzin, thanks to this she breaks free from the power of her father. And he no longer wants to show either pity or compassion to his elderly father. a big one turns to Podkhalyuzin and Lipochka: "Help me out, kids, help me out!" And in response he hears assurances: “Well, darling, we can't stay with anything ourselves. After all, we are not some bourgeoisie. " At the same time, Lipochka reproaches her father: “I have lived with you, my dear, until I was twenty - I have not seen the light. Well, will you order me to give you the money, and then go again in chintz dresses? "

Such statements of "children" speak for themselves. Podkhalyuzin and his wife do not want to help their father out of the debt hole, they are completely indifferent to the fact that the elderly person is in such a deplorable situation.

The play "Our People - Let Us Count" shows the world of spiritless people, in which everyone lives according to their own laws. And the "children", growing up, adopt the attitude of the "fathers" to life, so they do not have the slightest doubt about what to do in the future.

The playwright did not invent many plots for his comedies, but took them directly from life. The experience of serving in the Moscow courts, where property disputes, cases of false bankruptcies, and conflicts over inheritance were considered, came in handy. Ostrovsky, it seems, simply transferred all this to the pages of his plays. One of these comedies, taken from the very thick of the merchant's life, was the comedy "Bankrupt", which the playwright wrote at the very end of the 40s of the 19th century. It was published in the "Moskvityanin" magazine in 1850 under the title "Our people - we will be numbered!" and brought the young author well-deserved fame.

The plot of the comedy is based on a very common case of fraud in the merchant environment in the last century: a rich merchant, Samson Silych Bolshov, borrowed a fairly large sum of money from other merchants, not wanting to return it, declared his bankruptcy. And he transferred all his property to the name of the "faithful person" - the clerk Lazar Podkhalyuzin, for whom, for his greater confidence and tranquility, he gives in marriage to Lipochka's daughter, Olympiada Samsonovna.

The insolvent debtor, Bolshov, is put in prison (a debt "hole"), but Samson Silych is sure that his daughter and son-in-law will contribute a small amount of money from the property received for him and he will be released. However, events are not developing at all the way Bolshov would like: Lipochka and Podkhalyuzin did not pay a dime, and poor Bolshov is forced to go to prison.

It would seem that there is nothing interesting and entertaining in this plot: one fraudster deceived another fraudster. But the comedy is interesting not for its complex plot, but for the truth of life, which, as it seems to me, is the basis of all Ostrovsky's works. With what precision and realism all the characters of the comedy are drawn! Take Bolshova, for example. This is a rude, ignorant person, a real tyrant. He is used to commanding and commanding everything. Samson Silych orders his daughter to marry Podkhalyuzin, completely disregarding her wishes: “An important matter! I don’t dance on her pipe in my old age. For whom I command, for that and will go. My brainchild: I want to eat with porridge, I want butter to churn ... " in his childhood he was generously rewarded with "pokes" and "cuffs", but now he saved up money, became a merchant and already scolds and urges everyone. Of course, the harsh "school of life" brought him up in its own way: he became rude, resourceful, even became a swindler. At the end of the play, he also evokes some sympathy, because he was cruelly betrayed by his own daughter and deceived by "his" man - Podkhalyuzin, whom he trusted so much!

Podkhalyuzin is an even greater swindler than Bolshov. He managed not only to deceive the owner, but also to win the favor of Lipochka, who at first did not want to marry him. It is like a "new" Bolshov, even more cynical and arrogant, more in line with the mores of the new time - the time of profit. But there is another character in the play who is inextricably linked with the previous ones. This is the boy Tishka. For the time being, he still serves "as an errand," but little by little, for a pretty penny, he begins to raise his capital, and over time, obviously, he will become the "new" Podkhalyuzin.

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Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky

Our people - numbered

OCR: Kamionsky K.A. Spellcheck: Dyachenko M.V. Bolshov Samson Silych Merchant Agrafena Kondratyevna his wife Lipochka their daughter Podkhalyuzin Clerk Ustinya Naumovna Matchmaker Fominishna Key keeper Rispozhensky Sysoy Psychotic attorney Tishka boy

ACTION ONE

Living room in the houseBolshova.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE

Sticky (sitting by the window with a book). What an enjoyable activity these dances are! It’s so good! What could be more delicious? When you come to Sobranye or to someone for a wedding, you sit, naturally, - all in flowers, dressed like a toy, or a picture from a magazine, - suddenly a gentleman flies up: "Deserve happiness, madam!" Well, you see: if a person with the notion of ali an army one - you take it and squint your eyes, you answer: "Excuse me, with pleasure!" Oh! (with heat) ocha-ro-va-tel-but! This is simply incomprehensible to the mind! (Sighs.) Most of all I do not like to dance with students and with orders. Whether it's different with the military! Ah, lovely! Delight! And mustaches, and epaulettes, and a uniform, and some even have spurs with bells. One thing is deadly, that there is no saber! And why are they untie her? Strange, by God! They themselves do not understand how to shine more charmingly! After all, you would look at the spurs, how they jingle, especially if a lancer or a colonel is painting - a miracle! Admiring is cute and expensive! Well, and attach it to a saber: you just won't see anything more curious, one thunder is better than listening to music. What comparison is there: military or civilian? A military man - you can see it now: both dexterity, and that's all, but what about a civilian? So some kind of inanimate! (Silence.) I wonder why many ladies are sitting with their legs tucked in? Formally, there is no difficulty in learning! This is what I was ashamed of as a teacher, and in twenty lessons I understood everything decisively. Why not learn to dance! This is just superstition! Here mama used to get angry that the teacher was grabbing everything by the knees. All this is from lack of education! What an importance! He is a dance master, not anyone else. (Thinks.) I imagine to myself: suddenly a military man will woo me, suddenly we have a ceremonial conspiracy: candles are burning everywhere, waiters are walking in white gloves; I, naturally, in a tulle or in a gauze dress, then suddenly a waltz will play. Well, how embarrassed I am in front of him! Oh, what a thrill! Where to go then? What will he think? Here, he will say, an uneducated fool! No, how can this be! However, I haven't danced in a year and a half! I'll try it now at my leisure. (Waltzing badly.) One ... two ... three ... one ... two ... three ...

THE SECOND PHENOMENON

StickyandAgrafena Kondratyevna.

Agrafena Kondratyevna (entering). So, so, shameless! As if the heart felt: not the light of day, do not eat the bread of God, and even for the dance immediately! Sticky Like, mamma, I drank tea and ate a cheesecake. Look, okay? One, two, three ... one ... two ... Agrafena Kondratyevna (chasing her). So what did you eat? I really need to watch how you sin! .. I tell you, do not turn around! .. Sticky What a sin this is! Nowadays everyone is having fun with it. '' `` One ... two ... Agrafena Kondratyevna Better knock your forehead on the table, but don't be naughty with your feet! (Runs after her.) - But what are you, why did you take to disobey! Sticky... How not to obey who told you! Do not interfere, let it end as needed! One two Three... Agrafena Kondratyevna... How long will I run after you in my old age! Wow, tortured, barbarian! Hear it, stop it! I'll complain to my father! Sticky... Now, now, mamma! The last circle! That's what God created for you to complain about. You yourself are not very important to me! One, two ... Agrafena Kondratyevna... How! you are still dancing, and even cursing! Give it up this minute! It will be worse for you: I'll catch it by the skirt, rip off the whole tail. Sticky... Well, tear to your health! You will have to sew up! So it will be! (Sits down.) Phew ... phew ... how it fell, like a wagon was carrying! Wow! Let, mamma, wipe the sweat off the handkerchief. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Wait, I'll wipe it myself! Look, she got tired! But even then to say, as if they were captive. If you don’t read your mother, you’d be ashamed of the walls! Father, my dear fellow, he moves his legs through great force, and here you are jumping like a whirligig! Sticky. Come with your advice! What can I do, in your opinion! Do you want to be ill yourself? Here's a different way, if I were a doctor! Wow! What kind of disgusting concepts you have! Oh! what you are, mamma, by God! Indeed, sometimes I have to blush from your stupidity! Agrafena Kondratyevna. What a beloved child! I ask you to think about how she honors her mother! Oh, you stupid talker! Is it possible to abuse parents with such speeches? Was it possible that I then gave birth to you, taught you and took care of the forest more than straws? Sticky. You did not teach — outsiders; fullness, please; You yourself, I must confess, have not been brought up in anything. Well? You gave birth - then what was I? A child, a child without a clue, did not understand the appeal. And I grew up and looked at the secular tone, and I see that I am much more educated than others. Well, I should indulge your nonsense! How so! There are opportunities. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Calm down, hey, calm down, shameless woman! If you will bring me out of patience, I will go straight to my father, so I will bryaknutsya, living, I will say, no from my daughter, Samsonushko! Sticky... Yes, you have no life! Imagine. '' `` Do I have life for you? Why did you refuse the groom? What is not an incomparable party? Isn't it a capid? What did you find gullible in him? Agrafena Kondratyevna... Or even the gullible one that scoffed! Came, broke, broke, spun, spun. What a marvel! Sticky... Yes, you know a lot! It is known that he is a noble man, and acts in a delicate way. They always do that in their circle. '' `` How else dare you denigrate people you don't even know? He's not some kind of merchant. (Whispers to the side.) Darling, sweetheart! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Yes, good darling! Please tell me! It's a pity that they didn't give you up for a jester for a pea. After all, you see, what kind of whim is in you; After all, it’s you whispering under your mother’s nose to spite. Sticky... The obvious reason is that you do not want my happiness. You and your aunt can only build slander and tyrannize. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, as you want, think there. The Lord is your judge! And no one cares about their offspring as much as a mother's womb! Here you are playing around and trying to get out all sorts of nonsense, but my father and I worry day and night how to find a good man for you and to find a place for you as soon as possible. Sticky... Yes, it's easy for you to talk, but let me ask you, how does it feel to me? Agrafena Kondratyevna... Don't I feel sorry for you, you think? What to do! Be patient a little, if you have waited for many years. After all, you can't suddenly find a groom; soon only cats catch mice. Sticky... What do I care about your cats! I need a husband! What it is! It's a shame to meet with friends, in the whole of Moscow they could not choose a groom - everything to others and others. Who will not touch for a living: all the friends have been with their husbands for a long time, and I am like an orphan! I found one, and that was refused. Hear, find me a fiancé, be sure to find! .. I tell you ahead of you, find it without fail, otherwise it will be worse for you: deliberately, in spite of you, I’ll make a secret adorer, I’ll run away with the hussar, and we’ll get married slowly. Agrafena Kondratyevna... What, what, dissolute! Who drove such nasty things into you! Merciful Lord, I cannot summon up my courage ... Oh, you dog stub! Well, nothing to do! Apparently, he will have to call his father. Sticky... Just get along that father and father; you talk to him with him, but try it yourself! Agrafena Kondratyevna... So what, do you think I'm a fool, or what? What hussars you have there, your shameless nose! Ugh, you devilish obsession! Ali do you think that I have no power over you to order? Speak, your shameless eyes, why are you looking so envious? That you want to be quicker than your mother! I don't have much time, I'll send the pots to the kitchen to soar. Look you! Look you! Ah! .. Ah, mothers, you are mine! I'll sew a dress-down sundress, and I'll put it on your head! With the piglets, I will put you instead of parents! Sticky... How so! Let me be in command! Here's more news! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Shut up, shut up, tarant Egorovna! Give in to your mother! Eco seed is nasty! You will peep a word, so sew the tongue below the heels. Now the Lord has sent consolation! The girl is haphazard! You are a boy, a rascal, and everything is not feminine on your mind! Ready, tea, to jump on the horse like a soldier! Sticky... You, I imagine, will soon drag in all the attendants. It would be better to be silent if they are not so brought up. I am all filthy, and what you yourself are after that! What, you want to send me to the other world ahead of time, bother me with your whims? (Cries.) Well, I guess I'm already coughing like a fly. (Cries.) Agrafena Kondratyevna (stands and looks at her). Well, full, full! Lipochka cries louder and then sobs. Well, full of you, full of! They tell you stop! Well, I’m to blame, just stop, I’m to blame. Lipa is crying... Sticky! Linden! Well, it will! Well, stop it! (Through tears.) Well, don't you be angry with me (crying) ... stupid woman ... uneducated ... (Both cry together,). Well, forgive me ... I'll buy earrings. Sticky (crying). What do I need your earrings for, my toilet is already full. And you buy bracelets with emeralds. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Buy, buy, just stop crying! Sticky (through tears). Then I will stop, how will I marry. (Cries.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... Get out, get out, my dear boy! Well, kiss me! They kiss. Well, Christ is with you! Well, let me wipe your tears (He wipes it off.) Today Ustinya Naumovna wanted to come, and we will talk. Sticky (in a voice that has not yet calmed down). Oh! if she came as soon as possible!

PHENOMENON THREE

The same and Fominishna.

Fominishna... Guess, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna, who will favor us? Agrafena Kondratyevna... I can't say. What am I to you, guessing grandma, or what, Fominishna? Sticky... Why don't you ask me that I am more stupid, or what, you and mamma? Fominishna... I don’t know how to say it; in words, you are painfully quick, but in deeds, you are not there. I asked, I asked, not only that what was it, give me a handkerchief, you have two heaps of heaps lying around without charity, so everything is not, everything is a stranger and a stranger. Agrafena Kondratyevna... This, Fominishna, I will never make out to the end. Sticky... Look at her! You know, I sipped a beer after breakfast, stuck miracles here in a sieve. Fominishna... Apparently so; why laugh something? What is the end, Agrafena Kondratyevna, sometimes the beginning is worse than the end. Agrafena Kondratyevna... You won't go away! If you already begin to interpret, just clap your ears. Who is it that came there? Sticky... Man or woman? Fominishna. You have all the men jumping in your eyes. But where has it been seen that a man walks in a cap? What should be called a widow's business? Sticky... Naturally, unmarried, a widow. Fominishna... So it’s my truth? And it turns out that a woman! Sticky... Eka stupid! Who is the woman? Fominishna... That's right, smart, but not quick-witted: there is no one else to be but Ustinya Naumovna. Sticky... Oh, mamma, how convenient it is! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Where is she still? Lead her quickly, Fominishna. Fominishna... She herself would appear in a second: she stopped in the courtyard - scolding the janitor: it took a while to open the gate.

PHENOMENON FOUR

The same and Ustinya Naumovna.

Ustinya Naumovna (entering). Phew, fa, fa! What is it with you, silver ones, what a steep staircase: you climb, climb, crawl forcibly. Sticky... Oh, here she is! Hello Ustinya Naumovna! Ustinya Naumovna... Don't hurry too much! There are also older than you. Here we’ll show off with mamma first. (Kissing.) Hello, Agrafena Kondratyevna, how did you get up and spend the night, is everything still alive, bralyiant? Agrafena Kondratyevna... Glory to the creator! I live - I chew bread; the whole morning I was balancing with my daughter. Ustinya Naumovna... Tea, all about the outfits. (Kissing Lipochka.) So it's your turn. That you seem to have grown fat, emerald? Come on, creator! What is better than to bloom with beauty! Fominishna... Ugh, you sinner! Still jinx it, perhaps. Sticky... Oh, what nonsense! It seemed so to you, Ustinya Naumovna. I'm getting weary: now colic, now my heart beats like a pendulum; everything is as if you are being washed away or you are sailing on the sea, and so melancholy in your eyes dazzles. Ustinya Naumovna (Fominishne). Well, with you, God’s old lady, we will kiss by the way. True, in the courtyard, after all, they greeted, silver, so there is nothing to ruffle your lips. Fominishna... As you know. It is well known that we are not the masters, the little bast sewn with bast, but in us, too, the soul, and not the steam! Agrafena Kondratyevna (sitting down). Sit down, sit down, Ustinya Naumovna, that you stand like a cannon on wheels! Come on, tell us, Fominigan, to warm the samovar. Ustinya Naumovna... Saw, saw, pearl; fail on the spot - saw and ran like that, for a minute. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Why are you, Fominishna, lying? Run, my mother, quicker. Sticky... Excuse me, mamma, I'll run away as quickly as possible, you see how clumsy she is. Fominishna... It’s not a trick where they don’t ask! And I, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna, think this is what I think: wouldn't it be more attractive to serve balsa with herring? Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, balsan balsan, and samovar samovar. Al do you feel sorry for someone else's good? Yes, as soon as it is ripe, they told me to bring it here. Fominishna... How so! I'm listening! (Leaves.) APPEARANCE FIFTH The same without Fominishna . Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, is there anything new, Ustinya Naumovna? Look, my girl was longing for me at all. Sticky... And in fact, Ustinya Naumovna, you walk, walk, but there is no sense whatsoever. Ustinya Naumovna... Why, you won't be able to figure it out soon, bralyants. Your daddy gets along well for the rich man: he says to me, even though Fedot is from the gate, if only there’s money, and he’s got a smaller dowry. Mama, here, Agrafena Kondratyevna also strives for her pleasure: give her a merchant without fail, so that there is a grant, and keep good horses, and baptize her forehead in the old-fashioned way. You've got yours on your mind too. How will you please?

APPEARANCE SIX

The same Fominishna, enters, puts vodka with a snack on the table.

Sticky... I won’t go for a merchant, I won’t go for anything, - Is that how I was brought up for that: I studied French, and the piano, and dance! No no! Take wherever you want, but get a noble one. Agrafena Kondratyevna... So you talk to her. Fominishna... What did these noble ones give you? What is their special bite? Naked on naked, and there is no Christianity: he neither goes to the bathhouse, nor does he bake pies on holidays; and even though you will be married, you will get tired of the sauce with gravy. Sticky... You, Fominishna, were born between the peasants and you can stretch your legs as a peasant. What is in your merchant to me! How much weight can he have? Where is his ambition? Do I need his sponge? Fominishna... Not a washcloth, but God's hair, madam, so and so! Agrafena Kondratyevna... After all, your darling is not some kind of fool, and your beard is also not shabby, but you kiss him somehow. Sticky... It’s one thing a tart, and another thing - a husband. Why are you bothering, mamma? I already said that I would not go after the merchant, and I will never go! I'd rather die now, I'll pay for the rest of my life: there won't be enough tears, we'll eat pepper. Fominishna... Are you going to cry? And you can't think! And how would you like to tease, Agrafena Kondratyevna! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Who's teasing her? She herself is picky. Ustinya Naumovna... Perhaps, if you have such an appetite, we will find you a noble one. What is it for you: more impressive or fatter? Sticky... Nothing thicker, would not be small. Of course, it is better to be tall than some kind of mukhortka, And most of all, Ustinya Naumovna, so that he is not snub-nosed, he would certainly be dark-haired; well, of course, so that he was dressed like a magazine. (Looks in the mirror.) Oh my God! but now I myself am all disheveled like a broom. Ustinya Naumovna... And now I have a fiance, just like you, braliant, you paint: noble, and tall, and brulee. Sticky... Ah, Ustinya Naumovna! Not at all brulee, but dark-haired. Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, I really need, in my old age, to break the language in your way: as it said, so it lives. And the peasants are, and the order on the neck; You just go and get dressed, and my mother and I will talk about this matter. Sticky... Ah, my dear, Ustinya Naumovna, come into my room already: I ​​need to talk to you. Come on, Fominishna. Fominishna... Oh, you tell me, a fidget!

Leave.

APPEARANCE SEVEN

Agrafena Kondratyevna, Naumovna and Ustinya

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Shouldn't we have a balsanza before tea, Ustinya Naumovna? Ustinya Naumovna... You can, braliant, you can. Agrafena Kondratyevna (pours). Eat to your health! Ustinya Naumovna... You should have done it yourself before, yacht. (Drinks.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... I’ll still be ripe! Ustinya Naumovna... Wah! Ugh! Where do you get that kind of potion? Agrafena Kondratyevna... From the wine shop. (Drinks.) Ustinya Naumovna... Buckets, tea? Agrafena Kondratyevna... Buckets. What, by a little something, can you save enough? We have a big expense. Ustinya Naumovna... What to say, mother, what to say! Well, I was already busy, I was busy for you, Agrafena Kondratyevna, I cut, cut the pavement, and I dug up the groom: gasp, braliant, and that's all. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Forcibly she uttered a clever word. Ustinya Naumovna... Noble birth and significant person; such a nobleman that you have never dreamed. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Apparently, already ask Samson Silych for you a couple of Arabians. Ustinya Naumovna... Nothing, pearl, I'll take it. And there are peasants, and an organ on the neck, but he is clever, just a golden idol for you. Agrafena Kondratyevna... You would, Ustinya Naumovna, report ahead that there are no mountains behind our daughter, they say, golden ones. Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, he has nowhere to do with his own. Agrafena Kondratyevna... It would be nice, it hurts too well; only that, Ustinya Naumovna, you yourself, mother, judge what I will do with a noble son-in-law! I don't even know how to say a word to him, as if in a forest. Ustinya Naumovna... It is for sure, pearly, wild at first, well, and then you get used to it, you will manage somehow. Yes, we need to talk to Samson Silych, maybe he knows him, this person is something.

APPEARANCE EIGHT

The same andRispozhinsky.

Rispozhinsky (entering). And I'll come to you, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna. He pushed to Samson Silych, but he was busy, I see; so I think: I'll go, they say, I'll see Agrafena Kondratyevna. What is this, do you have vodka? I, Agrafena Kondratyevna, will have a glass. (Drinks.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... Eat, father, to your health! You are welcome to sit down; how do you live, can you? Rispozhinsky... What is our life! So, we smoke the sky, Agrafena Kondratyevna! You yourself know: the family is large, the affairs are small. And I do not grumble, grumble a sin, Agrafena Kondratyevna. Agrafena Kondratyevna... This, father, is the last thing. Rispozhinsky... Whoever murmurs means that he is opposed to God, Agrafena Kondratyevna. Here's the story ... Agrafena Kondratyevna... What is your name, father? I forget everything. Rispozhinsky... Sysoy Psoich, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna. Ustinya Naumovna... How is it so: Psovich, silver? What is it like? Rispozhinsky... I do not know how to tell you for certain; my father's name was Psoy - well, therefore, I'm Psoy and I'm leaving. Ustinya Naumovna... And Psovich, so Psovich; well, that's okay, and it gets worse, braliant. Agrafena Kondratyevna... So what kind of story do you want to tell, Sysoy Psovich? Rispozhinsky... So, Matushka Agrafena Kondratyevna, there was a story: not that a parable or a fairy tale, but a true incident. I, Agrafena Kondratyevna, will have a glass. (Drinks.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... Eat, father, eat. Rispozhinsky (sits down). Lived old man, venerable old man ... Now I, mother, have forgotten where, but only aside so ... uninhabited. He had, my lady, twelve daughters - little less than little. He is unable to work himself, his wife is also an old woman, the children are still small, but you need to eat and drink. What was good, everyone lived in old age, there was no one to drink, to feed! Where to go with the little guys? So he thinks, thinks that way - no, madam, you can't think of anything here. "I will go, he says, to the crossroads: will there not be anything from the voluntary givers." One day sits - God will give, another sits - God will give; here he is, mother, and grumbled. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Ah, priests! Rispozhinsky... Lord, he says, I am not a bribe-taker, I am not a covetous man ... it is better, he says, to lay hands on oneself. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Oh, my father! Rispozhinsky... And make him, madam, sleep in the night ...

EntersBolshov.

APPEARANCE NINTH

The same andBolshov.

Bolshov... A! and you, sir, are here! What are you preaching here? Rispozhinsky (bows). Is everyone healthy, Samson Silych? Ustinya Naumovna... What is it you, Yahontov, seem to have lost weight? What kind of injury attacked? Bolshov (sitting down). I must have caught a cold or hemorrhoids, or something, diverged ... Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, then, Sysoy Psovich, what was he going to do next? Rispozhinsky... Afterwards, Agrafena Kondratyevna, afterwards I will finish telling you, at liberty I will somehow run into the twilight and tell you. Bolshov... What is it you, Ali took up holiness! Ha, ha, ha! It's time to feel. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, you will start! Do not let me talk to you. Bolshov... To your liking! .. Ha, ha, ha ... And you ask how his case disappeared from the court; he'd better tell you this story. Rispozhinsky... But no, and not lost! That's not true, Samson Silych! Bolshov... And why were you kicked out of ottedov? Rispozhinsky... But why, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna. I took one case from the court home, but my dear friend and I turned it over, the man is weak, well, you know ... if I may say so, at least in the cellar ... I left him there, but he must be drunk and I forgot. Well, it can happen to anyone. Then, madam, in court they missed this case: they were looking for, looking for, I also went to the house twice with the executor - no, no! They wanted to put me on trial, and then I remember that I must have forgotten him in the cellar. Let's go with the executor - it is there. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well! Not only that it happens to a drinker, and to a non-drinker. What a misfortune! Bolshov... How was it that you were not exiled to Kamchatka? Rispozhinsky... Already to Kamchatka! And for what, let me ask you, for what to exile to Kamchatka? Bolshov... For what! For disgrace! So is it really possible to indulge you? That way you get drunk with the circle. Rispozhinsky... But here they forgiven. Here, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna, they wanted to put me on trial for this for the very thing. I now go to the general, to ours, bang at his feet. Your Excellency, I say! Do not ruin! My wife, I say, the children are small! Well, he says, God bless you, they don’t beat someone lying down, give, he says, to resign so that I don’t even see you here. So he forgave. Well! May God grant him health! He does not forget me even now; sometimes you will run to him at a holiday: what, he says, you, Sysoy Psychoch? Happy holiday, they say, Your Excellency, I came to congratulate you. I went to the Trinity recently, brought him some bread. I, Agrafena Kondratyevna, will have a glass. (Drinks.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... Eat, father, to your health! And you and I, Ustinya Naumovna, let's go, tea, the samovar is already ready; Let me show you, we have some new dowry. Ustinya Naumovna... You, tea, have already prepared a bunch of heaps, braliant. Agrafena Kondratyevna... What to do! New materials have come out, and it is as if we cannot pay money for them. Ustinya Naumovna... What can I say, pearl! Your store is like growing in a garden.

Leave.

APPEARANCE TENTH

BolshovandRispozhinsky.

Bolshov... And what, Sysoy Psoich, tea, have you worn out a lot of ink with this chicanery in your life? Rispozhinsky... Heh, heh ... Samson Silych, the material is not expensive. And I just ran in to see how you were doing. Bolshov... You ran in! And it hurts you to know! You are such a vile people, some kind of bloodsuckers: if only you could sniff out something like that, so you are winding around here with your diabolical instigation. Rispozhinsky... What can happen, Samson Silych, instigation from me? And what kind of teacher am I when you yourself are perhaps ten times smarter than me? What they ask me, I will do. What not to do! I would have been a pig if I hadn’t done it, because I, one might say, have benefited from you and the kids. And I'm still rather stupid to advise you: you yourself know your business better than anyone. Bolshov... You know yourself! That's the trouble, that our brother, a merchant, a fool, he does not understand anything, and for such leeches as you, it plays into the hands. After all, now you’ll hug all the rapids at me dragging along. Rispozhinsky... How could I not drag myself around! If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t go to you. Can't I feel? What am I, in fact, a cattle, or what, how dumb? Bolshov... I know that you love - you all love us; only you will not get anything worthwhile. Now I am tossing, toiling with business, I am so exhausted, will you believe, by only this opinion. Even if only quickly, or something, out of my head. Rispozhinsky... Well, Samson Silych, you are not the first, you are not the last; do not others do something? Bolshov... How not to do it, brother, and others do. And how they do it: without shame, without conscience! They ride on recumbent woods, live in three-story houses; another such gazebo with columns will deduce that he is ashamed to enter with his image; and there is kaput, and there is nothing to take from him. These carriages will disperse to no one knows where, the houses are all mortgaged, whether there will be three or three old boots left for the creditors. Here's a short time for you. Moreover, he will deceive someone: so, he will let some poor people in one shirt around the world. And my creditors are all rich people, what can they do! Rispozhinsky... A well-known case. Well, Samson Silych, all this is in our hands. Bolshov... I know that it is in our hands, but will you be able to do this? After all, you are a folk too! I already know you! In words, you are quick, and there you went to fornicate. Rispozhinsky... What are you, Samson Silych, have mercy, it’s the first time for me! You shouldn’t know this yet! heh, heh, heh ... But did I do such things ... but got away with it. Someone else would have been sent for such things a long time ago, where Makar did not drive calves. Bolshov... Oh, is it? So what kind of mechanics are you going to use? Rispozhinsky... And there, looking at the circumstances. I, Samson Silych, will have a glass ... (Drinks.) Here, the first thing, Samson Silych, we need to mortgage or sell the house and the shops. This is the first thing. More in... Yes, it definitely needs to be done in advance. On whom would only this burden be dumped? But is it really for his wife? Rispozhinsky... Illegally, Samson Silych! It's illegal! The laws indicate that such sales are invalid. It won't take long to do it, so that the hooks won't come out afterwards. It’s necessary to do it, Samson Silych, stronger. Bolshov... And that's the point, so that there is no backward glance. Rispozhinsky... As you fix it on someone else's, there’s nothing to complain about. Argue after, go, Against genuine papers. More in... Only that's the trouble; how you fix it on someone else's house, and he, perhaps, will get stuck there, like a flea in a war. Rispozhinsky... You are looking for, Samson Silych, such a person so that he knows his conscience. More in... Where will you find him today? Nowadays everyone strives to grab you by the collar, but you wanted conscience. Rispozhinsky... And this is how I mean it, Samson Silych, if you want to listen to me, if you want - no: what kind of person is our clerk? More in... Which the? Lazarus, or what? Rispozhinsky... Yes, Lazar Elizarych. Bolshov... Well, no Lazarus, so let him; he is small with a concept, and there is also a capital. Rispozhinsky... What do you order, Samson Silych: a mortgage or a bill of sale? Bolshov... If the percentage is less, then the jew's harp. How do you do everything in akurata, such you, Sysoy Psoich, I will put a mogarych, just say, you will get ugly. Rispozhinsky... Rest assured, Samson Silych, we know our business. Did you talk to Lazar Elizarych about this case or not? I, Samson Silych, will have a glass. (Drinks.) Bolshov... Not yet. Let's talk today. He's a smart guy, just blink at him, he understands. And if you do something, you won't stick your finger. '' Rispozhinsky... And then we will write a register that, they say, so and so, at twenty-five kopecks per ruble: well, go to the creditors. If someone barks painfully, then you can add, and to another angry one and pay everything ... You will pay him, and he - to write that he received twenty-five kopecks on the deal, so, for the sake of appearance, to show others. Here, they say, so and so, well, others, looking at them, will agree. Bolshov... That's for sure, it doesn't interfere with bargaining: they won't take twenty-five each, so they'll take half a dollar; and if they don’t take half a dollar, they will grab seven hryvnia with both hands. It's a profit after all. At least say there, but I have a daughter, a bride, even now out of the floor in the floor and out of the yard. Yes, and yourself, my brother, it's time to rest; we would have screwed up lying on our side, and to hell with all this trade. Yes, here comes Lazarus.

PHENOMENON ELEVEN

The same andPodkhalyuzin(included).

Bolshov... What do you say, Lazarus? Are you from the city, eh? How are you there? Podkhalyuzin... Thank God, it goes little by little. Sysya Psycho! (Bows.) Rispozhinsky... Hello, Father Lazar Elizarych! (Bows.) More in... And it goes, so let it go. (After a pause.) But you, Lazar, when you have made a balance for me in your spare time, would have taken into account the retail part of the gentleman, well, the rest, what else is there. And then we trade, we trade, brother, but not a dime. Ali, the inmates, or something, sin, drag their relatives and mistresses; they would be a little advised. Why smoke the sky without profit? Al skill do not know? It’s time, it seems. Podkhalyuzin... How is it possible, Samson Silych, not to know the skill? It seems that I myself always visit the city, sir, and always interpret it to him. Bolshov... But what are you interpreting? Podkhalyuzin... Well-known business, sir, I try to keep everything in order and as it should, sir. You guys, I say, don't yawn: you see a little something suitable, the buyer, or something, what kind of cuff turned up, or the color with the pattern which the young lady liked, took it, I say, and threw a ruble or two on an arshin. Bolshov... Tea, brother, you know how the Germans rob our shops of the bar. Let’s assume that we are not Germans, but Orthodox Christians, and we also eat pies with filling. Is that so, huh? Rispozhinskylaughs. Podkhalyuzin... It's clear, sir. And to measure something, I say, it is also necessary to be more natural: pull and sip. only, only so that, God forbid, it didn’t burst, after all, I say, it’s not for us to wear it afterwards. Well, but they gape, so no one is to blame, you can, I say, and just sneak an extra yardstick over your hand. Big... All is the same: after all, the tailor will steal. A? Will it steal, won't it? Rispozhinsky... He will steal, Samson Silych, without fail, a swindler, he will steal; I already know these tailors. Bolshov... That's it; they are all swindlers around, and glory is upon us. Rispozhinsky That's for sure, Samson Silych, otherwise you will be willing to tell the truth. Bolshov... Eh, Lazarus, profits are bad today: not the old days. (After a pause.) What did Vedomosti bring? Podkhalyuzin (taking out of his pocket and serving). If you please, sir. Bolshov, Let's see, let's see. (Puts on glasses and looks over.) Rispozhinsky... I, Samson Silych, will have a glass. (He drinks, then puts on his glasses, sits down beside Bolshov and looks at the newspapers.) Bolshov. (reads aloud)."Announcements of state and different societies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, from the Orphanage." It’s not in our line, we don’t buy peasants. "7 and 8 from the Moscow novelty, from the provincial boards, from the Orders of public charity." Well, and this is past. "From the City Six-Headed Duma". Well-tko-si, is there anything! (Is reading.)"From the Moscow City Duma six-vowel, this announces: will anyone want to take into the content the below-mentioned quitrent articles." It’s none of our business: pledge to represent. "The office of the Widow's House invites this ..." Let it invite, but we will not go. "From the Orphan's Court". They themselves have neither a father nor a mother. (Looks further.) Hey! There it went where! Listen, Lazarus! "Such and such a year, September such and such a day. According to the determination of the Commercial Court, the first guild, the merchant Fedot Seliverstov Pleshkov was declared an insolvent debtor; as a result ..." What is there to interpret! It is known that it happens as a result. That's Fedot Seliverstych! What was the ace, but flew into the pipe. And what, Lazarus, shouldn't he owe us? Podkhalyuzin... A little must, sir. They took sugar for the house in no way thirty, maybe forty. Bolshov... Bad business, Lazarus. Well, yes, he will give it back to me in full in a friendly way. Podkhalyuzin... Summatively, s. Bolshov... Let's read it sometime. (Is reading.)"The Moscow first guild merchant Antip Sysoev Enotov has been declared an insolvent debtor." Is there nothing behind this? Podkhalyuzin... For lean oil, sir, for Lent, they took a barrel of three-s. Bolshov... Here are the dry eaters, the fasting ones! And they strive to please God at someone else's expense. You, brother, do not trust this degree! These people cross with one hand, and climb into someone else's bosom with the other! Here is the third: "The Moscow second guild, the merchant Efrem Lukin Poluarshinnikov, has been declared an insolvent debtor." Well, how's this one? Podkhalyuzin... The bill is, sir! Bolshov... Protested? Podkhalyuzin... Protested, sir. He's hiding himself, sir. Bolshov... Well! And the fourth here, Samopalov. What are they, conspiring, or what? Podkhalyuzin... Such a rasping people, sir. Bolshov (rolling sheets). You can't reread them here until tomorrow. Take it away! Podkhalyuzin (takes the newspaper). The newspaper is only dirty. All the merchants have a kind of morality. Silence. Rispozhinsky... Goodbye, Samson Silych, I'll run home now: there are some things to do. Bolshov... You should have sat a little. Rispozhinsky... No, by God, Samson Silych, this is not the time. I'll come to you early tomorrow. Bolshov... Well as you know! Rispozhinsky... Farewell! Goodbye, Lazar Elizarych! (Leaves.)

APPEARANCE TWELVE

BolshovandPodkhalyuzin.

Bolshov... So you know, Lazar, what trade is! You think that! So take the money for nothing. If not money, he will say, he saw frogs jumping. So, he says, a bill of exchange. And what you can take from others on a bill! Here I have overwhelmed a hundred thousand, and with protests; all that matters is that you add it every year. I’ll give everything for half a silver! You won't find debtors for them, tea, even with dogs: those who have died, and who have run away, there is no one to put in a pit. And if you put him in prison, Lazar, he’s not so happy himself: the other will be so cumbersome that you cannot smoke his ottedov. Me, he says, and here it is good, and you get out. Is that so, Lazarus? Podkhalyuzin... This is as usual. Bolshov... All the bill and the bill! And what is this bill of exchange? So, paper, and that's it. And you give it at a discount, so the interest will slug that it gurgles in your stomach, and even after your good answer. (After a pause.) It is better not to mess with the policemen: everything is in debt and in debt; and whether he will bring, whether not, so blind in trifles and arabics, you look - no legs, no head, and no rank for trifles has long been gone. And here you are, as you like! It is better not to show the local merchants: it will go up to any anbar, only business that sniffs, sniffs, digs, digs, and will go away. Wouldn't it be a miracle the product - what else to trade with. One shop is a mosquito, another is red, and the third is with groceries; so no, nothing is lucky. Do not come to the auction: prices are knocked down more God knows what; and you put on a collar, and even give the knitting, and the mugs, and the treats, and there are various shortcomings with sagging. There it is! Can you feel it? Podkhalyuzin... It seems he should feel, sir. Bolshov... This is what trade is, and trade here! (After a pause.) What do you think, Lazarus? Podkhalyuzin... But how to think, sir! It's as you please. Our business is primary. Bolshov... What's the bottom line: you speak to your liking. I'm asking you about the case. Podkhalyuzin... This is again, Samson Silych, as you please, sir. Bolshov... I fixed one thing: as you please. How are you? Podkhalyuzin... I cannot know that, sir. More in (after a pause). Tell me, Lazarus, honestly, do you love me? (Silence.) Do you like it? Why are you silent? (Silence.) He gave him drink, fed him, brought him into people, it seems. Podkhalyuzin... Eh, Samson Silych! What is there to talk about, sir, don't hesitate in me! One word: that's how it is, it's all here. Bolshov... But what, what are you all about? Podkhalyuzin... If this or that, you will be satisfied: I will not regret myself. Bolshov... Well, there’s nothing to talk about. For me, Lazarus, now is the present time; We have enough cash, all promissory notes are due. Why wait for something? You will probably wait for some of your own brother, a dog's son, to wrap you clean, and then, you see, he will make a deal for a hryvnia for a ruble, and he sits in a million, and does not care about you. And you, an honest merchant, and be careful, blink your eyes. So I think, Lazar, to offer creditors something like this: would they take from me twenty-five kopecks per ruble. How do you think? Podkhalyuzin... And for me, Samson Silych, if you pay twenty-five, it’s more decent not to pay at all. Bolshov... And what? It's true. You will not surprise anyone with courage, but it is better to do a little business in a quiet manner. There after, judge Vladyka at the second coming. There is only a bunch of hassle. I'll put the house and the shops on you. Podkhalyuzin... You can't do it without hassle, sir. Here the bills must be sold for something, sir, the goods must be transported to hell. Let's bother, sir! Bolshov... It is so. Yes, I’m getting old, I’m starting to bother. Will you help? Podkhalyuzin... Have mercy, Samson Silych, I will climb into fire and water, sir. Bolshov... Something better! The devil is there to make money for pennies! He waved at once, and the Sabbath. Only on, let the god of courage. Thank you, Lazarus. Made it work! (Rises.) Well, get on with it! (She walks up to him and pats him on the shoulder.) If you do it carefully, we will share the profits with you. I will reward for life. (Goes to the door.) Podkhalyuzin... Me, Samson Silych, besides your calmness, I don't need anything, sir. As a boy you have since childhood and have seen all your blessings, one might say, a boy took from the bench to sweep, therefore, I must feel.

ACT TWO

Office in Bolshov's house. Directly a door, on the left side is a staircase upward.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE

Tishka (with a brush in the foreground). Eh, living, living! That's what the light is here for you! And whether my business is the floor of revenge! We are all not like people! For other owners, since a boy is already a boy, he lives with boys - so he is present at the shop. And here, here and there, shuffle along the pavement like crazy all day. Soon you will fill your hand, keep your pocket. Good people keep a janitor to disperse, but here he is lying on the stove with the kittens, or he will screw up with the cook, but he will ask for you. Others still have freedom; at other times you will be fined INTO either-bshto, due to childhood it comes down to you; and with us - if not the one, so the other, if not himself, so she will set the hack; and then here is the clerk Lazar, and then here is Fominishna, and now ... every trash commands you. Here she is, how anathema! And this is to snatch when out of the house, with friends in three leaves, or fight in the wall - and do not think better! Yes, and in my head, really, not that! (He climbs into a chair with his knees and looks in the mirror.) Hello, Tikhon Savostyanich! How are you? Thank God all of you? Well, Tishka, throw out the knee. (Makes a grimace.) That's it! (Another.) Evos it is like ... (Laughs.)

THE SECOND PHENOMENON

TishkaandPodkhalyuzin, (sneaks up and grabs him by the collar).

Podkhalyuzin... And it’s you, devil, what are you doing? Tishka... What? it is known that! dust was erased. Podkhalyuzin... I was washing it with my tongue! What kind of dust have you found on the mirror! I'll show you the dust! Look, it's breaking! But I’m going to glue you on the back of the head, so you’ll know. ” Tishka... Will know! Yes, it would be for what? Podkhalyuzin... And for what for what! You will talk and you will see why! Here are some more peeps! Tishka... Yes, peep some more! I’ll tell the owner that there’s nothing to take! Podkhalyuzin... I'll tell the owner! .. What is your master to me ... I, for that matter ... the master is yours to me! You, they will shoot, do not beat, and you will not see any good. This prahtika is well-known. I, brother, went through the fires, water, and copper pipes. Tishka... We know what passed. Podkhalyuzin... Tsshch, devil! (She waves.) Tishka... Try it! I won't tell you anything, by God, I will! Podkhalyuzin... What do you say, you damn pepper shaker! Tishka... What shall I say? And the fact that you bark! Podkhalyuzin... Important food! Look, what a gentleman! Submit! Was Sysoy Psychoic? Tishka... It is known to have been. Podkhalyuzin... Yes, you devil, speak plainly! Would you like to come in? Tishka... I wanted to come in! Podkhalyuzin... Well, then you run away at your leisure. Tishka... Ryabinovka, or what? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, brandy. It is necessary for Sysoya Psoicha to regale. (Gives money.) Buy half a shtof, and take the change for your gingerbread. Only you, look, be quicker, so that they don't miss you! Tishka... A short-haired girl will not braid her braids. So you have to flutter - in a lively manner.

Tishkaleaves.

PHENOMENON THREE

Podkhalyuzin (one). What a trouble! This is where trouble came upon us! What to do now? Well, that's bad! Can't escape now to show up insolvent! Well, suppose the owner will have something left, but what will I have to do with it? Where can I go? Trade in dust in the aisle! He served, served for twenty years, and then go to the pavement edge. How should this matter be judged now? Is it a commodity? Here he ordered to sell (takes out and counts) here, it must be possible to use it. (Walks around the room.) They say you need to know your conscience! Yes, of course, you need to know your conscience, but in what sense is it to be understood? Everyone has a conscience against a good man; and if he himself deceives others, so what kind of conscience is there! Samson Silych is a wealthy merchant, and now, one might say, he started the whole thing to pass the time. And I'm a poor man! If I use something superfluous in this matter, then there is no sin; therefore he himself acts unjustly, goes against the law. Why should I feel sorry for him? A line has come out, well, do not make a mistake: he leads his policy, and you drive your article. Either I would have done with him, but I don’t have to. HM! After all, such a fantasy will creep into a person's head! Of course, Alimpiyada Samsonovna is an educated young lady, and, one might say, there are none in the world, but this groom will not take her now, he will say, give me money! Where can I get the money? And now she will not be for the noble, because there is no money. Is it early or late, but you have to pay for the merchant! (He walks in silence.) Having poured some money, let me bow to Samson Silych: they say I, Samson Silych, in such years that I have to think about the continuation of offspring, and I, they say, Samson Silych, did not regret sweat and blood for your peace of mind. Of course, they say, Alimpiyada Samsonovna is a well-educated young lady, but after all, I, Samson Silych, am not a bastard, if you please see it yourself, I have a capitalist and can limit myself around me on this subject. '' Why not give it up for me? Why am I not a man? Not noticed in anything, respectful to elders! Yes, for all the way Samson Silych laid the house and the shops for me, you can scare me with the mortgage. And if you know the character of Samson Silych, what he is, this can very much happen. They have such an institution: if they get into their heads, nothing will knock them out. All the same, in the fourth year they wanted to shave their beard: no matter how much they asked Agrafena Kondratyevna, no matter how much they cried, no, he says, after that I will let go again, and now I’ll put it on my own, they took it and shaved it off. So this is the case: I’m happy with them, or so get into their heads - tomorrow down the aisle, and basta, and don’t you dare talk. Yes, from such a pleasure you can jump off Ivan the Great!

PHENOMENON FOUR

PodkhalyuzinandTishka.

Tishka (included with a damask). Here I come! Podkhalyuzin... Listen, Tishka, is Ustinya Naumovna here? Tishka... Up there. Yes, and the straulist is coming. Podkhalyuzin... So you put some vodka on the table and get some snacks.

Tishka puts in vodka and takes out snacks, then leaves.

APPEARANCE FIFTH

PodkhalyuzinandRispozhinsky.

Podkhalyuzin... Ah, ours for you! Rispozhinsky... To you, Father Lazar Elizarych, to you! Right. I think, they say, you never know what, maybe that's what you need. Do you have vodka? I, Lazar Elizarych, will have a glass. Something my hands began to shake in the morning, especially the right one; how to write what, Lazar Elizarych, so I keep my left. By golly! And you will drink vodka, as if it is better. (Drinks.) Podkhalyuzin... Why is it that your hands are shaking ?! Rispozhinsky (sits down at the table). From care, Lazar Elizarych, from care, father. Podkhalyuzin... So, sir! And I think so because it hurts people to rob. God punishes for untruth. Rispozhinsky... Eh, heh, heh ... Lazar Elizarych! Where should we rob! Our little deeds We, like birds of the air, peck grain by grain. Podkhalyuzin... You are, therefore, more on trifles | Rispozhinsky... You will be on trifles, if there is nowhere to take. Well, it’s not that, if only one, and then in fact I have a wife and four children. They ask for everything, darlings. The one says - tetya, give, the other says - tatianka, give. I assigned one to the gymnasium: I need a uniform, then something else! And where is the evono house! Podkhalyuzin... That's for sure, sir. Rispozhinsky... And why are you walking around: to whom you will depict the request, whom you will attribute to the bourgeoisie. Another day you won't bring home a half in silver. Honestly, I'm not lying. How to live here? I, Lazar Elizarych, will have a glass. (Drinks.) And I think: I'll run, they say, I'll see Lazar Elizarych, if he will give me some money. Podkhalyuzin... And for what kind of offense, sir? Rispozhinsky... How for what offenses! What a sin, Lazar Elizarych! Why am I not serving you? Serve up to the grave, whatever you want to force. And he procured a mortgage for you. Podkhalyuzin... After all, you have already been paid! And you don't have to talk about the same thing! Rispozhinsky... This is for sure, Lazar Elizarych, paid for. That's for sure! Eh, Lazar Elizarych, poverty has overcome me. Podkhalyuzin... Poverty has overcome! It happens, sir. (He walks over and sits down at the table.) And we have extra ones, sir: there is nowhere to go. (Puts the wallet on the table.) Rispozhinsky... What are you, Lazar Elizarych, are you really superfluous? Are you kidding? Podkhalyuzin... Except for all sorts of jokes, sir. Rispozhinsky... And if they are superfluous, why not help the poor man. God will send you for this. Podkhalyuzin... How much do you need? Rispozhinsky... Give me three little ones. Podkhalyuzin... What's so little, sir? Rispozhinsky... Well, give it five. Podkhalyuzin... And you ask for more. Rispozhinsky... Well, if there is mercy, give me ten. Podkhalyuzin... Ten-s! So, for nothing? Rispozhinsky... How for nothing! I will, Lazar Elizarych, someday we will get even. Podkhalyuzin... All these are beeches. Julitta is on her way, but someday she will be. And now you and I will start this matter: how much did Samson Silych promise you for all this mechanics? Rispozhinsky... It's a shame to say, Lazar Elizarych: a thousand rubles and an old raccoon fur coat. No one will take less than me, by God, at least ask the price. Podkhalyuzin... Well, so that's what, Sysoy Psychoch, I'll give you two thousand, sir ... for the same item, sir. Rispozhinsky... You are my benefactor, Lazar Elizarych! I will go into bondage with my wife and children. Podkhalyuzin... One hundred silver now, sir, and the rest after, at the end of all this incident, sir. Rispozhinsky... Well, how can God not pray for such people! Only some uneducated pig might not feel it. I'll bow down to you, Lazar Elizarych! Podkhalyuzin... That's what it is, sir! Only, Sysoy Psoich, do not twirl our tail here and there, but we walk akurate, - we hit this point and turn around on this line. Do you understand? Rispozhinsky... How not to understand! What are you, Lazar Elizarych, little or something, me! Nora understand! Podkhalyuzin... What do you understand? Here are some things. Listen first. We arrive with Samson Silych in the city, and we brought this register as it should. So he went to the creditors: he didn't. agree, other disagree; yes, so not one and did not go for this thing. Here it is some kind of article. Rispozhinsky... What are you saying, Lazar Elizarych! A! Here you go! Here are the people! Podkhalyuzin... How would we not go foolishly with the estimate now! Do you understand me or not? Rispozhinsky... That is, about insolvency, Lazar Elizarych? Podkhalyuzin... Insolvency is there in itself, but at the expense of my business. Rispozhinsky... Heh, heh, heh ... that is, a house with shops ... so ... a house ... heh, heh, heh ... Podkhalyuzin... What about-s? Rispozhinsky... No, sir, this is me, Lazar Elizarych, out of stupidity, as if for a joke. Podkhalyuzin... Just for a joke! And you are not joking with that, sir! It's not like a house, I now have such a fantasy in my head about this subject that I need to talk extensively with you, sir! Come to me, Tishka!

APPEARANCE SIX

The same and Tishka.

Podkhalyuzin... Clean it all up here! Well, let's go, Sysoy Psychoch!

Tishka wants to take away the vodka.

Rispozhinsky... Wait, wait! Oh, brother, how stupid you are! See what the thread wants, you wait. You and wait. You are still small, well, so you be courteous and condescending. I, Lazar Elizarych, have a drink. Podkhalyuzin... Drink, but just as soon as possible, look, he will come himself. Rispozhinsky... Now, Father Lazar Elizarych, now! (Drinks and eats.) We'd better take her with us.

Leave. Tishka is cleaning up something; Ustinya Naumovna and Fominishna descend from above. Tishka leaves.

Fominishna... Already solve her need, Ustinya Naumovna! Look, the girl is completely worn out, but after all, it's time, mother. Youth is not a bottomless pot, and even that, they say, empties. I already know this from myself. I got married in the thirteenth year, but in a month she was nineteen years old with a blowjob. That torment her in vain. Others had raised their children long ago. That's it, my mother, why torment her? Ustinya Naumovna... I understand all this myself, silver one, but it’s not a matter of my business; I have grooms that are greyhound males. Yes, you see, they are very picky with mamma. Fominishna... Why disassemble them? Well, it’s a well-known thing to have fresh people, not bald, so that they don’t smell of anything, but there’s whatever you take — everyone is human. Ustinya Naumovna (sitting down). Sit down, silver. I was worn out this day, a day, from early in the morning like some kind of sweetie. But you can't overlook anything, everywhere, therefore, a necessary person. Of course, silver, every person is a living creature; That one needed a bride, that one even gave birth to a groom, but give it, and then somewhere there was a wedding. And who will compose - all the same. Take the rap for all Ustinya Naumovna. Why puff? Because it is so clearly arranged - from the beginning of the world such a wheel has been wound up. Precisely, I must tell you the truth, they do not bypass us for our labors: who is on your dress of matter, who is a shawl with a fringe, who will concoct a cap for you, and where a gold one, where and where it will wrap a little more - it is known what is worth, looking in strength opportunities. Fominishna... What to say, mother, what to say! Ustinya Naumovna... Sit down, Fominishna - your legs are old and broken. Fominishna... And, mother! once. After all, what a sin: something itself does not go from the city, we all walk under fear; just look, drunk will arrive. And what a good thing, Lord! After all, such a mischievous person will be born! Ustinya Naumovna... It’s a well-known thing: with a rich man, what the devil is, it’s not easy to figure it out. Fominishna... We already saw passion from him. Last week, at night, he arrived drunk: he fought so that he could go. Passion and nothing more: pounding dishes ... "Uh! - he says, - you and such, I will kill you right away!" Ustinya Naumovna... Non-education. Fominishna... Indeed it is, mother! And I'll run, dear, upstairs - I have Agrafena Kondratyevna alone there. As soon as you go home, wrap it up to me - I'll tie you a leg. (Goes to the stairs.) Ustinya Naumovna... I'll come in, silver, I'll come in.

Podkhalyuzinincluded.

APPEARANCE SEVEN

Ustinya NaumovnaandPodkhalyuzin.

Podkhalyuzin... A! Ustinya Naumovna! How many years, how many winters! Ustinya Naumovna... Hello, living soul, how does it feel to jump? Podkhalyuzin... What are we doing, sir. (Sits down.) Ustinya Naumovna... Mamzelka, if you want I will! Podkhalyuzin... Thank you humbly - we do not need it yet. Ustinya Naumovna... You yourself, silver one, if you don’t want it, I’ll make it work for a friend. You, after all, tea, have acquaintances in the city that are dogs. Podkhalyuzin... Yes, there is something like that, sir. Ustinya Naumovna... Well, and if there is, so thank you, Lord! A little more or less a groom, whether he is single, unmarried, or some kind of widower - drag me straight to me. Podkhalyuzin... So you will marry him? Ustinya Naumovna... So I'll marry. Why not marry, and you will not see how you marry. Podkhalyuzin... This is a good business, sir. But now I’ll ask you, Ustinya Naumovna, why did you often get in the habit of us? Ustinya Naumovna... And what a sadness to you! Why would I not go. I'm not some kind of stolen, not a sheep without a name. What kind of demand are you? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, sir, aren't you going in vain? Ustinya Naumovna... How vain? Why are you, silver, invented! Look, what kind of groom I have found. '' Podkhalyuzin... What has become of the matter, sir? Ustinya Naumovna... Not for anything! I wanted to come and get acquainted tomorrow. And there we will wrap it up, and the whole is short. Podkhalyuzin... Wrap it up, try it, - he will ask you after the soot. Ustinya Naumovna... What are you, are you healthy, yacht? Podkhalyuzin... You will see! Ustinya Naumovna... Do not live to see the evening; you, diamond, are either drunk or completely crazy. Podkhalyuzin... You don't have to worry about this, think about yourself, but we know that we know. Ustinya Naumovna... What do you know? Podkhalyuzin... You never know what we know, sir. Ustinya Naumovna... And if you know what, tell us so; maybe the tongue won't fall off. Podkhalyuzin... This is the strength that cannot be said. Ustinya Naumovna... Why shouldn't you, me, shame on you, braliant, say nothing - there is no need. Podkhalyuzin... This is not about conscience. And tell you, you’re probably going to blab it. Ustinya Naumovna... I want to be anathema, if I say - I give my hand to cut off. Podkhalyuzin... That's the same, sir. An agreement is better than money, sir. Ustinya Naumovna... A well-known case. Well, what do you know? Podkhalyuzin... And here's what, Ustinya Naumovna: isn't it possible to refuse this fiance of yours, sir! Ustinya Naumovna... What are you, henbane, eh, overeat? Podkhalyuzin... Didn't overeat! And if you want to speak according to your heart, in good conscience, sir, this is the kind of business, sir: I have a Russian merchant acquaintance, and they are very much in love with Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir. That, he says, not to give, just to marry; nothing, he says, will not regret it. Ustinya Naumovna... Why didn't you tell me, the diamond one? Podkhalyuzin... There was nothing to say, by the very thing that I myself have recently learned, sir. Ustinya Naumovna It's too late now, braliant! Podkhalyuzin... What a groom, Ustinya Naumovna! Yes, he will shower you from head to toe with gold, he will sew a fur coat from live sables. Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, my dear, you can't! I would be glad to be happy, but I gave my word. Podkhalyuzin... Well, whatever you like! And for this you snatch, you will make such troubles that afterwards you will not shake it up, Ustinya Naumovna... Well, you judge for yourself, with what snout will I show myself to Samson Silych? She spoke to them from three boxes that he was rich, and handsome, and so in love that he could not live, but now what shall I say? After all, you yourself know what your little child Samson is, Silych, because he is an uneven hour, and he remembers the cap. Podkhalyuzin... Doesn't remember anything, sir. Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, and she teased the girl, sends him twice a day: what is the groom, but how is the groom? Podkhalyuzin... And you, Ustinya Naumovna, do not run away from your happiness, sir. Do you want two thousand rubles and a sable fur coat just to upset this wedding, sir? And we will have a special agreement for matchmaking, sir. I tell you, sir, that the bridegroom is such that you have never seen before, only one thing, sir: the origin is not noble. Ustinya Naumovna... Are they really noble? That's the trouble, yacht! Nowadays the establishment is so common that every bast woman strives to become the nobility. If only Alimpiyada Samsonovna, of course, God bless her good health, favors like a prince, and the origin, I suppose, is worse than ours. My father, Samson Silych, traded in balchug with heads; good people called him Samsoshkoy and fed them with cuffs. And mother, Agrafena Kondratyevna, is almost a panevnitsa - she was taken from Preobrazhensky. And they made money and got out into merchants, and my daughter strives to become a princess. And all this is money. Here I am, the worse she is, but watch her tail. Upbringing, too, God knows what: he writes, like an elephant crawls with its belly, in French ali, in the fortopeans, too, here, there, and there is nothing; Well, to chop off the dance - I myself will put dust in my nose. Podkhalyuzin... Well, you see, it is much more appropriate for her to be a merchant. Ustinya Naumovna... But how can I be with my fiancé, silver one? I painfully assured him that Alimpiyada Samsonovna was such a beauty, that you were a real patron, and educated, I say, both in French and in different manners. What am I going to tell him now? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, and now tell him the same that, they say, she is both beautiful and educated, and in all sorts of ways, only, they say, they are upset with money, so he himself will refuse! Ustinya Naumovna... And what, in fact, is true, bralyiant! No, wait! How so! After all, I told him that Samson Silych’s chickens don’t peck money. Podkhalyuzin... That's it, you are very trying to tell something. And how do you know how much money Samson Silych has, what did you think? Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, you ask anyone, everyone knows that Samson Silych is the richest merchant. Podkhalyuzin... Yes! You know a lot! And what will happen after you snatch a significant person, and Samson Silych won't give you money? And after all this he will intercede and say: I, they say, are not a merchant, that you can deceive me with a dowry! Moreover, as a significant person, he will file a complaint with the court, because a significant person has a move everywhere, sir: Samson Silych and I have been caught, and you can't leave. After all, you yourself know that you can deceive with a dowry of our brother, you will get away with it, but you will deceive a significant person, so you will not leave afterwards. Ustinya Naumovna... You really have to scare me! Confused at all. Podkhalyuzin And here you are, take a deposit of one hundred silver, and on your hands, sir. Ustinya Naumovna... So you, yakhontov, say that two thousand rubles and a sable fur coat? Podkhalyuzin... Exactly so, sir. Rest assured! - And put on a sable fur coat, Ustinya Naumovna, and go for a walk, - another will think, what a general's wife. Ustinya Naumovna... And what do you think, and in the Cause itself! As soon as I put on a sable fur coat, I shake it up, and my hands are on my hips, so your bearded brothers will open their mouths. They swing out so that you can't fill it with a fire pipe; wives will cut off your noses out of jealousy. Podkhalyuzin... That's for sure, sir! Ustinya Naumovna... Give a deposit! Was not! Podkhalyuzin... And you, Ustinya Naumovna, with a free spirit, do not be shy! Ustinya Naumovna... Why be afraid? Just look: two thousand rubles and a sable fur coat. Podkhalyuzin... I tell you, we will sew from the living. So what to interpret! Ustinya Naumovna... Well, goodbye, emerald! Now I will run to the groom. I'll see you tomorrow, so I'll take it all off for you. Podkhalyuzin... Wait! Where to run somewhere! Come to me - we'll drink some vodka, sir. Tishka! Tishka!

Tishka enters.

Look, if the owner arrives, then come running after me.

Leave.

APPEARANCE EIGHT

Tishka (sits down at the table and takes money out of his pocket). Poltina in silver - this is now Lazar gave. Yes, the other day, as he fell from the bell tower, Agrafena Kondratyevna was given a dime, but he won a quarter in a coin, but the owner forgot the ruble on the counter. Evos, what's the money! (Considers to himself.) Tishka... What else is there? "Home or something, Laaar?" Was, but all out! "But where did he go, God?" And how do I know; None he asks me! If I asked, I would know.

Fominishna steps down the stairs.

What have you got there? Fominishna... Why, Samson Silych arrived, but in no way intoxicated. Tishka... Fue! got caught! Fominishna... Run, Tishka, for Lazar, darling, run quickly!

Tishka is running.

Agrafena Kondratyevna (shown on the stairs). What, Fominishna, mother, where is he going? Fominishna... Yes, no way, mother, here! Oh, I will lock the doors, by God, I will; let him go up, and you, my dear, sit here.

Go, father, go to sleep, Christ is with you! Bolshov. (outside the doors). What are you, old hag, have you lost your mind? Fominishna... Oh, my dear fellow! Ah, I’m so blind! But show me foolishly that you arrived drunk. Excuse me, I became deaf in my old age.

Samson Silych enters.

APPEARANCE NINTH

Fominishna and Bolshov.

Bolshov... Was there a solicitor? Fominishna... And they cooked, father, cabbage soup with corned beef, roasted goose, fought. Bolshov... Yes, you are henbane, what eh, overeat, you old fool! Fominishna... No, father! She herself punished the cook. Big. Go away! (Sits down.)

Fominishna walks through the doors, Podkhalyuzin and Tishka enter.

Fominishna (returning). Oh, I'm a fool, a fool! Don't look for a bad memory. '' The cold pig has completely jumped out of his mind.

APPEARANCE TENTH

Podkhalyuzin, Bolshov and Tishka.

Bolshov... Get out to the pigs!

Fominishna leaves.

(To Tishka.) Why are you gaping! Al don't you care? Podkhalyuzin (Tishke). They told you, I think! Tishka leaves. Bolshov... Was there a solicitor? Podkhalyuzin... Was with! Bolshov... Did you talk to him? Podkhalyuzin... What, Samson Silych, does he feel? It’s an ink soul, sir! One thing gets along - to declare bankrupt. Bolshov... Well, show up, show up like this is one end. Podkhalyuzin... Ah, Samson Silych, what are you talking about! Bolshov... Well, pay the money? Why did you get that? I'd rather burn everything with fire, and I won't give them a dime. Transport the goods, sell the bills, let them drag, steal whoever wants to, and I'm not a payer to them. Podkhalyuzin... Have mercy, Samson Silych, our establishment was so excellent, and now everything should be in disorder. Bolshov... What is it to you? It was not yours. You just try - you will not be forgotten from me. Podkhalyuzin... I do not need anything after your good deed. And in vain you have such a story about me. I am now ready to give my whole soul for you, and not just what kind of trick to make. You are advancing to old age, Agrafena Kondratyevna is a pampered lady, Alimpiyada Samsonovna is a well-educated young lady even in such years; I must also apply solicitude to her, sir. And now such circumstances: you never know what can come from all this. Bolshov... And what can happen? I am alone in the answer. Podkhalyuzin... What can I say about you! You, Samson Silych, have outlived your age, thank God, you have lived, but Alimpiyada, Samsonovna, it’s a known thing, young lady, which is not in the world. I tell you, Samson Silych, in all conscience, that is, how it all is according to my feelings: if I am now trying for you and all my diligence, one might say, not sparing sweat and blood, I apply - this is all the more because I'm sorry for your family. Bolshov... Complete, isn't it? Podkhalyuzin... Allow me, sir: well, let's suppose that all this ends safely, sir, well, sir. You will have something to attach to Alimpiyada Samsonovna. Well, there's nothing to talk about about that, sir; there would be money, and there would be suitors, sir. Well, what a sin, God forbid! When they find fault, they will start dragging it around the courts, and such morality will go to the whole family, and, perhaps, they will also take away everything: they will have to endure hunger and cold without any contempt, like some defenseless chicks. God forbid it! What will it be then? (Cries.) Bolshov... What are you crying about? Podkhalyuzin... Of course, Samson Silych, I say this for example - in a good hour to speak, in a bad hour to keep silent, from the word will not; but the enemy is strong - he sways like mountains. Bolshov... What can I do, brother, you know, this is the will of God, you won't go against it. Podkhalyuzin... That's for sure, Samson Silych! And all the same, in my stupid reasoning, for the time being, if Alimpiyada Samsonovna had been attached for a good person, then she would be, at least, like behind a stone wall, sir. Yes, the main thing is that a person has a soul, so he will feel. And the one that wooed Alimpiyada Samsonovna, noble one, - and turned the shafts back. Bolshov... How back? Why did you invent this? Podkhalyuzin... I, Samson Silych, did not invent it - you ask Ustinio Naumovna. He must have heard something, who knows. Bolshov... Well him! In my business, this is not needed now. Podkhalyuzin... You, Samson Silych, take into account: I am a stranger, not my own, - and for your well-being, I do not know myself either day or night, and my heart is all languid; and for him they give a young lady, one might say, an indescribable beauty; besides, they still give money, sir, but he breaks down and puts on airs - well, does he have a soul after all this? Bolshov... Well, if he doesn’t want to, it’s not necessary, we won’t cry! Podkhalyuzin... No, you, Samson Silych, judge this: does a person have a soul? I’m a completely outsider, but I cannot see all this without tears. Understand this, Samson Silych! Anyone else would not have taken any notice of being so worried about someone else's business, sir; but now you at least drive me away, at least beat me, and I will not leave you; that's why I can't - my heart is not like that. Bolshov... But how can you leave me: only now that you are the only hope. I myself am old, things have come close. Wait: maybe we'll do something else that you don't expect. Podkhalyuzin... But I can't do it, Samson Silych. You must understand from this: I am not quite that kind of person! To another, Samson Silych, of course, it doesn't matter, sir, at least he can't grow grass, and I can't, sir, if you please see for yourself, sir, I am bothering, or not, sir. What the devil is it, I am now killing myself because of your business, sir, because I am not that kind of person, sir. This is done with pity for you, and not so much for you as for your family. You yourself, if you please know, Agrafena Kondratyevna is a pampered lady, Alimpiyada Samsonovna is a young lady, such as there are none in the world ... Bolshov... Is it really not in the world? Oh, brother, aren't you that? .. Podkhalyuzin... What, sir? .. No, I’m okay! .. Bolshov... That's it, brother, you'd better speak frankly. Are you in love, perhaps, with Alimpiyada Samsonovna? Podkhalyuzin... You, Samson Silych, may be joking. Bolshov... What a joke! I'm asking you jokingly. Podkhalyuzin... Have mercy, Samson Silych, do I dare to think it over, sir. Bolshov... Why not dare? What is she, princess, or what, what? Podkhalyuzin... Although not a princess, how you were my benefactor and instead of my own father ... No, Samson Silych, have mercy, how is it possible, sir, can I really not feel it! Bolshov... So you don't love her then? Podkhalyuzin... How not to love, sir, have mercy, it seems, more than anything in the world. No, sir, Samson Silych, how is it possible, sir. Bolshov... You would say that I love, they say, more than anything in the world. Podkhalyuzin... How can you not love, sir! For yourself, if you please judge: I think day, I think night ... that is, it’s a well-known thing, Alimpiyada Samsonovna young lady, no one in the world ... No, this is impossible, sir. Where are we, sir! .. Bolshov... Why can't you, you fool-head? Podkhalyuzin... How can you, Samson Silych? As I know you, as my own father, and Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir, and again knowing myself, what I mean - where am I with a cloth snout, sir? Bolshov... Nothing woolen. Snout like snout. If you had a mind in your head - and you have no mind to become, God rewarded this good. So what, Lazarus, should you marry Alimpiyada Samsonovna, eh? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, have mercy, do I dare? Alimpiyada, Samsonovna, maybe they won't want to look at me, sir! Bolshov... An important matter! I don’t dance on her pipe in my old age. For whom I command, for that and will go. My brainchild: I want to eat with porridge, I want butter to churn. '' Podkhalyuzin... I dare not, Samson Silych, talk to you about this, sir. I don't want to be a scoundrel against you. Bolshov... What a fool you are, brother! If I didn't love you, why would I talk to you like that? Do you understand that I can make you happy for the rest of my life! Podkhalyuzin... Why don't I love you, Samson Silych, more than my own father? God punish me! .. What a brute I am! Bolshov... Well, do you love your daughter? Podkhalyuzin... I'm worn out all over! All my duta turned over a long time ago! Bolshov... Well, and if the soul is broken, so we will correct you. Owl, Thaddeus, Pasha Malanya. Podkhalyuzin... Tyatya, what do you favor? But I'm worth it, I'm not worth it! And my physiognomy is not at all like that. Bolshov... Well, her face! But I will transfer the entire estate to you, so after that the creditors will regret that they did not take twenty-five kopecks each. Podkhalyuzin... How they will regret it, sir! Bolshov... Well, now you go to the city, but just go to the bride: we will play a joke on them. Podkhalyuzin... I'm listening, sir! (Leaves.)

ACTION THREE

Scenery for the first act.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE

Bolshov (enters and sits down on an armchair, looks in the corners for a while and yawns). Here it is, life is something; it is truly said: vanity of vanities and all vanity. The devil knows, and you yourself can't figure out what you want. I wish I had something to eat, but you ruin the dinner, and it will take a stupor to sit like that. Ali would be pampered with tea. (Silence.) That's how it is: a man lived, lived, but suddenly he died - so everything will go to dust. Oh my god, my god! (Yawns and looks in the corners.

THE SECOND PHENOMENON

Agrafena Kondratyevna and Lipochka (unloaded).

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Go, go, my little one; the door is more coastal, do not hook it. Look, Samson Silych, admire, my sir, how I dressed up my daughter! Fu you, go away! What a peony rose of yours! (To her.) Oh you, my angel, princess, you are my cheruimchik! (To him.) What, Samson Silych, is it true, or what? If only she could ride the gears in the carriage. Bolshov... Will pass and a couple - not a great flight landowner! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, you know, not the General's daughter, but everything, as it is, a beauty! .. Yes, nibble the child, something that you mutter like a bear. Bolshov... And how can I still sip something? Pens, what eh, lick, bow in the legs? How incredible! We've seen better ones. Agrafena Kondratyevna... What have you seen? So something, but this is your daughter, blood child, you are a stone man. Bolshov... What about daughter? Thank God - shod, dressed, fed; what more would she want? Agrafena Kondratyevna... What do you want! Are you crazy, Samson Silych, or what? Fed up! You never know what is fed! According to the Christian law, it follows that everyone should be fed; and they look after strangers, not only their own, - and yet it is a sin to say to people: no matter how it is, dear brainchild! Bolshov... We know that she’s dear, but what else can she do? Why are you explaining these parables to me? Don't put it in a frame! We understand that the father. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Yes, if you, father, father, then do not be a father-in-law! It’s time, it seems, to come to my senses; you have to part soon, and you won't say a good word; ought to be of use to advise something so mundane. There is no parental custom in you! Bolshov... But no, so what's the trouble; therefore, this is how God created. Agrafena Kondratyevna... God created! What are you yourself? After all, she, it seems, is a divine creature, or not? Not some kind of animal, God forgive me! .. Yes, ask her something. Bolshov... What kind of demand am I? Goose is not a pig's comrade: do whatever you want. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Yes, in fact, we will not ask, you are a Pokedova here. A man will come, a stranger, an outsider, after all, try it on as you like, and a man - not a woman - will run over for the first time without seeing him. Bolshov... It was said that leave me alone. Agrafena Kondratyevna... You are a kind of father, and you are also called dear! Oh, you, my deserted child, stand, like some orphan, with your little head bowed. They gave up on you, and they don't want to know; Sit down, Lipochka, sit down, darling, my beloved treasure! (Sits down.) Sticky... Oh, leave me alone, mamma! Crumpled completely. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, then I'll look at you from afar! Sticky... Perhaps, look, but just do not fantasize! Php, mamma, you cannot dress decently: you will immediately feel emotional. Agrafena Kondratyevna... So, so, child! Yes, as I look at you, this pity is similar. Sticky... Well, it must be sometime. Agrafena Kondratyevna... All the same, it's a pity, you fool: they grew, grew, and even grew up - but for no reason at all we are giving them away to strangers, as if you were tired of us and bored with your silly little childishness, your meek behavior. Here we will survive you from home, like a gatekeeper from the city, and then we will grapple and catch ourselves, and there is nowhere to take. Judge, good people, what is it like to live in someone else's far side, choking on someone else's piece, wiping away tears with your fist! Yes, God have mercy, an uneven fool will come out, an uneven fool will fool himself, or what a fool - a foolish son! (Cries.) Sticky... You suddenly burst into tears! Really, if not ashamed, mamma! What kind of fool is there? Agrafena Kondratyevna (crying). Yes, it is, so they say, - by the way, I had to. Bolshov... And what would you be talking about? To ask you, you don’t know yourself. Agrafena Kondratyevna... I don’t know, father, oh, I don’t know: I found such a verse. Bolshov... That's just foolish. Your tears are cheap. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Oh, cheap, sir, cheap; and I myself know that they are cheap, but what can I do? Sticky... Fi, mamma, how are you suddenly! Completeness! Well, suddenly he comes - what good! Agrafena Kondratyevna... I will stop, child, I will stop; I'll stop now!

PHENOMENON THREE

The same and Ustinya Naumovna,

Ustinya Naumovna (entering). Hello golden! Why are you sad - hung up your noses?

They kiss.

Agrafena Kondratyevna... And we are tired of waiting for you. Sticky... What, Ustinya Naumovna, is coming soon? Ustinya Naumovna... Blame, fail now, blame! And our silver deeds are not very good! Sticky... How? What is this news? Agrafena Kondratyevna... What else have you invented? Ustinya Naumovna... And then, bralyants, that our groom is crumpled. Bolshov... Ha, ha, ha! And also a matchmaker! Where can you match! Ustinya Naumovna... He rested like a horse - not whoa, not well; words from him you will not get anything worthwhile. Sticky... But what is it, Ustinya Naumovna? But how is it you, really! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Ah, priests! But how can this be? Sticky... How long have you seen him? Ustinya Naumovna... Was this morning. Came out as it is in one dressing gown; and if he did it, you can attribute it to honor. He ordered coffee, and some rum, and he piled biscuits - apparently invisibly. Eat, says Ustinya Naumovna! I was talking about the matter, you know - it is necessary, they say, to solve something; I say, you wanted to go and get acquainted today; but he didn't tell me anything worthwhile about that. '' Sticky... Why is he half-heartedly sentimental there? Really, it's really sickening to watch how it all goes on. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Is it really that it breaks down? Are we worse than him? Ustinya Naumovna... And, the frog peck him, why can't we find another? Bolshov... Well, don't look for another, otherwise it will be the same again. I'll find another one for you myself. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Yes, you will, sitting on the stove; you already forgot, it seems that you have a daughter. Bolshov... But you'll see! Agrafena Kondratyevna... What to see! There is nothing to see! Don’t tell me, please don’t upset me. (Sits down.)

Bolshov laughs. Ustinya Naumovna leaves with Lipochka to the other side of the stage. Ustinya Naumovna examines her dress.

Ustinya Naumovna... Look how you dressed up - what an avantage dress you are wearing. Didn't she make it herself? Sticky... That is terribly necessary! What do you think we are beggars? And what about madam? Ustinya Naumovna... Phew, you are already beggars! Who tells you such nonsense? Here they talk about the economy, that it was not the sewing itself, they say, but that, of course, and your dress is rubbish. Sticky... What are you, what are you! Have you lost your mind? Where are your eyes? Why did you want to embarrass yourself? Ustinya Naumovna... Why are you so angry? Sticky... Here's an opportunity! I will begin to endure such a nonsense. What am I, a girl or something, what an uneducated one! Ustinya Naumovna... Where did you get this? Where did you find such a whim on you? Do I blaspheme your dress? What is not a dress - and everyone will say that it is a dress. Yes, it doesn’t suit you, because of your beauty it’s not at all so necessary - disappear your soul, if you lie. Gold is not enough for you: give us something embroidered with pearls. - So she smiled, emerald! I know what I'm talking about! Tishka (included). Sysoy Psovich was ordered to ask if it was possible, they say, to climb. They are there, at Lazar Yelizarych Bolshov... Go, call him here, and with Lazarus.

Tishkaleaves.

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, it's not for nothing that the appetizer has been prepared - so we'll have a snack. And you, tea, Ustinya Naumovna, how long have you been wanting vodka? Ustinya Naumovna... It is a well-known fact that the admiral's hour is the present time. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, Samson Silych, get under way from the place that you sit like that. Bolshov... Wait, those will come up - you will still have time. Sticky... I, mamma, will go undress. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Go, child, go. Bolshov... Wait to undress, the groom will come. Agrafena Kondratyevna... What kind of groom is there - it’s full of fooling around. Bolshov... Wait, Lipa, the groom will come. Sticky... Who is this, darling? Do I know him or not? Bolshov... But you will see, so maybe you will find out. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Why are you listening to him, what other buffoon will come there! So the tongue scratches. Bolshov... They tell you that he will come, so I, therefore, know what I am saying. Agrafena Kondratyevna... If someone really arrives, you would say so, otherwise he will come, will come, and God knows who will come. That's always the case. Sticky... Well, then, mamma, I'll stay. (He goes to the mirror and looks, then to his father.) Tyatya! Bolshov... What do you want? Sticky... I’m ashamed to say, darling! Agrafena Kondratyevna... What a shame, you fool! Speak if you need it. Ustinya Naumovna... Shame is not smoke - it will not eat up your eyes. Sticky... No, by God, it's a shame! Bolshov... Well close, if you are ashamed. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Do you want a new hat? Sticky... That's not guessing, not a hat at all. Bolshov... So what do you want? Sticky... Marry a soldier! Bolshov... Eck took it out! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Akstis, dissolute! Christ is with you! Sticky... Well - after all, others come out the same. Bolshov... Well, let them come out, and you sit by the sea and wait for the weather. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Don't you dare stutter with me! I won't give you a parental blessing either.

PHENOMENON FOUR

The same and Lazarus, Rispozhensky and Fomiiishna (at the door)

Rispozhinsky... Hello, Father Samson Silych! Hello, mother Agrafena Kondratyevna! Olympiada Samsonovna, hello! Bolshov... Hello brother, hello! Sit down, you are welcome! Sit down too, Lazarus! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Would you like to have a snack? And I have a snack prepared. Rispozhinsky... Why not have a bite, mother; I would now have a glass. Bolshov... But now all of us will go together, and now we will have a little talk for now. Ustinya Naumovna... Why not have a conversation! Here, my golden ones, I heard that it was printed in the newspaper, is it true, isn't it, that another Bonaparte was born, and, as if, my golden ones ... Bolshov... Bonaparte Bonaparte, and we most of all hope for the mercy of God; and that's not what we're talking about now. Ustinya Naumovna... So what is it about, yacht? Bolshov... And that our years are advancing, our health is also interrupted every minute, and the only creator knows only what will come forward: then we decided during our lifetime to give our only daughter into marriage, and in the reasoning of the dowry, we can also hope that she will not discredit our capital and origin, but evenly before other other Ustinya Naumovna... Look, how sweetly he says, bralyiant. Bolshov... And since now our daughter is present here, and for all that, being confident in the honest behavior and sufficiency of our future son-in-law, which is very sensitive for us, in the reasoning of divine blessing, we appoint his teverite in general contemplation. '' here. Sticky... What do you want, darling? Bolshov... Come to me, I won't bite - I suppose. Well, now you, Lazarus, crawl. Podkhalyuzin... It's been a long time, sir! Bolshov... Well, Lipa, give me your hand! Lipochka... How, what is this nonsense? Sticky How do you come up with this? Bolshov... Worse, how I will take it by force! Ustinya Naumovna... Here's to you, grandmother, and St. George's Day! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Lord, what is it? Sticky... I don’t want to, I don’t want to! I will not go for such a nasty thing. Fominishna... The power of the cross is with us! Podkhalyuzin... Apparently, my dear, I can't see happiness in this world! Apparently not to happen, sir, according to your wishes! Bolshov (takes Lipochka forcibly by the hand and Lazarus). How can I not be, if I want it? Why should I and my father, if we don’t order? Did I feed her for nothing? Agrafena Kondratyevna... What you! What you! Come to your senses! Bolshov... Know your cricket six! None of your business! Well, Lipa! Here's your fiancé! Please, love and favor! Sit down in a row and talk about it - and then there is an honest feast and for a wedding. Sticky... How - I really need to sit with an ignoramus! Here's an opportunity! Bolshov... And if you do not sit down, I will forcefully plant you and make you creep. Sticky... Where has it been seen that educated young ladies marry their workers? Bolshov... Keep quiet better! I’ll tell you that you’ll marry a janitor. (Silence.) Ustinya Naumovna... Please understand, Agrafena Kondratyevna, what kind of trouble is this. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Itself, dear, eclipsed, exactly what closet. And I can't understand where it came from? Fominishna... God! I've lived for a dozen times, how many weddings I've celebrated, but I've never seen such nasty things. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Why did you, murderers, disgrace the girl? Bolshov... Yes, I really need to listen to your fanaticism. I wanted to marry my daughter for a bailiff, and I’ll put it on my own, and don’t dare talk; I don’t want to know anyone. Now let's go for a bite to eat, and let them play a little, maybe they will get along somehow. Rispozhinsky... Come on, Samson Silych, and I'll have a glass with you for company. And this, Agrafena Kondratyevna, is the first duty for children to obey their parents. This is not ours, and it will not end with us. Everyone gets up and leaves, except Lipochka, Podkhalyuzin and Agrafena Kondratyevna. Sticky... What is it, mamma, is it? What have I got to them, cook, or what? (Cries.) Podkhalyuzin... Mamma, sir! You have a son-in-law who respects you and, therefore, rests your old age - besides me, you cannot find, sir. Agrafena Kondratyevna... How are you, father? Podkhalyuzin... Mamma, sir! God has put such an intention into me, because he himself, sir, will not want to know you, mamma, and I am up to the grave of my life. (crying) must feel, sir. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Ah, father! But how can this be? Bolshov. (out of the door). Wife, come here! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Now, father, now! Podkhalyuzin... You, mamma, remember this word that I just said.

Agrafena Kondratyevna leaves.

APPEARANCE FIFTH

Lipochka and Podkhalyuzin.
Silence.

Podkhalyuzin... Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir! Alimpiyada Samsonovna! But it seems that you abhor me! Say at least one word, sir! Let your hand kiss. Sticky... You are an uneducated fool! Podkhalyuzin... Why do you, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, would you please to offend? Sticky... I’ll tell you once and for all that I won’t follow you — I won’t. Podkhalyuzin... It's as you please, sir! You can't be cute. Only I'll tell you this, sir ... Sticky... I don’t want to listen to you, leave me alone! As if you were a courteous gentleman: you see that I do not want to go for any treasures - you should refuse. Podkhalyuzin... Here you are, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, if you please say: refuse. Only if I refuse, what will happen then, sir? Sticky... And then it will be that I will marry a noble one. Podkhalyuzin... For the noble sir! A noble man will not accept a dowry without a dowry. Sticky... How without a dowry? What are you trying to fence! Look, what a dowry I have - it will rush into the nose. Podkhalyuzin... Rags, sir! A noble person won't take rags. A noble man needs money, sir. Sticky... Well! Tyatya will give you money too! Podkhalyuzin... Well, as it will give, sir! How can you give something? You don’t know the Tyatinka’s affairs, but I know them very well: Tyatenka is your bankrupt, sir. Sticky... How is the bankrupt? And the house, and the shops? Podkhalyuzin... And the house and the shops are mine, sir! Sticky... Yours ?! Come on! Why do you want to fool me? Found yourself stupider! Podkhalyuzin... But we have legal documents! (Takes it out.) Sticky... So you bought it from a tart? Podkhalyuzin... I bought it! Sticky... Where did you get the money? Podkhalyuzin... Money! We, thank God, have more money than any noble. Sticky... What is this doing to me? They brought up, brought up, then they went bankrupt!

Silence.

Podkhalyuzin... Well, let us suppose, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, that you will marry a noble one - but what is the point of that, sir? Only one glory, that the lady, and no pleasantness, sir. If you please judge, sir: ladies often go to the market on foot, sir. And even if they leave somewhere, it's only glory that they are four, and worse than one, with a merchant. Honestly, it's worse, sir. They don't dress too luxuriously either, sir. And if you marry me, Alimpnyada Samsonovna, sir, then the first word: you will wear silk dresses at home, sir, but we will not wear velvet dresses on a visit or to the theater, sir, and we will not wear them. In the discussion of hats or cloaks - let's not look at different noble decencies, but we will put on some weirder one! Let's get Orlov horses. (Silence.) If you are hesitant about the physiognomy, then, as you please, we will also put on a tailcoat and shave our beard, or we will trim it like that, in fashion, sir, this is all the same for us, sir. Sticky... Yes, you all say that before the wedding, and then you will deceive. Podkhalyuzin. WITH place does not get off, Alimpiyada Samsonovna! I want to be anathema if I lie! Yes, this is that, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, why are we going to live in such a house? In Karetny Ryad we will buy, sir, we will write how: on the ceilings we will draw birds of paradise, sirens, different capids - they will only give money to see. Sticky... Nowadays they don't paint capids. Podkhalyuzin... Well, we'll let them in with bouquets. (Silence.) There would only be consent on your part, otherwise I don't need anything in my life. (Silence.) How unhappy I am in my life that I cannot say any compliments. Sticky... Why don't you, Lazar Yelivarych, speak French? Podkhalyuzin... And for what we have nothing for. (Silence.) Make me happy, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, show such a favor, sir. (Silence.) Command me to kneel. Sticky... Become!

Podhalyuzin becomes

What a nasty vest you have Podkhalyuzin... I'll give this to Tishka, sir, and I'll order myself on Kuznetsky Most, just don't ruin it! (Silence.) Well, Alimpiyada Samsonovna? Sticky... Let me see. Podkhalyuzin... But what to think about, sir? Sticky... How can you not think? Podkhalyuzin... You are not dumamshi. Sticky... You know what, Lazar Elizarych! Podkhalyuzin... What do you order, sir? Sticky... Take me away on the sly. Podkhalyuzin... But why on the sly, sir, when the tatya and mama so agree? Sticky... Yes, they do it. Well, if you don’t want to take it away, it’s probably so. Podkhalyuzin... Alimpiyada Samsonovna! Let the pen kiss! (Kisses, then jumps up and runs to the door.) Tyatya, sir! .. Sticky... Lazar Elizarych, Lazar Elizarych! Come here! Podkhalyuzin... What do you want, sir? Sticky... Oh, if you only knew, Lazar Elizarych, what a life I have here! Mommy has seven Fridays a week; Tatienka, as not drunk, is so silent, but as drunk, so will beat him and look. What it is to endure an abrasive young lady! That's how I would marry a noble, so I would leave home and forget about all this. And now everything will go the same way again. Podkhalyuzin... No, sir, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, this will not happen! We, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, as soon as we play the wedding, we will go to our house, sir. And we won't let them command, sir. No, it's over now, sir! It will be with them - they thought in their own time, now it's time for us! Sticky... Yes, you are so timid, Lazar Yelizarych, you dare not say anything to a tatya, but with a noble one they would have said a little. Podkhalyuzin... Because he is timid, sir, because it was a matter of primary importance - it is impossible, sir. I dare not exclaim. And as we live with our own house, so no one decides to us. But you are all talking about the noble. May the noble one love you as I will? A noble man is at work in the morning, and in the evening he wanders about in clubs, and his wife must sit at home alone without any pleasure. Do I dare to do this? All my life I must try to give you every pleasure. Sticky... So look, Lazar Elizarych, we will live on our own, and they will live on their own. We will run everything according to fashion, and they - as they want. Podkhalyuzin... This is as usual, sir. Sticky... Well, now call your darling. (He gets up and pretends to be in front of the mirror.) Podkhalyuzin... Tyatya, sir! Tyatya, sir! Mamma! ..

APPEARANCE SIX

Podkhalyuzin (goes to meet Samson Silych and throws himself into his arms). Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir! Agrafena Kondratyevna... I'm running, father, I'm running. Bolshov... Well, that's it! That's the same. I know what I'm doing, it's not up to you to teach me. Podkhalyuzin (to Agrafena Kondratyevna). Mamma, sir! Let the pen kiss. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Kiss, father, both clean. Oh, little child, how is it so this morning, eh? By golly! What is this? And I didn’t know how to judge this matter. Oh, my beloved! Sticky... I didn’t at all, mamma, imagine that Lazar Yelizarych was such a courteous gentleman! And now I suddenly see that he is much more respectful than others. Agrafena Kondratyevna... That's just the same, you fool! Your father will not wish you anything bad. Oh you, my dear! It's a parable, isn't it? Oh, my mothers! What is this? Fominishna! Fominishna! Fominishna... I run, I run, mother, I run. (Enters.) Bolshov... Wait, taranta! Here you sit down next to us - and we will look at you. Give us a bottle of fizzy.

Podkhalyuzin and Lipochka sit down.

Fominishna... Now, father, now! (Leaves.)

APPEARANCE SEVEN

The same, Ustinya Naumovna and Rispozhensky.

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Congratulate the groom with the bride, Ustinya Naumovna! Here God brought in old age, we lived to see joy. Ustinya Naumovna... But how can I congratulate you, emerald ones? Dry spoon tears my mouth. Bolshov... And here we will wet your throat.

APPEARANCE EIGHT

The same, Fominishna and Tishka (with wine on a tray).

Ustinya Naumovna... This is a different kind of business. Well, God forbid you live and grow younger, get fat and get rich. (Drinks.) Bitter, braliant!

Lipochka and Lazarus kiss.

Bolshov... Let me congratulate you. (Takes a glass.) Lipochka and Lazarus get up. Live as you know - you have your own mind. And so that life is not boring for you, so here you, Lazarus, the house and shops will go instead of a dowry, but we will count from the cash. Podkhalyuzin... Pardon me, my dear, I'm very pleased with you as it is. Bolshov... What is there to have mercy on! I made my own good. I give to whom I want. Pour some more!

Tishka pours it.

What is there to talk about. At the mercy of the court, no. Take everything, just feed the old woman and me and pay the creditors ten kopecks. Podkhalyuzin... Is it worth it, my dear, to talk about it, sir. Can't I feel something? Our people - numbered! Bolshov... They tell you, take everything, and it's over. And no one can tell me! Pay only to creditors. Will you pay? Podkhalyuzin... Have mercy, darling, the first duty, sir! Bolshov... Just look - don't give them a lot. And then you, tea, are glad to give everything away. Podkhalyuzin... Yes, there, my dear, we will somehow reckon. Have mercy on your people. Bolshov... That's the same! Don't give them more than ten kopecks. Will be with them ... Well, kiss!

Lipochka and Lazarus kiss.

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Oh, my darlings! How is this so? Just like crazy. Ustinya Naumovna. And where has this been seen. And where has it been heard, For the hen to give birth to a bull, Piglet has laid an egg!

Pours wine and goes to Rispozhinsky. Rispozhensky bows and refuses.

Bolshov... Drink, Sysoy Psyich, for joy! Rispozhinsky... I can't, Samson Silych, sickening. Bolshov... Full of you! Have a drink for joy. Ustinya Naumovna... Even there, it breaks down! Rispozhinsky... Rejects, Samson Silych! By golly, sickened. I'll drink a glass of vodka! And nature does not accept this. Such a weak build. Ustinya Naumovna... Oh, you wire neck! Look you - his nature does not accept! Let me pour him by the collar if he doesn't drink. Rispozhinsky... It's indecent, Ustinya Naumovna! It's indecent for a lady. Samson Silych! I can't, sir! Would I refuse? Heh, heh, heh, what a fool am I to do such ignorance; we saw people, we know how to live; here I will never refuse vodka, perhaps, at least now I will drink a glass! And this I can’t - because it is sickening. And you, Samson Silych, do not allow outrage, to offend not for long, but not good. Bolshov... Good it, Ustinya Naumovna, good!

Rispozhensky is running.

Ustinya Naumovna (puts wine on the table). You're lying, vitriol soul, you won't leave! (Pushes him into a corner and grabs him by the collar.) Rispozhinsky... Guard!!

Everyone laughs.

ACTION FOUR

The house of Podkhalyuzin has a richly furnished living room.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE

Olympiada Samsonovna is sitting by the window in a luxurious position; she is wearing a silk blouse, a cap of the latest style. A podhalyuzin in a fashionable frock coat stands in front of a mirror. Tishka pulls and loves after him.

Tishka... Look, how fitted it is, just right! Podkhalyuzin... And what, Tishka, do I look like a Frenchman? a? Look from afar! Tishka... Two drops of water. Podkhalyuzin... That's it, you fool! Here you are now and look at us! (Walks around the room.) So, sir, Alimpiyada Samsonovna! And you wanted to go for an officer, sir. Why are we not great? They took a brand new sertuchka and put it on. Olympiada Samsonovna... Yes, you, Lazar Elizarych, do not know how to dance. Podkhalyuzin... Well, no, we won't learn; even how we learn something - in the most important manner. We'll go to the Merchants' Assembly in winter, sir. So know ours, sir! Let's start dancing the polka. Olympiada Samsonovna... You, Lazar Elizarych, buy that carriage that you saw at Arbatsky's. Podkhalyuzin... Why, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir! Nad to buy, nad, sir. Olympiada Samsonovna... And they brought me a new cloak, so we would have gone to Sokolniki on Friday. Podkhalyuzin... Well, sir, we will certainly go, sir; and we'll go to the Park on Sunday. After all, a carriage costs a thousand rubles, and a horse costs a thousand rubles and a harness of overhead silver - so let them watch. Tishka! pipe!

Tishka leaves.

(Sits down beside Olympiada Samsonovna.) So, sir, Alimpiyada Samsonovna! Let them watch.

Silence.

Olympiada Samsonovna... Why are you, Lazar Elizarych, not kissing me? Podkhalyuzin... How so! Have mercy, sir! With our pleasure! Welcome the pen, sir! (Kisses. Silence.) Tell me, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, something in French for me, sir. Olympiada Samsonovna... What can I tell you? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, say something - well, just a little, sir. I don't care, sir! Olympiada Samsonovna... Kom woo zet joli. Podkhalyuzin... And what is this, sir? Olympiada Samsonovna... How sweet you are! Podkhalyuzin (jumps up from the chair). Here she is, we have some kind of wife! Ah yes Alimpiyada Samsonovna! Respected! Please handle!

Tishka enters with a pipe.

Tishka... Ustinya Naumovna came. Podkhalyuzin... Why else did the devil bring her!

Tishka leaves.

THE SECOND PHENOMENON

The same and Ustinya Naumovna.

Ustinya Naumovna... How are you, can you, braliant? Podkhalyuzin... Your prayers, Ustinya Naumovna, your prayers. Ustinya Naumovna (kissing). What are you, as if you have grown prettier, swollen? Olympiada Samsonovna... Oh, what nonsense you are talking about, Ustinya Naumovna! Well, where did you get that? Ustinya Naumovna... What nonsense, golden; that’s where it’s going. Glad not happy - there is nothing to do! .. Love to ride, love to carry sledges! .. Why have you forgotten me completely, bralyants? Ali haven't had time to look around yet? All tea, you admire each other and almond. Podkhalyuzin... There is that sin, Ustinya Naumovna, there is that sin! Ustinya Naumovna... That’s the same: what kind of a little souvenir I gave you! Podkhalyuzin... Many are satisfied, Ustinya Naumovna, many are satisfied. Ustinya Naumovna... Still not happy, golden! What do you want! Now, tea, you are busy with clothes. Much more fashionable something naughty? Olympiada Samsonovna... Not much. And even that is more because new matter came out. Ustinya Naumovna... Of course, pearl, the commissioner cannot be without trousers: even thin ones, but blue ones. And which ones did you cook up more - woolen or silk? Olympiada Samsonovna... Various - both woolen and silk; Yes, I recently sewed a crepe with gold. Ustinya Naumovna... How much do you have, emerald green? Olympiada Samsonovna... But count; a wedding blond on a satin stump and three velvet ones - this will be four; two gas and crepe, embroidered with gold - that's seven; three satin and three grogron - that's thirteen; Grodenaple and Grodafrik seven are twenty; three marceline, two muslindelin, two shineroyaly - is that a lot? - three and four seven, and twenty - twenty seven; Creprashel four is thirty-one. Well, there are also muslin, buffmuslin and chintz pieces up to twenty; yes, there are blouses and hoods - either nine or ten. Yes, I recently sewed it from Persian fabric. Ustinya Naumovna... Look, God bless you, how much you have piled up. And you go ahead and choose which one of the wider Grodafriks for me. Olympiada Samsonovna... I won't give Grodafrikova, only three of them; yes, it will not converge on your waist; perhaps if you want, take some crepe. Ustinya Naumovna... What kind of a Jew do I look like a trepid: well, it’s obvious that there’s nothing to do with you, I’ll make up on satin, so be it. Olympiada Samsonovna... Well, satin ones too - somehow not right, sewn like a ballroom, very openly - do you understand? And from the crepes we find the hood, let go of the folds, and it will be in the very serving. Ustinya Naumovna... Well, come on trepid! Yours took, braliant! Go and unlock the cabinet. Olympiada Samsonovna... I am now, wait a little. Ustinya Naumovna... I will wait, golden, I will wait. I also need to talk to your spouse.

Olympiada Samsonovna leaves.

Why is it that you, bralyant, have completely forgotten your promise? Podkhalyuzin... How can you forget, sir, remember! (Takes out his wallet and gives her a banknote.) Ustinya Naumovna... What is this, diamond? Podkhalyuzin... One hundred rubles, sir! Ustinya Naumovna... How so one hundred rubles? Yes, you promised me fifteen hundred. Podkhalyuzin... What about-s? Ustinya Naumovna... You promised me fifteen hundred. Podkhalyuzin... Will it not be greasy, peeling unevenly? Ustinya Naumovna... What are you, son of a chicken, joking with me? I, brother, and the lady herself is swanky. Podkhalyuzin... Why should I give you money? Wonderful for what business! Ustinya Naumovna... For business, for idleness, but come on - you yourself promised! Podkhalyuzin... You never know what I promised! I promised to jump from Ivan the Great, if I marry Alimpiyada Samsonovna, will I jump like that? Ustinya Naumovna... What do you think, I won't find a court for you? It is of great importance that you are a merchant of the second guild, I myself am sitting in the fourteenth grade, no matter what, I’m still an official. Podkhalyuzin... Yes, even if the general's - I don't care; I don’t even want to know you — that’s the whole conversation. Ustinya Naumovna... But you're lying - he promised me a sable cloak too. Podkhalyuzin... What is it? Ustinya Naumovna... Sable cloak. Why are you deaf, or what? Podkhalyuzin... Sable, sir! Heh, heh, heh ... Ustinya Naumovna... Yes, sable! Why are you laughing, that you are staring at your throat! Podkhalyuzin... They haven’t yet come out with a snout, sir, to walk around in sable coats!

Olympiada Samsonovna takes out the dress and gives it to Ustinya Naumovna.

PHENOMENON THREE

The same Olympiada Samsonovna.

Ustinya Naumovna... Why are you really - to rob me, or what, you want? Podkhalyuzin... What a robbery, but go with God, that's all there is. Ustinya Naumovna... You have already begun to persecute me; Yes, and I, a stupid fool, got in touch with you - now you can see: philistine blood! Podkhalyuzin... So, sir! Please tell me! Ustinya Naumovna... And if so, I don’t want to look at you! I won't agree with you for any treasures! I’ll run around thirty miles, but I won’t go past you! I would rather close my eyes and stumble upon a horse than look at your lair! I will want to spit, and then I will not turn into this street. Burst into ten pieces, if I lie! Get lost if you see me here! Podkhalyuzin... Yes, you, auntie, lightly; otherwise we'll send for the quarterly. Ustinya Naumovna... I'll print you gold ones: you will know! I’ll send you so much in Moscow that I’ll be ashamed to show people their eyes! A lady with a rank-rank ... Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! (Leaves.) Podkhalyuzin... Look, noble blood was running out! Oh, my God! The official is there! Here is a proverb that says: thunder is thundering not from a cloud, but from a dung heap! Oh, my God! Look at her, what a lady! Olympiada Samsonovna... You were hunting, Lazar Elizarych, to get involved with her! Podkhalyuzin... Yes, pardon me, a completely incongruous woman! Olympiad Samson Aries (looks out the window) They didn’t let the dude out of the pit — look, Lazar Elizarych! Podkhalyuzin... Well, no, sir: they won't let the old lady out of the pit soon; and presumably, he was discharged to the competition, so he asked for leave to go home ... Mamma, sir! Agrafena Kondratyevna! Tyatya is coming, sir!

PHENOMENON FOUR

The same, Bolshov and Agrafena Kondratyevna.

Agrafena Kondratyevna... Where is he? Where is he? 1 You are my dear, you are my darlings!

They kiss.

Podkhalyuzin... Tyatya, hello, our compliments! Agrafena Kondratyevna... My dear fellow, Samson Silych, you are my golden! You left me an orphan in my old age! Bolshov... Come on, wife, stop! Olympiada Samsonovna... What are you, mamma, as if you were crying for a dead man! God knows what happened. Bolshov... It is for sure, daughter, God knows what, but still your father is sitting in the pit. Olympiada Samsonovna... Well, darling, they are sitting better than you and me. Bolshov... They are sitting, but what is it like to be sitting! What is it like walking down the street with a soldier! Oh, daughter! After all, everyone knows me for forty years in the city, for forty years everyone bowed to the waist, and now the boys are showing their fingers. Agrafena Kondratyevna... And you’re not wearing a face, my dear fellow! As if you come from the other world! Podkhalyuzin... Eh, darling, God is merciful! Everything will grind - there will be flour. What are the creditors saying, darling? Bolshov... Yes that: agree to the deal. What, they say, to pull something - will you still take it, if not, and you give something clean, and God be with you. Podkhalyuzin... Why not give it, sir! Give it up, sir! Are they asking a lot, darling? Bolshov... They ask for twenty-five kopecks. Podkhalyuzin... This, darling, is a lot, sir! Bolshov... And myself, brother, I know that there is a lot, but what can I do? They don't take less. Podkhalyuzin... As if ten kopecks, it would be okay, sir. Seven and a half for satisfaction, and two and a half for competitive expenses. Bolshov... I said so, and they do not want to hear. Podkhalyuzin... It hurts! Don't they want eight kopecks in five years? Bolshov... Well, Lazarus, we will have to give twenty-five, because we ourselves have offered so before. Podkhalyuzin... But how, darling, sir! After all, then you yourself deigned to speak, sir, not to give more than ten kopecks, sir. Judge for yourself: twenty-five kopecks is a lot of money. Would you like to eat something, sir, sir? Mamma! Order some vodka and order a samovar, and we'll have a drink for the company too. - And twenty-five kopecks is a lot, sir! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Now, father, now! (Leaves.) Bolshov... But what are you telling me: I myself know that there is a lot, but how can it be? Then they'll take a year and a half in a pit, but every week they will take a soldier through the streets, and, look, they will be transferred to prison: you will be so glad to give half a dollar. You don’t know where to hide from a single stampede. Agrafena Kondratyevna with vodka; Tishka takes away the appetizer and. leaves. Agrafena Kondratyevna... My dear fellow! Eat, father, eat! Tea, they starved you there! Podkhalyuzin... Eat, darling! Do not seek what God sent! Bolshov... Thank you, Lazar! Thanks! (Drinks.) Drink it yourself. Podkhalyuzin... For your health! (Drinks.) Mamma! Wouldn't you please? Do me a favor! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Oh, father, how much is it for me now! Such a divine allowance! Oh you, my God! Oh you, my darling! Podkhalyuzin... Eh, mother, God is merciful, we'll get off somehow! Not suddenly, sir! Agrafena Kondratyevna... God give me! And then I too, looking at him, was all worn out. Bolshov... Well, what about, Lazarus? Podkhalyuzin... Ten kopecks, if you please, give, sir, as they said. Bolshov... Where can I get fifteen? Do not melt them out of matting . Podkhalyuzin... I can't, darling, sir. God knows I can't, sir! Bolshov... What are you, Lazarus, what are you! But where are you money to do? Podkhalyuzin... Yes, if you please judge: I’m starting up a trade, I have decorated the house. Have something to eat, my dear! Here at least Madeira, or something, sir! Mamma! Treat your tatyu. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Eat, father, Samson Silych! Eat! I'll pour you some punch, father! Bolshov (drinks). Help out, kids, help out! Podkhalyuzin... Here you are, dear, if you please say, where am I doing money? How, sir? Judge for yourself: we are starting to trade, of course, without capital it is impossible, sir, there is nothing to sculpt with; I bought a house, they brought in every kind of home, horses, this and that. If you please judge for yourself! We need to think about children. Olympiada Samsonovna... Well, my dear, we can't have anything to do with ourselves. After all, we are not any philistine. Podkhalyuzin... You, my dear, if you please, judge: today you can't do without capital, sir, you can bargain a little without capital. Olympiada Samsonovna... I lived with you, my dear, until I was twenty - I never saw the light. Well, will you order me to give you the money, and then go again in calico dresses? Bolshov... What do you! What do you! Come to your senses! After all, I'm not asking you for alms, but my own good. Are you human? .. Olympiada Samsonovna... It’s a well-known thing, dude, people, not animals. Bolshov... Lazarus! Remember those, because I gave you everything, everything is clean; that's what he left for himself, you see! After all, I took you into the house as a boy, you insensitive scoundrel! He gave him a drink, fed him instead of his own father, and brought him to people. Have I seen any gratitude from you? Have you seen? Remember that, Lazarus, how many times have I noticed that you are not clean on hand! Well? After all, I didn’t drive you out like any cattle, I didn’t exorcise you all over the city. I made you the chief bailiff, I gave you all my fortune, but you, Lazar, I gave my daughter too with my own hands. And if this allowance had not happened to me, you would not have dared to look at her. Podkhalyuzin... Have mercy, darling, I feel it all very well, sir! Bolshov... You feel! You should give everything, as I did, stay in one shirt, if only to help out your benefactor. Yes, I don’t ask this, I don’t need it; you pay for me only what now follows .. Podkhalyuzin... Why not pay, sir, but they are asking for a price that is completely incongruous. Bolshov... Do I really ask! Because of your every penny I asked, asked, bowed at my feet, but what should I do when they don't want to give up anything? Olympiada Samsonovna... We, my dear, told you that we cannot give more than ten kopecks - and there is nothing to talk about it. Bolshov... Tell me, daughter: go, they say, you, old devil, into the pit! Yes, into the pit! Into his prison, the old fool. And get down to business! Don't chase after big, be happy with what you have. And you chase after the big, and the last will be taken away, they will wrap you clean. And you will have to run to the Stone Bridge and rush into the Moskva River. Yes, and they will pull you out by the tongue and put you in prison.

Everyone is silent. Bolshov drinks.

Think about how it feels for me to go into a hole now. Well, should I close my eyes, or what? Ilyinka will now seem a hundred miles away to me. Just think of what it's like to walk along Ilyinka. It's like the devils, forgive me, are dragging a sinful soul through ordeals. And there past Iverskaya, how can I look at her, at mother? .. You know, Lazarus, Judas - after all, he also sold Christ for money, how we sell conscience for money ... And what was he for that? " And there are the Official Places, the Criminal Chamber ... After all, I am malicious - willful ... after all, they will send me to Siberia. Lord! .. If you don’t give money, give it for Christ's sake! (Cries.) Podkhalyuzin... What are you, what are you, darling? Completeness! God is merciful! What are you? Let's fix it somehow. All in our hands! Bolshov... You need money, Lazarus, money. Nothing else to fix. Or. money, or to Siberia. Podkhalyuzin... And we’ll give money, if only we could get rid of it! So be it, I'll add another five kopecks. Bolshov... Eki of the year! Do you have Christianity in you? You need twenty-five kopecks, Lazarus! Podkhalyuzin... No, that's a lot, darling, sir, a lot, by God! Bolshov... You snakes are submarine! (He puts his head down on the table.) Agrafena Kondratyevna... You barbarian, barbarian! You are a robber! You don’t have my blessing! You will dry up even with money, you will dry up before living a century. You are a robber, a kind of a robber! Podkhalyuzin... Completeness, mamma, to anger God! Why are you swearing at us if you don't make out the case? You see, the darling has grown manenko drunk, and you and on-go. Olympiada Samsonovna... You, mamma, would be better off silent! And then you are glad to curse in the treyside. I know: you will do it. For that, God must not have given you other children either. Agrafena Kondratyevna... You yourself are silent, dissolute! And God sent you one of them as punishment. Olympiada Samsonovna... All of you are dissolute - you alone are good. You should have looked at yourself if you are just Monday, otherwise the day will not pass without barking at someone. Agrafena Kondratyevna... Look you! Look you! Ah, ah, ah! .. Yes, I will curse you at all cathedrals! Olympiada Samsonovna... Damn it, perhaps! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Yes! Here's how! You will die, you will not rot! Yes!.. Olympiada Samsonovna... Very necessary! Bolshov (rises). Well, goodbye children. Podkhalyuzin... What are you, darling, sit down! The matter must be finished somehow! Bolshov... What's the end of it? I can see that the matter is over. The slave beats herself, if she does not reap cleanly! Don't pay anything for me: let them do whatever they want with me. Goodbye, it's time for me! Podkhalyuzin... Goodbye darling! God is merciful - somehow it will work out! Bolshov... Goodbye wife! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Goodbye, Father Samson Silych! When are they letting you into the pit? Bolshov... Do not know! Agrafena Kondratyevna... Well, then I'll come around: otherwise you will die here, not seeing you. Bolshov... Goodbye daughter! Goodbye, Alimpiyada Samsonovna! Well, now you will be rich, you will heal like a lord. On festivities, this is on balls - to amuse the devil! And don't forget, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, that there are cages with iron bars, there are poor prisoners sitting there. Don't forget us poor prisoners. (Leaves with Agrafena Kondratyevna.) Podkhalyuzin... Eh, Alimpiyada Samsonovna, sir! It's embarrassing! It's a pity for aunt, by God, it's a pity, sir! It's no use going to bargain with your creditors yourself! Al do not, sir? He'd better pity them himself. A? or go? I'll go, sir! Tishka! Olympiada Samsonovna... Do whatever you want - your business. Podkhalyuzin... Tishka!

Enters.

Give me an old sert, which is not worse.

Tishka leaves.

Otherwise they will think; rich, it must be, in those days and you will not conspire.

APPEARANCE FIFTH

The same, Rispozhensky and Agrafena Kondratyevna.

Rispozhinsky... You, mother, Agrafena Kondratyevna, haven't you deigned to pickle cucumbers yet? Agrafena Kondratyevna. No, father! What are the cucumbers now! Is it too early for me? Did you add salt? Rispozhinsky... Why, mother, they salted. The roads are now very; they say there was enough frost. Lazar Elizarych, father, hello. Is this vodka? I, Lazar Elizarych, will have a glass.

Agrafena Kondratyevna leaves, with Olympiada Samsonovna.

Podkhalyuzin... And why did you come to the ladies? Rispozhinsky... Heh, heh, heh! .. What a joker you are, Lazar Elizarych! It’s well known for what! Podkhalyuzin... And for what it would be desirable to know, sir? Rislozhensky... For money, Lazar Elizarych, for money! Who's for what, and I'm all for the money Podkhalyuzin... Yes, you really often go for money. Rispozhinsky... But how can you not go, Lazar Elizarych, when you give five tsedkovy each. After all, I have a family. Podkhalyuzin... Well, you can't afford to give. Rispozhinsky... And I would have given it at once, so I would not go to you. Podkhalyuzin... That’s why you don’t understand an ear or a snout, and you also take the Hapans. Why give you something! Rispozhinsky... How for what? - You promised yourself! Podkhalyuzin... Themselves promised! After all, they gave you - I used it, well, it will be, it's time to know the honor. Rispozhinsky... When is the honor to know? You owe me another thousand and a half. Podkhalyuzin... Must! Identity "must!" Like he has a document! And for what - for fraud! Rispozhinsky... How for a scam? For your work, not for fraud! Podkhalyuzin... For your labors! Rispozhinsky... Well, yes there is for whatever it was, but give me money, and then a document. Podkhalyuzin... What is it? Document! No, come after that. Rispozhinsky... So, do you want to rob me with small children? Podkhalyuzin... What a robbery! But take another five rubles, and go with God. Rispozhinsky... No wait! You can't get rid of me with this! Tishka enters. Podkhalyuzin... What are you going to do to me? Rispozhinsky... I haven’t bought my language. Podkhalyuzin... Why do you want to lick me? Rispozhinsky... No, not licking, but telling good people. Podkhalyuzin... What to talk about, vitriol soul! Who else will believe you? Rispozhinsky... Who will believe? Podkhalyuzin... Yes! Who will believe? Look at yourself. Rispozhinsky... Who will believe? Who will believe? But you'll see! But you'll see! My priests, but what am I to do? My death! Robbing me, robber, robbing! No, you wait! You'll see! Robbing is not ordered! Podkhalyuzin... What to see? Rispozhinsky... But what you will see! Wait still, wait, wait! Do you think I won't find a court for you? Wait a minute! Podkhalyuzin... Wait, wait! I've waited enough already. You are completely frightening: it’s not scary. Rispozhinsky... Do you think no one will believe me? Won't you believe it? Well, let them offend! I ... I will do this: most respectable audience! Podkhalyuzin... What you! What you! Wake up! Tishka... Look, where does it get out of drunken eyes! Rispozhinsky... Wait, wait! .. Most respectable audience! A wife, four children - these are thin boots! .. Podkhalyuzin... All lies, sir! The most empty man, sir! Completely you, completely ... Look at yourself first, well, where are you going! Rispozhinsky... Let me go! I robbed my father-in-law! And I'm robbed ... Wife, four children, thin boots! Tishka... You can throw soles! Rispozhinsky... What are you? You are the same robber! Tishka... Nothing, let's go! Podkhalyuzin... Oh! Well, why are you letting go of some kind of morality! Rispozhinsky... No, you wait! I will remember you! I'll put you in Siberia! Podkhalyuzin... Do not believe, everything is lying, sir! So, sir, the most empty person, sir, not worthy of attention! Oh, brother, how ugly you are! Well, I didn’t know you - I wouldn’t get involved for any welfare. Rispozhinsky... What, took it, ah! What, took! Here's to you, dog! Well, now choke on my money, damn you! (Leaves.) Podkhalyuzin... How hot, sir! (To the audience.) Don’t believe him, it’s he who said, sir — it’s all lying. None of this happened. He must have dreamed this in his dream. But we are opening a shop, you are welcome! If you send a small child, we can't hold it in an onion. 1849

Writing

The play "Our people - let's count", on which A. N. Ostrovsky worked from 1846 to 1849, became the debut of the young playwright. The original title of the work - "Bankrut" - gives an idea of ​​the plot of the play. Its main character, the hardened merchant Bolshov, conceives and implements an unusual scam. He declares himself to be a Bacrot, although in fact he is not.

Thanks to this deception, Bolshov expects to get even more rich. But he alone is "inconvenient", and the clerk Podkhalyuzin is well aware of the state of his affairs. The main character makes the clerk his accomplice, but does not take into account one thing - Podkhalyuzin is an even greater swindler than Bolshov. As a result, an experienced merchant, the thunderstorm of the whole city, "remains with a big nose" - Podkhalyuzin takes possession of his entire fortune, and even marries his only daughter Lipochka.

In my opinion, in this comedy Ostrovsky largely acted as a continuer of the traditions of N.V. Gogol. So, for example, the "manner" of the great Russian comedian is felt in the nature of the conflict of the work, in the fact that there are no positive heroes (the only such "hero" can be called laughter).

But, at the same time, “Our people - we will be numbered” is a deeply innovative work. This was recognized by all of Ostrovsky's "literary" contemporaries. In his play, the playwright used completely new material - he brought merchants to the stage, showed the way of life and customs of their environment.

In my opinion, the main difference between Our People - Let 's be numbered from Gogol' s plays lies in the role of comedy intrigue and the attitude of the characters towards it. In Ostrovsky's comedy there are characters and whole scenes that are not only unnecessary for the development of the plot, but, on the contrary, slow it down. However, these scenes are no less important for understanding the work than the intrigue based on the alleged bankruptcy of Bolshov. They are necessary in order to more fully describe the life and customs of the merchants, the conditions in which the main action takes place.

For the first time, Ostrovsky uses a technique that is repeated in almost all of his plays - an expanded slow-motion exposure. In addition, some characters of the work are not introduced into the play in order to somehow develop the conflict. These “decorous persons” (for example, matchmaker, Tishka) are interesting in themselves, as representatives of the everyday environment, morals and customs: “If the other owners have a boy, they live in boys, so they are present at the shop. And here, here and there, shuffle along the pavement like crazy all day. " We can say that these heroes complement the image of the merchant world with small, but bright, colorful strokes.

Thus, the everyday, the mundane interests Ostrovsky the playwright no less than something out of the ordinary (the scam of Bolshov and Podkhalyuzin). Thus, the conversations of Bolshov's wife and daughter about outfits and grooms, the squabble between them, the grumbling of the old nanny perfectly convey the usual atmosphere of a merchant family, the circle of interests and dreams of these people: “It was not you who taught - outsiders; fullness, please; you yourself, I must confess, have not been brought up to anything ”; “Calm down, hey, calm down, shameless woman! If you will bring me out of patience, I will go straight to my father, so I will bryaknutsya, living, I will say, no from my daughter, Samsonushko! ”; “… We all walk in fear; just look, drunk will arrive. And what a good thing, Lord! After all, such a mischievous man will be born! " etc.

It is important that the speech of the characters here becomes their capacious internal characteristic, an exact "mirror" of everyday life and customs.

In addition, quite often Ostrovsky kind of slows down the development of events, considering it necessary to show what his characters were thinking, in what verbal form their reflections are clothed: “What a disaster! This is where trouble came upon us! What to do now? Well, that's bad! Can't escape now to show up insolvent! Well, suppose the owner will have something left, but what will I have to do with it? " (Podkhalyuzin's reasoning), etc. In this play, thus, for the first time in Russian drama, the dialogues of the characters became an important means of moral description.

It is worth noting that some critics considered Ostrovsky's widespread use of everyday details as a violation of the laws of the scene. The only justification, in their opinion, could be that the novice playwright was the discoverer of merchant life. But this "violation" later became the law of Ostrovsky's drama: already in his first comedy, he combined the sharpness of intrigue with numerous everyday details. Moreover, the playwright not only did not abandon this principle later, but also developed it, achieving the maximum aesthetic effect of both components of his play - a dynamic plot and static "conversational" scenes.

Thus, the play by A. N. Ostrovsky "Our people - we will be numbered!" - This is an accusatory comedy, the first playwright's satire on the customs of the merchant environment. The playwright, for the first time in Russian literature, showed the life of Zamoskvorechye - the way of life and customs of Moscow merchants, their views on life, dreams and aspirations. In addition, Ostrovsky's first play determined his creative style, techniques and methods, with the help of which he subsequently created such dramatic masterpieces as "The Thunderstorm" and "Dowry".

First successes 1847 - the beginning of Ostrovsky's literary activity. The newspaper "Moscow City Leaf" published scenes from the comedy "The Insolvent Debtor". It was an excerpt from the then unfinished comedy "Bankrupt" (later entitled "Our people - numbered!"). The excerpt was an exceptional success. This forever determined the further life of Ostrovsky. “I began to consider myself a Russian writer and without hesitation or hesitation I believed in my calling,” he wrote in his autobiographical note.

The writer Rostopchina conveyed her impressions in the following way: “What a charm“ Bankrupt ”is! This is our Russian Tartuffe, and he will not yield to his older brother in the dignity of truth, strength, energy. Hooray! Theatrical literature is being born here! ... "Gogol praised the talent of the young playwright:" The most important thing is that there is talent, and he is heard everywhere ... "

The main characters: Samson Silych Bolshov, merchant Agrafena Kondratyevna, his wife Olympiada Samsonovna (Lipochka), their daughter Lazar Elizarich Podkhalyuzin, clerk Ustinya Naumovna, matchmaker Sysoy Psoich Rispozhensky, lawyer Tishka, a boy in Bolshov's house

The plot of the work: The action takes place in the house of a wealthy merchant Bolshov. His daughter, Lipochka, a maiden of marriageable age, dreams of marrying a military man. As a last resort, for a noble one. Matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna's grooms are one better than the other, but even she cannot please everyone at once - papa, mamma and daughter.

The owner of the house, the merchant Bolshov, has his own problems. The time has come to repay debts, and although he has enough money, he does not want to pay creditors. With the help of a corrupt judge, Bolshov prepares documents from which it follows that he is bankrupt, and as proof of his bankruptcy transfers all the property to the clerk Podkhalyuzin.

The basis of all of Ostrovsky's works. With what precision and realism all the characters of the comedy are drawn! It would seem that there is nothing interesting and entertaining in this plot. But the comedy is interesting not for its complex plot, but for the truth of life, which is

The comedy "Bankrupt" has been banned for thirty-two years. Why? The censor M. A. Gedeonov wrote in 1849: “All the characters: the merchant, his daughter, the solicitor, the clerk and the matchmaker are notorious scoundrels. The conversations are dirty, the whole play is offensive to the Russian merchants. " Theatrical history of the play:

In the play "Bankrupt" there is no division into right and wrong, there are no positive and negative characters. The theater is not going to denounce the "dark kingdom" or look for a "ray of light" in it. A funny and sad performance about how one businessman suffered a fiasco, a parable of lost trust even to the closest people. A.I. Lyubeznov - Bolshov in the play "Our people - we will be numbered" by A.N. Ostrovsky. Small theater

Having become rich, Bolshov wasted the people's moral "capital" inherited by him. Having become a merchant, he is ready for any meanness and fraud in relation to strangers. He has mastered the huckster-merchant "if you don't deceive - you won't sell." But some of the old moral foundations still glimmer in him. Bolshov still believes in the sincerity of family relations: his people will be numbered, they will not let each other down.

Comedy as an expression of a typical merchant life. Its plot is taken from the very thick of life, from the legal practice and merchant life that is well known to the playwright. The deception here begins with a small one, with the clerk's ability to tighten the matter tighter or "sneak" through the hand of an arshin of chintz in front of a gaping buyer; continues to be a large and risky scam. This whole life is based on the mechanisms of deception, and if you do not deceive, you will be deceived, this is what Ostrovsky was able to show.

Federal Agency for Education

GOU VPO "Udmurt State University"

Institute for Social Communication

Course work

on the topic: "Classics in our time (on the example of the performance of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater" Young man "" Our people - numbered, or Bankrupt "A. N. Ostrovsky)"

ISK student,

course, gr. A.P. 47-21 Dolmatov

Supervisor,

Ph.D., associate professor L.M. Orlova

Izhevsk, 2010

Introduction

1 A.N. Ostrovsky. Obvious and unknown facts of biography

2 Ostrovsky on the modern stage

1 Folk comedy "Our people - we will be numbered". Features of Ostrovsky's poetics

2.2 Reading and seeing the play "Our people - we are numbered, or Bankrupt" A.N. Ostrovsky after a century and a half (on the example of the performance of the Izhevsk Municipal Youth Theater "Young Man")

Conclusion

List of used literature

Applications

Introduction

What's becoming a classic? What is modern is not only the time of writing. The author and his contemporaries have passed away, and the play arouses interest, something in it resonates with our experiences. Many theatrical figures share the point of view of those theater researchers who believe that art is concerned with a person, and not with the mores of a particular time, not with kings and subjects, not with merchants or nobles.

The classics have already settled in time. She usually has a decent history of readings, relationships, interpretations. At a distance measured in years, decades, centuries, it becomes clearer what in a classical work is a “trunk” and what is “branches” if we compare it with a monumental tree, even though different times choose different moments of the same piece.

Turning to the classics, we understand that if, even for unexplained reasons, the performance did not succeed, then it is obvious that the reason for the failure lies precisely in the production, and not in the play itself.

The classics are, of course, meaningful. "Passage" works do not experience their time, no matter how topical they are at the time of writing.

E.V. Tables

The purpose of this course work is to study the relationship to the classic works of contemporary theater workers and actors involved in modern productions.

Tasks: analysis of the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Our people are numbered, or Bankrupt"; elucidation of the reasons for the appeal of current theatrical figures to classical works at the present stage.

The scientific novelty of this research work is determined by the nature of the sources of information used and the methods of its interpretation.

Chapter 1

.1 A.N. Ostrovsky. Obvious and unknown facts of biography

Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich (1823 - 1886) Russian playwright, theatrical figure. Born April 12 (old style - March 31) 1823, in Moscow. Ostrovsky's father graduated from the course at the theological academy, but he served in the civil chamber, and then was engaged in a private lawyer. Hereditary nobility was acquired. The mother, whom he lost as a child, comes from the lower clergy. He did not receive a systematic education. Childhood and part of youth were spent in the center of Zamoskvorechye. Thanks to his father's large library, Ostrovsky became early acquainted with Russian literature and felt a penchant for writing, but his father wanted to make him a lawyer. After graduating from the gymnasium course in the 1st Moscow Gymnasium in 1840 (entered in 1835), Ostrovsky entered the law faculty of Moscow University, but he failed to complete the course (he studied until 1843). At the request of his father, he entered the service of a scribe in court. He served in the Moscow courts until 1851; the first salary was 4 rubles a month, after a while it increased to 15 rubles. By 1846, many scenes from the merchant's life had already been written, and the comedy "The Insolvent Debtor" was conceived (according to other sources, the play was called "The Picture of Family Happiness"; later - "Our People - We Will Numbered"). The sketches for this comedy and the sketch "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident" were published in one of the issues of the "Moscow City Leaflet" in 1847. The letters were listed under the text: "A.O." and "DG", that is, A. Ostrovsky and Dmitry Gorev, a provincial actor who offered him cooperation. The collaboration did not go beyond one scene, and subsequently served as a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky, since it gave his ill-wishers a reason to accuse him of misappropriating someone else's literary work. Ostrovsky's literary fame was brought about by the comedy "Our People - Let's Numbered!" (original title - "Bankrupt"), published in 1850. The play drew an approving response from H.V. Gogol, I.A. Goncharova. The comedy was banned for staging on stage. The influential Moscow merchants, offended for their entire estate, complained to the "bosses"; and the author was dismissed from service and placed under police supervision on the personal order of Nicholas I (supervision was removed only after the accession of Alexander II). The play was admitted to the stage only in 1861. Beginning in 1853 and for more than 30 years, new plays by Ostrovsky appeared in the Moscow Maly and St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky theaters almost every season.

From 1856 Ostrovsky became a permanent contributor to the Sovremennik magazine. In 1856, when, according to the idea of ​​Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, a business trip of prominent writers took place to study and describe various localities of Russia in industrial and domestic relations, Ostrovsky took upon himself the study of the Volga from the upper reaches to the lower. In 1859, in the publication of Count G.A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, two volumes of Ostrovsky's works were published. This publication was the reason for the brilliant assessment that Dobroliubov gave Ostrovsky and which cemented his fame as a depiction of the "dark kingdom". In 1860, The Thunderstorm appeared in print, prompting Dobrolyubov's article (A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom).

From the second half of the 60s, Ostrovsky took up the history of the Time of Troubles and entered into a correspondence with Kostomarov. In 1863 Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize and was elected a Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1866 (according to other sources - in 1865), he created an Artistic Circle in Moscow, which subsequently gave the Moscow stage many talented figures. I.A. Goncharov, D.V. Grigorovich, I.S. Turgenev, A.F. Pisemsky, F.M. Dostoevsky, I.E. Turchaninov, P.M. Sadovsky, L.P. Kositskaya-Nikulina, Dostoevsky, Grigorovich, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Turgenev, P.I. Tchaikovsky, Sadovsky, M.N. Ermolova, G.N. Fedotov. From January 1866 he was the head of the repertoire of the Moscow imperial theaters. In 1874 (according to other sources - in 1870) the Society of Russian Drama Writers and Opera Composers was formed, the permanent chairman of which Ostrovsky remained until his death. Working on the commission "for the revision of legal provisions in all parts of theatrical administration", established in 1881 under the directorate of the Imperial Theaters, he achieved many transformations that significantly improved the position of the artists.

In 1885 Ostrovsky was appointed head of the repertoire section of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school. Despite the fact that his plays did a good job and that in 1883 Emperor Alexander III granted him an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, Ostrovsky's financial problems did not leave him until the last days of his life. Health did not meet the plans that he set for himself. The hard work quickly depleted the body; June 14 (old style - June 2) 1886 Ostrovsky died at his Kostroma estate Shchelykov. The writer was buried in the same place, the sovereign gave 3000 rubles from the sums of the cabinet to the funeral, the widow, inseparably with 2 children, was assigned a pension of 3000 rubles, and 2400 rubles a year for the upbringing of three sons and a daughter.

After the death of the writer, the Moscow Duma set up a reading room named after A.N. Ostrovsky. On May 27, 1929, a monument to Ostrovsky was unveiled in front of the Maly Theater (sculptor N.A.Andreev, architect I.P. Mashkov).

Author of 47 plays (according to other sources - 49), translations of William Shakespeare, Italo Franchi, Theobaldo Ciconi, Carlo Goldoni, Giacometti, Miguel de Cervantes. Among the works - comedies, dramas: "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident" (1847), "Our people - we will be numbered!" (original title - "Bankrut"; 1850; comedy), "Poor Bride" (1851; comedy), "Do not sit in your sleigh" (1852), "Poverty is not a vice" (1854), "Do not live like I want to "(1854)," Hangover in someone else's feast "(1855, comedy)," A profitable place "(1856, comedy), the trilogy about Balzaminov (1857 - 1861)," Festive sleep before dinner "(1857)," They did not agree characters "(1858)," Pupil "(1858-1859)," Thunderstorm "(1859-1860, drama)," An old friend is better than two new ones "(1860)," Your dogs squabble, strangers do not bother "(1661), "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk" (1861, 2nd edition 1866; historical play), "Minin" (1862, historical chronicle), "Hard days" (1863), "Jokers" (1864), "Voevoda" (1864 , 2nd edition 1885; historical play), "Abyss" (1865-1866), "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866; historical play), "Tushino" (1866-1867; historical play), "Vasilisa Melentieva" (1867, tragedy), "Enough simplicity for every wise man" (1868, comedy), "Warm Heart" (1868-1869), "Mad Money "(1869-1870)," Forest "(1870-1871)," Not everything for the cat is butter "(1871)," There was not a penny, suddenly altyn "(1872)," Snow Maiden "(1873; fairy tale, opera by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov), "Late Love" (1874), "Labor Bread" (1874), "Wolves and Sheep" (1875), "Rich Brides" (1876), "True is good, happiness is better" (1877), " The Marriage of Belugin "(1878; written in collaboration with N. Ya. Solovyov)," The Last Sacrifice "(1878)," Dowry "(1878-1879)," Good Master "(1879)," The Heart is Not a Stone "(1880) , "Wild Woman" (1880; written in collaboration with N. Ya. Soloviev), "Slaves" (1881), "On the Threshold to Business" (1881; written in collaboration with N. Ya. Solovyov), "Shining, but not warms "(1881; written in collaboration with N. Ya. Solovyov)," Talents and admirers "(1882)," Guilty without guilt "(1884)," Handsome man "(1888)," Not of this world "( 1885; Ostrovsky's last play, published a few months before the writer's death); translation of ten "interludes" by Cervantes, Shakespeare's comedy "The Taming of the Wayward", "Antony and Cleopatra" (no translation was published), Goldoni's comedy "Coffee House", Frank's comedy "The Great Banker", Giacometti's dramas "The Family of a Criminal."

1.2 Ostrovsky on the modern stage

The repertoire of Russian theaters today includes 89 plays by Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. His plays go in a steep wave from Kaliningrad to Khabarovsk. Ostrovsky is not only alive, he is undoubtedly a playwright-leader in Russian contemporary theater. Why? Which of his plays are chosen more often and more willingly now? Which ones, for various reasons, are afraid to touch? What do they not understand, do not want or cannot understand, despite the simplicity (harmonious, however, simplicity) of his writing? What, from the point of view of the "conquests of progress", do they look arrogantly and condescendingly?

Most of all, it seems, theaters love Ostrovsky - a singer backstage and backstage, a connoisseur and connoisseur of the actor's life and acting destinies. The directors enthusiastically put on "Talents and Admirers", "Forest", "Guilty Without Guilt" in different ways. Here in the foreground is the art of the actor, his magical power and victorious power.

Ostrovsky loved and knew how to write the roles of actresses and actors. These roles were played in the Russian theater by the great predecessors and predecessors of our modern favorites and favorites. However, the very stream of plays about the theater, about acting, specially selected from the richest dramatic storehouses of Ostrovsky, points to the merciless dictate of the times.

It is no coincidence that the stunning success fell to the lot of the Vakhtangov performance "Guilty Without Guilt", which was quite deliberately turned into a melodrama with a sugar ending, when the characters, as if on New Year's Eve shifting wine glasses in an outburst of love, promise each other new happiness. The performance was doomed to success also because the revered and famous Yulia Borisova and Lyudmila Maksakova performed the roles of the actresses Kruchinina and Shelavina, based on the play of the famous and revered.

An actor or actress playing an actor or actress in Ostrovsky's plays (a kind of game in a square) is today almost the main indicator of calculated success, this is understandable. But also some kind of doping, without which it is harder and harder for the theater to compete with the progressive domination of human acting behavior; with the power of image, masculinity, casinos ó- roulette excitement, penetrated into our life at the speed of seven-mile fabulous lope; with the total domination of the game, merrymaking on the TV screen, when most of the airtime is given to show programs, as if specially combined by the phrase of the crazy Hermann: “What is our life ?! The game!"

The play "Guilty Without Guilt" was staged by Pyotr Fomenko and played by the actors in the Vakhtangov canteen, not on the Vakhtangov stage. “We are actors, our place is in the buffet,” says the unforgettable Shmaga. The director, inviting spectators to the buffet, instantly turns them into actors. All the actors. Every corner of the earthly world is a theater stage. And what? The Buffet Theater represents not so much a “magic land” as a “land” of not very smart, not very kind, not very decent people. Their place is, indeed, in the buffet. The real scene is not given to them, not to them. She is somewhere outside these "snack limits". It is no coincidence that Kruchinina (Yulia Borisova) leaves in different costumes on the “off-stage” stage and from somewhere else here, in the pantry room, sad, returns. As much as life with its deceit, hypocrisy and deceit captures the world of the theater, the same amount of intrigue, the corruption of the “magic land” rolls like a ninth wave onto the remnants of the order of everyday life. The famous Vakhtangovites (Yuri Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Yuri Volyntsev, Yevgeny Knyazev and others are also involved in the play), playing Ostrovsky in the style of an unexpected, risky collision of melodrama and farce, seem to shift the supposedly beautiful world of the wings into the sphere of unpredictable accidents of life. And when this abrupt shift, this turbulent process of crossing play and the sorrow of life is illuminated by a bright flash of an unjustified theatrical effect, like the acquisition of family ties by Kruchinina and Neznamov, the dirt of life is cleansed with a happy ending. However, she has not disappeared anywhere. It has shifted, flowed over to the “theatrical half”. There are no sacred boundaries between the ramp and the hall. Where is the "holy" art, where the roughness of life - it does not matter. The process of interpenetration and substitution is important. The redistribution of zones of influence is important: not the victory of life on stage, but the victory of the game in life.

The emphasis of displacement gives rise to sad irony in the performance of the Vakhtangovites. That is the irony of objective implications and comparisons of the play, which are manifested in Fomenko's performance precisely as an ironic attitude towards the art of the actor. As if with the help of Ostrovsky, the theater makes fun of itself, booes, whips, but also excuses for the sins and abominations that have accumulated over the time of treating oneself as a proud, bloated with narcissism, a darling of fortune.

In the role of the tragedian Neschastlivtsev at the Malaya Bronnaya Theater ("The Forest" staged by Lev Durov), the remarkably talented Oleg Vavilov reveals the depth of the irony of the tragedian's role in almost imperceptible transitions from the serious to the comic and tragicomic. The role, like the tragic actor of former greatness, alas, is not present in the theater. Everything was once. Some kind of quiet fading away of tragic passion, the elusive leakage of life from the game, constitute, in my opinion, an unconventional tone, the highlight of the role of Neschastlivtsev in Durov's play. The director, undoubtedly, cherishes Ostrovsky's thought about the greatness of an acting vocation. One problem: many are invited at the merry feast, but few are chosen. The soul asks everyone for songs, a tragedian or comedian is hiding in each, but nature is busy across the soul, she has no time for songs, her rule is: fun is an hour - time is for business. This "Forest" seems to be permeated, translucent colors of autumn, gold, splendor of fading. In the loud shouting of Neschastlivtsev, in Oleg Vavilov, an actor as temperamental, as lyrically restrained, the inner silence of surprise at the beauty of such a fading is revealed, a sad resignation in front of something inevitably impending. Later, for example, for Chekhov's Shamraev, who is completely different from Neschastlivtsev, but partly also a tragicomic hero, such surprise will turn into deliberate tactlessness, contempt for the theater, an actor, into a complete colorless perception of the world, and it will be roughly recorded: “The stage has fallen! .. Before there were the mighty oak trees, and now we see only stumps. "

Before there was Nikolai Khrisanfych Rybakov - now here he is, Gennady Neschastlivtsev. Before there was Gennady Neschastlivtsev - but today who?

And the role of the tragedian of the Russian stage, a drunkard in general, but an excellent human soul, is covered, like a patina of bronze, with a touch of compassionate irony, becoming an invaluable asset of the past.

It's the same with the role of a tragic heroine. But about this - in its place.

In the performances of the "actor's stream" Ostrovsky, without losing the honorary title of everyday life writer, singer of the curtains, genre painter, etc., suddenly appeared as a keen intellectual who foresaw modern spiritual ailments and all sorts of shifts, distortions, ugly adhesions; he even appeared, if you will, as a clever auditor, who seemed to appear unexpectedly, who found confusion both in life and in the theater.

On the one hand, he persistently and stubbornly, reborn on a multifaceted stage at some turning points in the life of Russia, turns the theater towards its core - the actor, reminding in the chaos of time about the non-splitting of the core. He returns and returns to the theater the unsaturated craving of artists for the juicy word, first-class, vivid roles, types of another time, willingly or unwillingly, forcing today's favorites and favorites to study themselves, think about gains, losses, about the devaluation of art. On the other hand, dictating a certain choice - a lurch - the playwright pushes us to think about disharmony, about the split of our existence into “play” and “non-play” halves, about the struggle of miraculous formations (from the word monstrous, not from the word wonderful) of the late XX v. for leadership, for the influence on the soul of a person. At first glance, innocent, a hint of the survival period for theaters and directors of these, and not other plays, opens in the context of time a picture of serious temptations in battles on "fields of miracles", throwing, maneuvering of a confused spectator-non-participant among the shifts of life. And in general, it’s scary to say, the very concept of holiness, the inviolability of human life disappears with an inconceivable acceleration. One of the reasons for the acceleration, I am not exaggerating, is the newfangled "moral": that our life is a game! If so, then it all depends on luck. The pursuit of luck (in any form: from financial success to prestige, fame, etc.) at any cost and entails the disappearance of the understanding of the invaluableness of a separate human life. Here again the end justifies the means. Again man is a trifle.

Ostrovsky today leads actors and non-actors to a situation of not everyday, not social or political, but spiritual choice. What will overpower us: inner order, attitude towards life and man as an unconditional value? Or internal chaos, calculation, animal principles of survival, the temptation of buffoonery, gambling partnership, winning at any cost? The point, of course, is not to play or not to play, to laugh or not to laugh, to become an actress or not. The point is that the game (in the broadest sense of the word) knows its place, its rigid framework, so that its aggression does not squeeze, does not cancel in life that space in which any games are destructive. The situation of such a choice is eternal. Ostrovsky is also eternal.

But at the end of the century it manifested itself, in my opinion, in all the force of the tragic. Therefore, in the present A.N. Ostrovsky is perceived as a dramatic playwright. Not a singer of Zamoskvorechye, not a denouncer of the "dark kingdom" or the vices of intolerable bureaucracy, not a connoisseur of the glory of the Russian theater, etc. Ostrovsky today is a psychologically subtle, sensitive researcher of the fragmentation of human consciousness. Both male and female. This is where the "stream of actors" of his plays unexpectedly pours in. The directors' appeal to the same names, the cozy neighborhood on the stage of his "backstage" plays about the relationship between play, risk, intrigue, cunning, calculation - and everyday life, work of life, patience unwittingly reveal a clear reluctance, I will say more sharply, the fear of modern theater talk about the moral deformation of society, about the very devaluation of art, which can be called the devaluation of spirit and culture. Those. about a tragic situation.

Is it because, not because of confusion in front of such a situation, not because of rooted fear, both in the "play" and in the audience halves in performances based on Ostrovsky's plays nowadays the ball is ruled by an unexpectedly new, as if double-faced, compassionate, but and the cold-detached, rational guest irony?

The theater of the 90s, if we mean the younger directors and actors, certainly felt in Ostrovsky's drama the situation of such a choice. One of the most recent productions that touched on a range of similar problems was the 1994 premiere at the Theater on Pokrovka. The play "Talents and Admirers", staged by Sergei Artsibashev, one of the most promising Moscow directors of the middle generation, in my opinion, is being built into a number of "backstage" plays. Young actors play cunningly and easily, with irony over themselves and those relations into which the modern theater is inevitably drawn by the market situation. However, this performance is special in intonation, in the attitude of the director and actors to the players of life. The Artsibashev performance is also distinguished by the fact that irony envelops modern interbreeding, more often ugly than beautiful, art and commerce.

In Talents and Admirers, both actresses, Negina (N. Grebenkina) and Smelskaya (E. Borisova), are gifted, beautiful, and have a well-deserved respect. There is no emphasis on the rivalry between the two prima donnas, as one might expect. The play is not about the struggle of self-esteem. Then what about?

About the choice, of course. About the actress's choice of her destiny. But also about the choice of talent in the fan. Patience, loneliness, slow self-improvement work - or success, fame, money? Both actresses choose success and money. However, Nina Smelskaya was given a kind of vulgar, ordinary choice. Sasha Negina is more sophisticated and cunning. This temptation of a young, fragile soul becomes the seed of the performance. That is why the insinuating, seductive and cold-calculating Velikatov (V. Stukalov) is so important here. Did he come to the theater like to a store and confidently bought a beautiful thing? It would be too straightforward. Velikatov in this performance is not disinterested, but still a sincere connoisseur of acting talent. Knowing the mores behind the scenes, observing deceptions and deaths, he decides on an ordinary deal for the sake of the future flourishing of extraordinary talent. This fan is also talented in his own way.

In the play, a kind of invisible coexistence of disinterestedness grows into a symbol, huge, from some other dimension, for all time, the love of the old man Narokov (V. Polyakov) and the self-interest of Velikatov, which seems to be purified "under the wing" of Narokov. The very past of the theater, personified by this strange old man, with his past, incidents, dishonesty - and true nobility, disinterested love for talent, is brought to the fore by the director. Everything was once. It was and has not disappeared anywhere. Lives nearby. Only Thu ó we choose from the past, everyone decides alone. In "Talents and Admirers" of the Theater on Pokrovka there is a belief in the life of modern theater, depending as much on the attitude of fans, patrons of art to talent, as much on the attitude of talent to oneself. And this clear note about the dignity of the actor, about the careful, or maybe gentle, attention to real talent sounds passionate and powerful.

In connection with the problem of spiritual choice, we cannot avoid talking about the "Thunderstorm". This play is mysterious and, despite the many wonderful performances in the theater of the past, it does not want to be solved by modern theater. Let us dwell on only one stage.

In the play "The Thunderstorm" there is a scene that, in the context of our reflections, reads as deeply obligatory for the time, for the natural development of Russian theater. In it, I think, is the foresight of what is now defined as a situation of spiritual choice.

The whole phenomenon is devoted by the writer, it seems, to a typical everyday scene: Varvara gave Katerina the key to the gate. Katerina is faced with a choice: to leave the key or not? I omit her lyrical complaints and quote the stages of the internal process: confusion - fear - self-conviction - self-justification - joy. “Katerina (alone, holding the key in her hands).<…>Here is death! There she is! Throw it, throw it far away, throw it into the river so that they never find it. He burns his hands like coal ... (Looks thoughtfully at the key.) Throw it? Of course, you have to quit. And how did he get into my hands? To temptation, to my ruin. (Listens.) ". This scene at different times in the Soviet theater was played completely differently, although, it would seem, what is there to be wise? Ostrovsky clearly wrote out a drawing of the role for the actress. For example, in the 70s, in the famous performance of the Maly Theater, staged by Boris Babochkin, the episode with the key was solved as follows. The actress (L. Shcherbinina) grabbed the key almost immediately. She hid it in her pocket quickly, convulsively, as if she was taking revenge on the evil mother-in-law Kabanikha with this secret. She ran away victorious, passionately begging someone on the move: "If only the night is faster." There was no choice. Temptations did not torment the heroine. Rather, the problem of fathers and children was being solved here.

In 1992, in St. Petersburg in the Youth Theater appeared the first in many years ("The Thunderstorm" has not been staged for almost 20 years, which also leads to some reflections), a modern production of "The Thunderstorm" (director - S. Spivak). Katya Kabanova was played by a pretty actress, rather, perhaps, lyrical than dramatic and even more so tragic. It was just Katya, Katyusha, and not Katerina at all. The scene with the key in Spivak's performance is the central one. It was in her that the transformation of Katyusha into Katerina took place. The actress (E. Untilova) on an almost empty stage, covered with a gray-blue canvas, as if between heaven and earth, remained alone with herself. She began to struggle with the temptation of something unknown, as if from all sides she was enveloping, inexplicable, realizing, nevertheless, one thing: death was approaching her. In an unequal duel, woman and rock met. Therefore, Katya's unhappy life became the tragic fate of Katerina. The actress first threw the key, as if burned, then studied it like some unusual creature. And suddenly, as if unwittingly touching, she could not tear the key from her own fingers, it slipped out of its own accord and fell into the pocket of her dress. And she, realizing that her soul had perished, and that an unknown force had subjugated her entire being, walked towards not Boris, but her own death. If the soul is not saved, physical death is nothing. The wife of Tikhon Kabanov knew this for sure.

The love of Katerina and Boris was shown in Spivak's play ... what do you think? Ironically. Like an innocent get-together game. Having met at night, Katerina and Boris (A. Petrov) sat down opposite each other, propped their cheeks with their fists and began, like children, chatting and chirping all kinds of nonsense. The performance of the Petersburgers was not about love, but precisely about the fragmentation of the personality, about the death of the soul as a result of such and not another choice. This "Thunderstorm", I think, tried to return to the modern theater, to our world of unbelief and cynicism, the concepts of sin, confession, and the last judgment. That is, those concrete, age-old values ​​of the Russian Orthodox consciousness that have constituted and still constitute the meaning of the word spiritual: the relationship of man with God and the Church, life in faith, life outside of faith, etc. However, Spivak's performance was received coldly, condescendingly indifferently, as if not wanting to complicate his life, violate inner comfort, however, false.

And our theater lives today as a magical world, the game is gambling, risky, but with an obligatory successful outcome. Tired people who have lost their faith yearn for, wait for happy endings, and this bitter expectation inexorably influences the director's choice of plays. They draw from Ostrovsky to muffle fear. It is striking how theaters change the names of Ostrovsky's plays, in which direction. In the Voronezh Theater of Drama named after A. Koltsov, for example, "Wolves and Sheep" began to be called "Frisky Wings of Cupid". The director does not hide his goals: no social conflicts, no tension. We show an uncomplicated love story, moderately vulgar, moderately funny, moderately calculating. We show, cutely ironic, kindly laughing at the naivety of both "wolves" and "sheep", which the frolic Cupid deftly mixed in one flock, quite, in general, respectable. Anatoly Ivanov staged a colorful, stylish performance with beautiful porcelain-graceful mise-en-scènes. Ostrovsky appeared in this spectacular performance in a new capacity - a chant-romance, perhaps. Are you tired of everyday storms? Go to the theater! Relax in it if you can. Such a modern Ostrovsky theater, apparently, should also be. But what next? In Moscow, for several years, he was on the poster and was popular play by Yuri Pogrebnichko "Forest", renamed as follows: "A tragic actress is required." Are Russian tragic actresses a thing of the past? I don't want to believe it. However, there is no "Thunderstorm". There is no "Dowry". However, both plays require a separate article.

Chapter 2

2.1 Folk comedy "Our people - we will be numbered". Features of Ostrovsky's poetics

The intrigue of the comedy itself, which was banned from production for 11 years, was very traditional. Ostrovsky did not strive for novelty at all, he wrote: "The playwright does not invent plots ... They are given by life, history, the story of a friend, sometimes a newspaper article. I have ... all the plots are borrowed."

In the center of the comedy "Our people - we will be numbered" - a rich owner, a clever clerk, an insidious daughter. The merchant Bolshov started a false bankruptcy in order to deceive the creditors, and the clerk Podkhalyuzin eventually deceived him - and appropriated his fortune, and "won" his daughter Lipochka. The action develops according to the principle of an hourglass: Bolshov's strength gradually weakens, his power "leaks", at some point the clock turns over - and Podkhalyuzin appears at the top ...

Ostrovsky's onomastics - the system of names of his characters - also goes back to the traditions of Russian theater of the 18th century.

Classicism prescribed strict rules for the comedian. The viewer had to know in advance how the author relates to this or that hero, - therefore, the names and surnames were chosen to speak. The Starodum and Skotinins in the Fonvizin "Nedorosl" are vivid examples of this kind. Early Ostrovsky does not deviate from this rule. If in the center of the action there is a petty rascal (in the dictionary of Vladimir Dal referred to as a podhalyuza), then the surname Podkhalyuzin suggests itself. And it is natural to give the main character, a rich and strong merchant, the arrogant surname Bolshov, the biblical name Samson (in the Bible this is a mighty hero who has lost his strength) and the mockingly proud patronymic Silych.

The intrigue was not new. Naming convention was not new. The author's approach to heroes was new. Theatrical art is much more conventional than epic prose and even lyrics; the stage performance dictates its strict rules to the playwright. An actor cannot play well if there is no audience response, a response "wave" of the audience. At the same time, the performance does not last long, it unfolds rapidly. In order for the viewer to immediately, without wasting time, join in the course of events, emotionally respond to them, common, typological features should be recognized in the characters. (Remember what a theatrical role is - we talked about them when we repeated Griboyedov's comedy Woe from Wit.)

Of course, in these recognizable roles, as in a kind of cones, the artist "infuses" new content, endows the heroes with individuality and character. But Ostrovsky focused on another task from the very beginning. It was not for nothing that he took lessons from the "natural school". "Naturalists" described the surrounding reality in detail, in detail, paying attention to the little things, including the unsightly; they wanted the reader to check the literary image not with cultural tradition, not with other people's books, but with untidy Russian reality. So the early Ostrovsky correlated his characters not with theatrical types, not with theatrical masks (a clever servant, a deceived husband, a stingy master, an intelligent peasant woman), but with social types. That is, he did everything so that the viewer looked at the stage events through the prism of the surrounding life, compared the images of the heroes with their social prototypes - merchants, servants, nobles.

In the image of Bolshov, the viewer immediately recognized the features of a modern merchant, "model" of the 1850s. The same is with Podkhalyuzin. The playwright's everyday observations were condensed, concentrated, and focused in his characters. And only then these fresh observations were set off by an easily recognizable literary background. (In Podkhalyuzin, the type of Molchalin is recognized; some scenes with the suffering Bolshov resemble a parody of Shakespeare's King Lear.)

In the first notable play by Ostrovsky, other features of his poetics were also identified.

The speech characteristics of the heroes did not just add additional colors to the character's image, they did not only emphasize his individuality. Dialogues in Ostrovsky's comedies and dramas played a much more serious role, they served as a speech analogue of action. What does it mean? Here's what. When you read the plays of the great Russian playwright, you will surely pay attention: for all their fascination, they are not too dynamic. The exposition in them is very long, and the culmination and decoupling, on the contrary, are impetuous and fleeting. The interest of the viewer and the reader is ensured by something completely different: a vivid description of morals, the tension of moral conflicts that arise in front of the heroes. How do we know about these collisions? Just from the dialogues of heroes. How do we judge color, originality? By the speech of the characters. Including their monologues.

Ostrovsky transferred to the dramatic plane the psychological experience accumulated by Russian narrative prose. He deliberately romanizes his plays, that is, like the authors of Russian psychological novels, he shifts the center of gravity from intrigue to the inner world of a person. (That is why they are so interesting to read - no less interesting than watching them in the theater.)

The same explains another feature of Ostrovsky's poetics. In his comedies there is no figure of an educated hero-resonator (as, for example, Chatsky in Griboyedov). Almost all the characters belong to one - the merchant, less often noble, even less often the bourgeois class. In modern merchants, as in a drop of water, the whole of Russia is reflected, it turns out to be, as it were, the resultant of Russian history, a clot of the Russian people. And the merchant's house, in which the action of many of Ostrovsky's comedies is concentrated, appears to be a small "model" of the entire middle Russia. The conflict between the older and younger generations of Russian merchants, between old and new, which unfolds right before the eyes of the viewer, sums up the contradictions of the era.

For all that - and this is another important principle of Ostrovsky - the playwright invariably looks at all social problems through the prism of morality. His heroes make their moral (or, more often, immoral) choice in rigidly defined social circumstances, but circumstances are not important in and of themselves. They only exacerbate the eternal questions of human life: where is the truth, where is the lie, what is worthy, what is unworthy, what is the world on ...

Ostrovsky stage play performance

2.2 Reading and seeing the play "Our people - we are numbered, or Bankrupt" A.N. Ostrovsky after a century and a half (on the example of the performance of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young Man")

Russian classics is a rather serious test for a modern viewer, sometimes indifferent, cynical. Who of those gathered in this hall will be interested in "the affairs of bygone days"? or maybe we all just want to hear each other, feel, realize: what are we laughing at, what are we crying about? I wonder what the creators of the play think themselves?

Interview with the chief director of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man" E.V. Dining room, theater actresses E. Sushkova-Oparina, M. Rudneva:

Evgeny Vadimovich, do you think the problems raised by Ostrovsky are interesting to the modern viewer?

I have a feeling that the plays of all our Russian playwrights, in principle, cannot but be interesting, or, more precisely, the problems they raise. They turn out to be projected for any time: even 50 years ago, even 100, even 150 - the name "Bankrupt" has not lost its meaning today. The play is written as if now and for this time. I think that we are discovering almost nothing new here, all the problems that were once relevant are natural from year to year, they just look somewhat different from different angles. And just the same, our main goal is to present these problems in an interesting, breathtaking form for the modern viewer without losing even the smallest share of the semantic and spiritual load that the play carries in the original. After all, over time, nothing changes: a person does not change, he cannot be corrected. As he was adaptable to the circumstances that surrounded him, he adjusts, adapts to life to this day.

Okay, Evgeny Vadimovich, then why do all this - put on performances about these problems? Why, if nothing changes:

Well, I believe that this is not being done in vain. It was not for nothing that the philosopher said: "As long as mankind can remember, there has always been a theater." The theater cannot be empty. We are constantly surrounded in life by situations that allow us to discharge ... Discharge externally: in an emotional and vocal way, if I may say so. And a person comes to the theater to unload and relax internally. And the most important thing is that he should see on stage what is close and familiar to him.

The play is all about one thing: Podkhalyuzin begins to take revenge. He takes revenge on Bolshov for all the humiliation he endured. And as soon as a convenient situation arises, he caught it, "hooked on the ridge", took it and did it! And that's all ... Nothing else. Now, it's the same in life. Look, you remember how 20 years ago it was easy to get rich - quickly, instantly! Try it now!

It turns out that the time of the Podkhalyuzins has now come ...

I think it has already gone ... gone to come again. Again, the dictum of the great is applicable here: "History repeats itself." But now, nevertheless, a little different time has come, when, if I may put it that way, it is very difficult to push Podkhalyuzin aside. Although ... if we take the first title of the play "Bankrupt" - it is very important. Now look at what is happening in our life: behind bars, the oligarchs, the ex-president of Kyrgyzstan, are accused, not groundlessly, in our opinion, because "there is no smoke without fire", of embezzlement of budget funds. Isn't this the Podhalyuzins? They just robbed and that's all ... And here too ... robbed and that's it. I guessed the moment, took advantage of it and was like that. Well, the situation is this way! .. Now, probably, the opinion arises that I justify him (Podkhalyuzin) that he is a very good person who used it in time, well, someone else's wallet was lying, no one needed, and he took it. If you take this situation out of context, you can, of course, say that you are a scoundrel, a scoundrel! Offended tatienka - you can’t do that! Where are the human feelings, where are the qualities that you should feel for your parent? And even more so to the benefactor who fostered you, one might say, from childhood! The boy was taken! You were stroked ... and inserting the torn piece back into the context - the question: "How did you stroke?" - "Kicks!" And if not stroked with kicks, maybe this would not have happened. The fact is that Podkhalyuzin is a very talented person. He has a very great potential both sensual and, if I may say so, mental.

Elena Sushkova-Oparina:

When I read the role, I immediately wrote to myself: "Mommy has seven Fridays a week." In general, I tried to implement these “seven Fridays of the week”.

Why do you love your profession and, probably, will never cheat on it?

For what? For everything: for what is difficult, for the fact that success happens very often ... with all of us, of course. This is not individual creativity, but collective. And we are all very dependent on each other. And I always thought so, my first teachers of GITIS and theatrical comrades taught me that, in general, a lot depends on the partner. And that's what I can only say, maybe, unlike someone else - I take a lot from a partner, I take and feed on a partner. I can't live without a partner. Everything that I do well in the role is, of course, the merit of my partners. And I was taught that in no case should you scold your partner. Even allowing myself to say inwardly: “Oh, he could have been better here! I did well now, but he didn’t do very well ”- I don’t understand this. I can only say that this is a collective creation, we are all together, and our successes, of course, are common and, I think, failures are common.

Maria Rudneva

Masha, tell me, why is this Lipochka interesting to you?

The fact that she is a living person ... with a foulbrood, of course ... if we talk about the finale of the play, she mercilessly takes revenge for the fact that she was not understood, did not want to understand, did not hear, did not listen and did not want to hear.

Do you think theater is capable of changing something in a person, or is it an illusion?

Probably something can ... As you open a book and know that it will not teach you - it is dumb. She talks, but she talks with your eyes, your images, your ideas. So is the theater, like a book. When a person takes an interesting book, takes a great interest in it, reads it out. He wants not to be taught, but to give him ground for thought. In the theater, the most subtle nerve endings are touched, since everything is passed through the inner world of a person, an attempt is made to stir up feelings, arouse empathy, compassion, or, conversely, anger and dislike for the character. But this is already decided by the viewer - how he will relate to this or that character. Nothing happens in the empty space - not a single role, even the smallest one.

Conclusion

In the 21st century we have not changed much in comparison with the 19th century. The external conditions of life have changed - cars instead of horses and harnesses, e-mail instead of epistolary contact, women have mastered trousers, but consciousness is a more inertial thing. The rules of the game were not settled.

Lipa and Lazar in the play "Our People - Let's Be Numbered" do not give their father the required amount, not because they are cruel capitalist sharks, but they simply do not understand how it is possible to give money if they are needed to "live like people" ... That is, the way they imagine a life worthy of themselves. “We are not some philistines,” Lipa says to his father. They cannot be called heartless for all the heartlessness of their act: the father gave all his capital, and they do not want to disrupt their plans for a prosperous life in order to free their father from the debt hole.

It looks like meanness, but they don't realize it yet ...

This play by the master of Russian drama, published for the first time exactly 160 years ago, turns out to be absolutely equivalent to its projection to our days, to the present. The experiences and feelings evoked by her seem incredible when you see a production in a modern interpretation and on a modern stage. She really gives birth to "Feelings" with a capital letter, and this is her charm. Indeed, "only a beard can be fake, and feelings - they are all real" (M. Rudneva)

So, perhaps, it is for these lively and kind, real feelings that we come to the theater. Maybe such performances help us realize ourselves not just as a population without a clan and tribe, but as Russians!

List of used literature

1.Ashukin N.S., Ozhegov S.I., Filippov V.A. Dictionary to the plays of Ostrovsky. M., 1983.

2.Zhuravleva A.I., Nekrasov V.N. Ostrovsky Theater. M., 1986.

.Lakshin V.Ya. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. M., 1982.

.Lotman L.M. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy // History of Russian drama: Second half of the XIX - early XX century. Until 1917. L., 1987.

Other sources of information

.Interview with the chief director, actors of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man"

2.Review of the performance of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man" "Our people - we will be numbered" by AN Ostrovsky People's Artist of the Udmurt Republic, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Union of Theater Workers of Udmurtia A.G. Mustaeva

Applications

1.Written answers of the chief director of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man" to the questions posed

2.A documented interview with the chief director, actors of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man"

.Audio recording of an interview with the chief director of the Izhevsk municipal youth theater "Young man" E.V. The dining room

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