A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY
IVAN TURGENEV
A Comedy in Five Acts (1850)
Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett
[1862-1946]
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
ARKADY SERGEYITCH ISLAYEV, a wealthy landowner, aged 36.
NATALYA PETROVNA, his wife, aged 29.
KOLYA, their son, aged 10.
VERA, their ward, aged 17.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA ISLAYEV, mother of Islayev, aged 58.
LIZAVETA BOGDANOVNA, a companion, aged 37.
SCHAAF, a German tutor, aged 45.
MIHAIL ALEXANDROVITCH RAKITIN, a friend of the family, aged 30.
ALEXEY NIKOLAYEVITCH BELIAYEV, a student, Kolya's tutor, aged zi.
AFANASY IVANOVITCH BOLSHINTSOV, a neighbour, aged 48.
IGNATY ILYITCH SHPIGELSKY, a doctor, aged 40.
MATVEY, a manservant, aged 40.
KATYA, a maidservant, aged 20.
The action takes place on Islayev's estate.
There is an interval of one day between ACTS I and II, ACTS II and III, and ACTS IV and V.
ACT I
A drawing-room. On Right a card-table and a door into the study; in Centre a door into an outer room; on Left two windows and a round table. Sofas in the corners. At the card-table ANNA SEMYONOVNA, LIZAVETA BOGDANOVNA and SCHAAF are playing preference; NATALYA PETROVNA and RAKITIN are sitting at the round table; she is embroidering on canvas; he has a book in his hand. A clock on the wall points to three o'clock.
SCHAAF. Hearts.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Again? Why, if you go on like that, my good man, you will beat us every time.
SCHAAF [phlegmatically]. Eight hearts.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA [to LIZAVETA BOGDANOVNA]. What a man! There's no playing with him. [LIZAVETA BOGDANOVNA smiles.]
NATALYA PETROVNA [to RAKITIN]. Why have you left off? Go on.
RAKITIN [raising his head slowly], 'Monte Cristo se redressa haletant. . . .' Does it interest you, Natalya Petrovna?
NATALYA PETROVNA. Not at all.
RAKITIN. Why are we reading it then?
NATALYA PETROVNA. Well, it's like this. The other day a woman said to me: 'You haven't read Monte Cristo? Oh, you must read it--it's charming.' I made her no answer at the time, but now I can say that I've been reading it and found nothing at all charming in it.
RAKITIN. Oh, well, since you have already made up your mind about it. ...
NATALYA PETROVNA. You lazy creature!
RAKITIN. Oh, I don't mind. . .. [Looking for the place at which he stopped.] 'Se redressa haletant et. . . .'
NATALYA PETROVNA [interrupting him]. Have you seen Arkady to-day?
RAKITIN. I met him on the dam.... It is being repaired. He was explaining something to the workmen and to make things clearer waded up to his knees in the sand.
NATALYA PETROVNA. He gets too hot over things, he tries to do too much. It's a failing. Don't you think so?
RAKITIN. Yes, I agree with you.
NATALYA PETROVNA. How dull that is!... You always agree with me. Go on reading.
RAKITIN. Oh, so you want me to quarrel with you. . . . By all means.
NATALYA PETROVNA. I want ... I want ... I want you to want. ... Go on reading, I tell you.
RAKITIN. I obey, madam. [Takes up the book again.]
SCHAAF. Hearts.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. What? Again? It's insufferable! [To NATALYA PETROVNA.] Natasha . . . Natasha! . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA. What is it?
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Only fancy! Schaaf wins every point. He keeps on--if it's not seven, it's eight.
SCHAAF. And now it's seven.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Do you hear? Its awful.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Yes ... it is.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Back me up then! [To NATALTA PETROVNA.] Where's Kolya?
NATALYA PETROVNA. He's gone out for a walk with the new tutor.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Oh! Lizaveta Bogdanovna, I call on you.
RAKITIN [to NATALYA PETROVNA.] What tutor?
NATALYA PETROVNA. Ah! I forgot to tell you, while you've been away, we've engaged a new teacher.
RAKITIN. Instead of Dufour?
NATALYA PETROVNA. No ... a Russian teacher. The princess is going to send us a Frenchman from Moscow.
RAKITIN. What sort of man is he, the Russian? An old man?
NATALYA PETROVNA. No, he's young.... But we only have him for the summer.
RAKITIN. Oh, a holiday engagement.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Yes, that's what they call it, I believe. And I tell you what, Rakitin, you're fond of studying people, analysing them, burrowing into them. . . .
RAKITIN. Oh, come, what makes you . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA, Yes, yes.... You study him. I like him. Thin, well made, merry eyes, something spirited in his face. . . . You'll see. It's true he is rather awkward . . . and you think that dreadful.
RAKITIN. You are terribly hard on me to-day, Natalya Petrovna.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Joking apart, do study him. I fancy he may make a very fine man. But there, you never can tell!
RAKITIN. That sounds interesting.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Really? [Dreamily.] Go on reading.
RAKITIN. 'Se redressa haletant et...'
NATALYA PETROVNA [suddenly looking round]. Where's Vera? I haven't seen her all day. [With a smile, to RAKITIN.] Put away that book. ... I see we shan't get any reading done to-day. . . . Better tell me something.
RAKITIN. By all means. . . . What am I to tell you? You know I stayed a few days at the Krinitsyns'. . . . Imagine, the happy pair are bored already.
NATALYA PETROVNA. How could you tell?
RAKITIN. Well, boredom can't be concealed.... Anything else may be, but not boredom. . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA [looking at him]. Anything else can then?
RAKITIN [after a brief pause]. I think so.
NATALYA PETROVNA [dropping her eyes]. Well, what did you do at the Krinitsyns'?
RAKITIN. Nothing. Being bored with friends is an awful thing; you are at ease, you are not constrained, you like them, there's nothing to irritate you, and yet you are bored, and there's a silly ache, like hunger, in your heart.
NATALYA PETROVNA. You must often have been bored with friends.
RAKITIN. As though you don't know what it is to be with a person whom one loves and who bores one!
NATALYA PETROVNA [slowly]. Whom one loves, that's saying a great deal. . . . You are too subtle to-day. . . .
RAKITIN. Subtle. . . . Why subtle?
NATALYA PETROVNA. Yes, that's a weakness of yours. Do you know, Rakitin, you are very clever, of course, but . . . [Pausing] sometimes we talk as though we were making lace. . . . Have you seen people making lace? In stuffy rooms, never moving from their seats. . . . Lace is a fine thing, but a drink of fresh water on a hot day is much better.
RAKITIN. Natalya Petrovna, you are . . .
NATALYA PETROVNA. What?
RAKITIN. You are cross with me about something.
NATALYA PETROVNA. Oh, you clever people, how blind you are, though you are so subtle! No, I'm not cross with you.
ANNA SEMYONOVNA. Ah! at last, he has lost the trick! [To NATALYA PETROVNA.] Natasha, our enemy has lost the trick!
SCHAAF [sourly]. It's Lizaveta Bogdanovna's fault.
LIZAVETA BOGDANOVNA [angrily]. I beg your pardon--how could I tell Anna Semyonovna had no hearts?