The Russian Masters: Works by Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and More. Максим Горький

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      Strike!

      MAN IN OVERCOAT

      Peter, got a knife? Finish him with your knife. Cut his throat.

      PETER

      No, I'd rather do it with my heel. One! Two!

      KONDRATY (cursing him)

      Lord Jesus Christ! Lord Jesus Christ!

       [Loud cries are heard from the background: "They are carrying Him! They are carrying Him!" The mob begins to disperse and thins out quickly.

      CROWD

      They are carrying Him! Yes, it's enough. It's done. No, let me at him—once more. There! I gave him one good one in his face. They are carrying Him! They are carrying Him!

      KING HEROD

      Enough, enough. A grand feast for you, you accursed beasts!

      CROWD

      I tell you, they are carrying Him! Lie there, you! Oh my, am I going to be late? Enough now. Are you sorry for him, eh? Is it your head? One more! Come on!

       [They run away so that Savva's mangled body becomes visible.

      MAN IN OVERCOAT

      It ought to be taken away from here. It isn't right to leave it here on the road. It's dirty. Boys! Say, boys!

       [He goes off following the rest, but is met by the procession pouring in upon the stage. There is a great din and humming of talk. Speransky and Tony approach the body cautiously, bend over it on their knees, one on each side, and stare at it eagerly.

      SPERANSKY

      Dead! His eyes are gone.

      TONY

      Shut up! (He bursts into a groaning laugh, pressing his hands hard to his mouth)

      SPERANSKY

      But his face is calm. Look, Mr. Anthony. It's because now he knows the truth.

      TONY

      Shut up! (Bursts out laughing) What a funny face he has!

       [He laughs behind his hand. Then his laugh bursts through his fingers, so to speak, grows in intensity, becomes irresistible, and passes into a whine. The crowd begins to fill the stage, concealing the body, Speransky, and Tony. The bells are rung in the monastery as at Easter, and at the same time the singing of thousands of voices is heard.

      CROWD

      "Christ is risen from the dead. He has conquered death with death and given life to those lain in their graves. Christ—"

      LIPA (flinging herself into the crowd)

      "Christ is risen!"

      [The crowd continues to pour in, filling the entire stage. Gaping mouths and round, wide-open eyes are seen everywhere. Shrill shrieks are uttered by the crazed epileptics. A momentary outcry is heard: "Somebody crushed!" Tony's laughter dies away somewhere. The triumphant hymn rises, spreads, passes into a titanic roar that drowns every other sound. The bells continue to ring.

      CROWD (shouting at their utmost power)

      "Christ is risen from the dead. He has conquered death with death and given life to those lain in their graves. Christ is risen—"

      CURTAIN

THE LIFE OF MAN

       Table of Contents

       PERSONS

       THE FIRST SCENE

       THE SECOND SCENE

       THE THIRD SCENE

       THE FOURTH SCENE

       THE FIFTH SCENE

      PERSONS

       Table of Contents

      Someone in Gray called He

      Man

      His Wife

      Man's

       Father

       Relatives

       Neighbors

       Friends

       Enemies

       Guests

      Servants

      Musicians

      Physicians

      A Bartender

      Drunkards

      Old Women

      PROLOGUE—Someone in Gray called He, speaking of the Life of Man

      SCENE I—The Birth of Man and the Mother's Travail

      SCENE II—Love and Poverty

      SCENE III—Wealth. Man's Ball

      SCENE IV—Man's Misfortune

      SCENE V—The Death of Man

      PROLOGUE

      SOMEONE IN GRAY CALLED HE, SPEAKING OF THE LIFE OF MAN

      A large, rectangular space resembling a room without doors or windows and quite empty. Everything is gray, monocolored, drab—the watts gray, and the ceiling, and the floor. A feeble, even light enters from some invisible source. It too is gray, monotonous, spectral, producing neither lights nor shadows.

      Someone in Gray moves noiselessly away from the wall, close against which He has been standing. He wears a broad, gray, formless smock, vaguely outlining the contours of His body; and a hat of СКАЧАТЬ