Brian Friel Plays 2 (23 page)

Arkady
He’s not very interested in food – maybe because I do the cooking!

Arina
In this flat you share?

Arkady
Yes.

Arina
How many rooms do you have?

Arkady
Three: bedroom, kitchen, washroom.

Arina
And how long have you been together?

Arkady
Oh, for the past year.

Arina
What does he do about his laundry?

Arkady
He does it himself. Mine, too. That’s the arrangement.

Vassily
Does he take any exercise?

Arkady
He walks to lectures. And back. That’s about it.

Vassily
No good. He was always lazy about exercise. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

Arina
How do you know when you don’t know how far it is from the flat to the university? You just don’t know. (
to
Arkady
)
And that hotel he mentioned – how many hours a week does he work there?

Arkady
It varies. Sometimes twenty. Maybe up to thirty.

Arina
And does he really make enough to feed and clothe himself?

Arkady
Just about.

Arina
And pay his fees?

Arkady
We all live fairly frugally.

Arina
You know he has never accepted any money from us, never since the first day he –

Vassily
Arkady Nikolayevich is not interested in our domestic affairs, my pet. Tell me about this revolutionary stuff he was spouting last night, this – this – this –

Arkady
Nihilism.

Vassily
That’s it. He’s not really serious about that, is he? All that rubbish about –

Arkady
We both are. Deadly serious.

Vassily
Well, of course it is always valuable – and important, very important – most important to keep reassessing how we order our society. That’s a very serious matter.

Arina
I hope he wasn’t serious when we were talking about that Madam Odintsov. He said I disliked her – that I hated her for some reason or other! That was very naughty of him.

Arkady
He was only joking.

Arina
I hope so.

Arkady
You know he –

Arina
(
rapidly
)
Is he in love with her?

Arkady
(
deeply
confused
) With Anna? … Yevgeny? … I – I – how would I know? How do you tell? Maybe. I wouldn’t know. I really wouldn’t know.

Vassily
And if he is, that’s his own business, Arina. There’s just one question I’d like to ask you, Arkady –

Arina
You’ve asked Arkady far too many questions. Let him finish his tea.

Vassily
With respect, my pet, it’s you who have asked the questions. My one question is this. In Petersburg – in the university – in the circles you move about in – how would he be assessed academically? What I mean is, would he be considered run-of-the-mill, average, perhaps below average –?

Arkady
Yevgeny?! Below average?!

Vassily
Yes?

Arkady
Yevgeny is – well, he’s the most brilliant student in the university at present, probably one of the most brilliant students ever there.

Vassily
Yevgeny?

Arkady
But you must know this yourselves. Yevgeny Vassilyich is unique.

Vassily
Unique?

Arkady
Yes. Yes – yes – yes; absolutely unique. And whatever he chooses to do, he’s going to have a dazzling future.

Vassily
Are you listening, Arina?

Arina
cries
quietly.
Vassily
cries
quietly
at
first
but
then
his
emotion
gets
the
better
of
him.
Unable
to
contain
himself,
he
grabs
Arkady’s
hand
and
kisses
it
repeatedly.

Vassily
Thank you. (
Kiss.
)
Thank you – thank you – thank you. (
Kiss.
)
You have made me the happiest man in Russia. (
Kiss.
)
And now I’m going to make a confession: I idolize my son. So does his mother. We both do. Worship him. That’s not incorrect, my pet, is it? And yet we daren’t
offer him even the most simple gesture of love, even of affection, because we know he detests any demonstration of emotion whatever. When you arrived here yesterday, I wanted to hold him, to hug him, to kiss him all over. But I daren’t. I daren’t. And I respect that attitude. It’s my own attitude. What we must never forget is that we are talking here about an extra-ordinary man. And an extra-ordinary man cannot be judged by ordinary standards. An extraordinary man creates his own standards. Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you, Arkady?

Arkady
Yes, I do.

Vassily
A dazzling future – did you hear that, Arina?

Arina
(
now
recovered
) It’s a beautiful day now.

Vassily
There’s no doubt in your mind?

Arkady
None at all.

Arina
We should all be out in the garden.

Arkady
What area he’ll move into I can’t guess – science, philosophy, medicine, politics – he could be outstanding in any of them. But I do know he’s going to be famous.

Vassily
‘Going to be famous’.
Non
superbus
sed
humilis
sum.
Because some day, Arkady, some day when his biography is written, the following lines will appear: ‘He was the son of a simple army doctor who from the beginning recognized his extra-ordinary talents and who despite every discouragement devoted his entire life and every penny he earned to his boy’s education.’

Bazarov
enters.
He
is
instantly
aware
of
the
changed
atmosphere
and
notices
Vassily
putting
away
his
handkerchief.
Arina
gets
quickly
to
her
feet.

Arkady
Ah, Dr Bazarov on call!

Arina
It didn’t take you long.

Arkady
Where are the eggs? Did you not deserve a fee?

Bazarov
The woman had a sprained wrist. All I had to do was strap it.

Arina
Timofeich!

Bazarov
What’s been happening here?

Arina
You boys are about to go out and get a bit of colour in your faces, (
to
Bazarov
)
Take Arkady round by the acacia plantation and down to the old mill.

Vassily
I want to show them my herb garden first.

Arina
I need you to help me put up new curtains in the study, Vassily.

Bazarov
There’s something going on here.

Vassily
(
unable
to
contain
bis
excitement
any
longer
) There certainly is something going on here.
Primo:
Arkady Nikolayevich has just decided to spend the rest of the summer here with us.
Secundo:
I have just decided to invite Anna and Katya Odintsov to come and have dinner here with us next Sunday.

Arina
None of this has been –

Vassily
Please. Allow me. And
tertio:
I have had a bottle of champagne in my study for the past three years – and now is the time to open it.

Arina
We’ll celebrate later, Vassily. We’ll have your champagne at dinner tonight. Can you come into the study now?

Vassily
Your curtains are much less important –

Arina
Now. (
to
Bazarov
and
Arkady
)
We’ll eat at seven. Have a nice walk.

She catches Vassily by the elbow and leads him quickly and firmly out.

Bazarov
What’s this all about?

Arkady
What’s what all about?

Bazarov
You know damn well what I mean.

Arkady
Just a moment, Bazarov. Just calm down. Your mother asked me what plans I had. I said none. Your father then said – excellent, spend the summer here.

Bazarov
Fine – fine – fine. Spend the summer here. But you’ll spend it here alone. And what’s this about inviting Anna over here next Sunday?

Arkady
You’re shouting, Bazarov.

Bazarov
How did that come up? Whose brilliant idea was that?

Arkady
Your father’s.

Bazarov
Who else! The moment you used the words miniature empire I could see the peasant eyes dilate. Well, that is not going to happen.

Vassily
puts
his
head
around
the
door.

Vassily
A patient outside. Sorry – am I intruding? Suffering from icterus. I have him on a diet of centaurion minus, carrots and St John’s wort. Now I know you don’t believe in medicine, Yevgeny, but I’d welcome your opinion on this. Not now, of course. Later. Later. Sorry. (
He
withdraws.
)

Bazarov
A whole summer of that? Icterus – do you hear him! – icterus! He couldn’t say bloody jaundice, simple bloody jaundice like anybody else. And he’s prescribing bloody cabbage water and bloody carrots! For jaundice! The man’s a fool! That’s what he is – a
fool, a fool, a fool! And he’s killing that poor bugger out there!

Arkady
I like him.

Bazarov
You like him.

Arkady
He’s a nice man.

Bazarov
My mother’s nice. My father’s nice. The lunch was nice. Your Uncle Pavel is nice. I’ve no idea what the word means. Let’s look at my father’s life and see can we not find a more exact word. What does he do all day? Fusses about his garden. Dabbles in medicine. Bores my mother to death with his endless and pointless prattle. And he’ll go on fussing and dabbling and boring until the whole insignificant little episode that was his trivial life is over. We can hardly call that nice, can we? What about futile? – fatuous? – would you risk ridiculous?

Arkady
And your life is so meaningful, Bazarov, so significant?

Bazarov
When we were out walking this morning we passed the new cottage that Father has just built for his bailiff and you said, ‘Only when every peasant has a decent place like that to live in, only then will Russia be close to perfection. And it’s our responsibility to bring that about.’ And your face positively glowed with … niceness. And I thought to myself, I thought: there really is an unbridgeable chasm between Arkady and me. He thinks he loves those damned peasants. I know I hate them. But I know, too, that when the time comes I will risk everything, everything for them, and I’m not at all sure if Brother Arkady is prepared to risk anything. But of course the ironic thing is that those same damned peasants won’t thank me – won’t ever know of my existence. So there they’ll be, all nice and cosy and smiling in their comfortable cottages and sending eggs up to
Arkady in his big house; and Bazarov will be feeding the worms in some unmarked grave in the wilderness.

Arkady
I don’t know what your point is.

Bazarov
That life is ridiculous and he doesn’t know that it is.

Arkady
And your life?

Bazarov
Equally ridiculous. Maybe more ridiculous. But I’m aware that it is.

Arkady
I’m going out for a walk.

Bazarov
To be in good shape for the revolution or for Anna Sergeyevna?

Arkady
If I stay we’ll fight, Bazarov.

Bazarov
Then by all means stay. Let’s have a fight, Arkady. A fight between us is long overdue.

Arkady
(
flushed
with
anger
)
I’m fond of you, Bazarov. But there are times when I find your arrogance very hard to take. Only Bazarov has the capacity for real sacrifice. Only Bazarov is a fully authentic revolutionary. Only Bazarov has the courage and the clarity of purpose to live outside ordinary society, without attachments, beyond the consolation of the emotions.