Brian Friel Plays 2 (18 page)

Arkady
Prokofyich never changes. Thank you for picking us up.

Prokofyich
My pleasure. We’ll go out looking for birds’ nests tomorrow morning.

Arkady
First thing. We’ll show Bazarov all the good spots.

Prokofyich
Maybe you and I should go by ourselves first and then we –

Pavel
(
off
)
Prokofyich!

Prokofyich
Coming, sir. (
to
Arkady
)
It’s good to have you back, Arkady.

Arkady
Thank you.

Prokofyich
exits
left.

Bird-nesting! He thinks I’m still a schoolboy.

Nikolai
In a way so do I.

Arkady
And I deliberately mentioned Bazarov because they didn’t get on very well on the journey. Prokofyich prefers the old ways, the old formalities. (
He
embraces
his
father
again.
)
It’s great to see you, Father.

Nikolai
Thank you.

Arkady
And you’re looking very fresh.

Nikolai
Fresh? At my age?

Arkady
And so is Uncle Pavel. What’s he doing with himself these days?

Nikolai
Oh, you know Pavel – killing time, as he says himself – walking – reading – (
whispering
)
going to his English tailor and his French barber – thinking his own very secret thoughts … (
after
a
quick
look
round
) Arkady, there’s one little matter before the others join us – I’m really a bit embarrassed mentioning it –

Arkady
It’s about Fenichka.

Nikolai
Shhh. How did you know?

Arkady
Intuition.

Nikolai
Yes, it’s about Fenichka. You know Fenichka, don’t you? What am I talking about – of course you do! Well, as you know, Arkady, I’ve been very fond of her for a long time now. Her mother was the best housekeeper we ever had here and Fenichka has taken on those responsibilities with great assurance and skill, considering she’s only twenty-three, just a year older than yourself; so I’m old enough to be her father, too, amn’t I? Ha-ha. Anyhow, as I say, I’ve been very attached to her for a long
time now; and indeed I have asked her – I have insisted – that she move out of that damp flat above the laundry and come into the main house. And I mention this now, Arkady, partly because I – I – because she’s afraid you might … well, disapprove of her.

Arkady
I might disapprove of Fenichka?

Nikolai
I hope you don’t mind too much, Arkady.

Arkady
Mind? Why in God’s name should I mind?

Nikolai
Well, because … well, I just thought that …
Anyhow
, anyhow, the real reason I brought her into the house – and I want you to know that I do, I do care very much for the girl, Arkady – I thought it only proper and correct that she ought to be in the house after – (
Pause.
) – she’d had the baby.

Arkady
Baby?

Nikolai
Hers and mine.

Arkady
You mean –?

Nikolai
A boy.

Arkady
You and –?

Nikolai
Six months old.

Arkady
I have a new brother.

Nikolai
Half-brother.

Arkady
Half-brother.

Nikolai
Mitya.

Arkady
Mitya.

Nikolai
Mitya. Now you know it all. Actually he’s the image of me.

Arkady
suddenly
laughs,
throws
his
arms
around
his
father.

Arkady
Father, that is the best news ever!

Nikolai
Is it?

Arkady
Of course it is! You’re a sly old rascal but I think you’re great. Congratulations!

Nikolai
You’re not angry?

Arkady
Angry? For God’s sake, Father, I’m delighted for you!

Nikolai
Thank you, son. Thank you. We’ll not talk about it before Pavel. I’m not sure he quite approves of the whole thing. You know Pavel with his silly notions of class and public decorum.

Pavel
and
Bazarov
enter
left.

We can talk later.

Bazarov,
a
student,
dark,
lean,
intense.
He
senses
that
he
is
an
outsider
politically
and
socially
in
this
house
–
hence
the
arrogance
and
curt
manner.

Arkady
There he is! Come on, Bazarov! Come over here. Uncle Pavel you’ve obviously met – Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov. And this is my father, Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov. Yevgeny Vassilyich Bazarov.

Bazarov
bows
formally.

Nikolai
You are most welcome to this house, Yevgeny Vassilyich. I hope you can stay with us for most of the summer and I hope you don’t find us very dull company.

Pavel
Do you remember a Doctor Bazarov in Father’s old division? That’s his father, he tells me.

Nikolai
Really? My goodness, it’s a small … it’s a …

Pavel
Extraordinaire,
n’est
ce
pas?

Nikolai
Indeed. And you’re going to be a doctor, too? Great. Splendid. Sit down. Sit down. You must be tired after your journey.

Bazarov
I’d prefer to stand.

Nikolai
Of course. Stand. Naturally. Stretch your legs. By all means – stand … Now to organize our lives. Let’s have tea out here. Then you young men can have a rest and we’ll eat about seven o’clock. All right? Piotr! He deliberately hides on me, you know. It’s gone far beyond a joke. Dunyasha! Oh, you’ve no idea how difficult things are becoming. I’m not exaggerating, Pavel, am I? The old system – of course it had its failings. But now? – now I give all my land to the peasants to farm –
give
it to them. Will they even farm it for themselves? I wish you’d take an interest in it all, Arkady. It’s becoming too much for me at my time of – sorry,
(
to
Dunyasha
)
Ah, Dunyasha. Bring the samovar out here.

Pavel
Cocoa for me,
s’il
vous
plaît.

Nikolai
And a bottle of that black sherry in the sideboard. The young men may wish to – to – to dissipate!

Dunyasha
is
staring
at
Bazarov.

Arkady
Do you wish to dissipate, Bazarov? We would love to dissipate, Father.

Nikolai
Dunyasha!

Dunyasha
Sorry, sir?

Nikolai
Black sherry. In the sideboard. And glasses.

She
goes
into
the
house.

What’s the matter with that girl? And how is your father, Yevgeny Vassilyich?

Bazarov
looks
blankly
at
him.
Pause.

Your father – is he well?

Bazarov
I suppose so. I haven’t seen him for three years.

Nikolai
He has been away – has he? – travelling?

Bazarov
Not that I know of.

Nikolai
Ah.

Bazarov
I haven’t seen him for three years because I haven’t been home since I went to the university.

Silence.

Arkady
(
quickly
)
Let me tell you about this character. He won the gold medal for oratory again this year – the third year in succession.

Nikolai
Wonderful!

Arkady
And he is also – (
to
Bazarov
)
– no, don’t try to stop me – he is also president of the philosophical society and editor of the magazine. It’s an astonishing radical publication – the college authorities banned both issues this year! We were brought before the disciplinary council – remember? ‘Revolutionaries! Damned revolutionaries!’

Nikolai
Oratory is an excellent discipline; excellent. I approve very strongly of – of – of – of oratory.

Pavel
On what do you … orate?

Bazarov
Politics. Philosophy.

Pavel
They have something in common, have they?

Arkady
Come on, Uncle Pavel. You know they have.

Pavel
(
to
Bazarov
)
And your philosophy is?

Arkady
Nihilism.

Pavel
Sorry?

Arkady
Nihilism, Uncle Pavel. Bazarov is a Nihilist. So am I.

Nikolai
Interesting word that. I imagine it comes from the Latin –
nihil
– nothing. Does it mean somebody who respects nothing? No, it doesn’t.

Arkady
Someone who looks at everything critically.

Pavel
If there’s a difference.

Arkady
There’s a significant difference, Pavel. Don’t be so precious.

Pavel
Me? – precious? Good Lord.

Arkady
Nihilism begins by questioning all received ideas and principles no matter how venerated those ideas and principles are. And that leads to the inevitable conclusion that the world must be made anew, (
to
Bazarov
)
That’s a fairly accurate summary of our stance, isn’t it?

Bazarov
shrugs
indifferently
and
spreads
his
hands.

Pavel
So you believe only in science?

Arkady
We don’t
believe
in anything. You can’t believe in science any more than you can believe in the weather or farming or swimming.

Nikolai
I can tell you farming isn’t what it used to be. In the past five years, the advances I’ve seen in farming techniques –

Arkady
I wish you would stop trying to divert me with your juvenile asides, Father.

Nikolai
I am sorry.

Pavel
A simple question: if you reject all accepted principles and all accepted precepts, what basis of conduct have you?

Arkady
I don’t understand what the simple question means.

Pavel
On what basis do you conduct your life?

Arkady
If something is useful – keep it. If it is not useful – out it goes. And the most useful thing we can do is repudiate, renounce, reject.

Pavel
Everything?

Arkady
Everything without use.

Pavel
All accepted conventions, all art, all science?

Arkady
What use are they? Out.

Pavel
Civilization has just been disposed of, Nikolai.

Nikolai
But surely, Arkady, surely rejection means destruction; and surely we must construct, too?

Arkady
Our first priority is to make a complete clearance. At this point in our evolution we have no right to indulge in the gratification of our own personal whims.

Nikolai
I don’t think I had whims in mind, Arkady.

Arkady
At times it’s difficult to know what you have in mind, Father.

Pavel
And when do you begin to preach this gospel publicly?

Arkady
We’re activists. We aren’t preachers, are we, Bazarov? We are not going to –

Pavel
Aren’t you preaching now? (
to
Nikolai
)
This is all nonsense; weary old materialistic nonsense I’ve heard a hundred times.

Arkady
We know there is starvation and poverty; we know our politicians take bribes; we know the legal
system is corrupt. We know all that. And we are tired listening to the ‘liberals’ and the ‘progressives’ –

Pavel
So you have identified all society’s evils –

Nikolai
Let him finish, Pavel.