The Three Sisters / Три сестры

The Three Sisters / Три сестры

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Русская классическая литература на иностранных языках (Каро)

Великий русский писатель А. П. Чехов (1860–1904) на Западе известен прежде всего как автор пьес. Такие его драматические произведения, как «Чайка», «Вишневый сад», «Дядя Ваня» и другие, ставятся на сценах разных стран и неизменно пользуются успехом.

Предлагаем вниманию англоязычных читателей одну из самых известных пьес Чехова «Три сестры», написанную в 1901 году.

Chekhov A.

The three sisters

Characters

Andrey Sergeyevitch Prosorov

Natalia Ivanovna (Natasha), his п¬Ѓancee, later his wife (28)

Feodor Ilitch Kuligin, high school teacher, married to Masha (20)

Alexander Ignateyevitch Vershinin, lieutenant-colonel in charge of a battery (42)

Nicolai Lvovitch Tuzenbach, baron, lieutenant in the army (30)

Vassili Vassilevitch Soleni, captain

Ivan Romanovitch Chebutikin, army doctor (60)

Alexey Petrovitch Fedotik, sub-lieutenant

Vladimir Carlovitch Rode, sub-lieutenant

Ferapont, door-keeper at local council offices, an old man

Anfisa, nurse (80)

The action takes place in a provincial town.

[Ages are stated in brackets.]

ACT I

[In Prosorov’s house. A sitting-room with pillars; behind is seen a large dining-room. It is midday, the sun is shining brightly outside. In the dining-room the table is being laid for lunch.]

[Olga, in the regulation blue dress of a teacher at a girl’s high school, is walking about correcting exercise books; Masha, in a black dress, with a hat on her knees, sits and reads a book; Irina, in white, stands about, with a thoughtful expression.

]

O l g a. It’s just a year since father died last May the fifth, on your name-day, Irina. It was very cold then, and snowing. I thought I would never survive it, and you were in a dead faint. And now a year has gone by and we are already thinking about it without pain, and you are wearing a white dress and your face is happy. [Clock strikes twelve] And the clock struck just the same way then.