Russian drama -- Translations into English

Plays by Leonid Andreyeff

_A luxurious, newly decorated hall in an ancient feudal castle. The walls are adorned with frescoes and hung with paintings blackened with age. Here and there are weapons and statues. The whole room, though brilliant with gold and with bright-coloured mosaics, is delicately ti...

Chapters

1. SCENE I

_A luxurious, newly decorated hall in an ancient feudal castle. The walls are adorned with frescoes and hung with paintings blackened with age. Here and there are weapons and st...

2. SCENE II

_From somewhere in the distance come sounds of music, which, mingling with the howling and whistling of the wind that rages about the castle, fill the air with a wild, tremulous...

3. SCENE III

_The ball continues. There seem to be more MASKERS. The hall is more crowded, and the MASKERS are restless as if the strange, mysteriously altered wine were having its effect up...

4. SCENE IV

_The walls are draped in black in sign of mourning. The tall, dust-laden windows of coloured glass admit a feeble, softly tinted light. On a black dais, in a massive black coffi...

5. SCENE V

_The same hall as in Scene I. It is toward evening. Through the half-open window mountain peaks are seen glowing in the last rays of the setting sun. A fire burns in the firepla...

6. ACT I

_A profound darkness within which nothing moves. Then there can be dimly perceived the outlines of a large, high room and the grey silhouettes of OLD WOMEN in strange garments w...

7. ACT II

_The scene is flooded with a bright, warm light. A large, very high, and very bare room. The walls, of a light rose-colour, are perfectly smooth and covered in places with a fan...

8. ACT III

_A ball is going on in the great hall of the spacious house of MAN. The hall is a large, high, rectangular room with perfectly smooth white walls and ceiling and a light-coloure...

9. ACT IV

_A large, rectangular room of a gloomy aspect. The walls, ceiling, and floor are smooth and dark. In the rear wall are two tall, eight-paned, curtainless windows, between which...

10. ACT V

_A long, wide, basement room with a very low ceiling and without windows. A flight of stairs leads from the room to the entrance, somewhere above. The walls are smooth, gloomy,...

11. ACT V

[It was only after “The Life of Man” had been presented on the stage that I became convinced I had fallen into error—both as regards the form and also as regards the fundamental...

12. ACT I

_A wild, rugged spot, at daybreak. As the sun rises, armed ROMANS enter from the hills, dragging with them the beautiful but dishevelled SABINE WOMEN. The latter resist, scream,...

13. ACT II

_A scene shrouded in gloom, symbolising the sad plight of the bereaved husbands. Possibly rain is falling, and the wind whistling, and perhaps black clouds cover the sky; but ve...

14. ACT III

_The same wild scene as in the first act, though there are now some traces of orderliness. Near one of the huts stands a ROMAN in a lazy attitude, blissfully picking his nose. I...