The Storm (1 of 27)

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THE STORM

BY OSTROVSKY [Aleksandr Nicolaevich Ostrovsky]

TRANSLATED BY CONSTANCE GARNETT


DRAMATIS PERSONA

SAVIL PROKOFIEVITCH DIKOY, _a merchant, and personage of importance in the town_.
BORIS GRIGORIEVITCH, _his nephew, a young man of good education_.
MARFA IGNATIEVNA KABANOVA, _a rich merchant's widow_.
TIHON IVANITCH KABANOV, _her son_.
KATERINA, _his wife_.
VARVARA, _sister of Tihon_.
KULIGIN, _a man of artisan class, a self-taught watchmaker, engaged in trying to discover the secret of perpetual motion_.
VANIA KUDRIASH, _a young man, clerk to Dikoy_.
SHAPKIN, _an artisan_.
FEKLUSHA, _a pilgrim woman_.
GLASHA, _a maid servant in the Kabanovs' house_.
AN OLD LADY _of seventy, half mad, with_ TWO FOOTMEN.
TOWNSPEOPLE _of both sexes_.

_The action takes place in the town of Kalinov, on the banks of the Volga, in summertime. There is an interval of ten days between the 3rd and 4th acts. All the characters except Boris are dressed in old Russian national dress._

ACT I

SCENE I

A public garden on the steep bank of the Volga; beyond the Volga, a view of the country. On the stage two benches and a few bushes.

KULIGIN (_sitting on a bench, looking towards the river_).

KUDRIASH and SHAPKIN (_walking up and down_).

KULIGIN (_singing_). "Amidst the level dales, upon a sloping hillside,"... (_ceases singing_) Wonderful, one really must say it's wonderful! Kudriash! Do you know, I've looked upon the Volga every day these fifty years and I can never get tired of looking upon it.

KUDRIASH. How's that?

KULIGIN. It's a marvellous view! Lovely! It sets my heart rejoicing.

KUDRIASH. It's not bad.

KULIGIN. It's exquisite! And you say "not bad"! You are tired of it, or you don't feel the beauty there is in nature.

KUDRIASH. Come, there's no use talking to you! You're a genuine antique, we all know, a chemical genius.

KULIGIN. Mechanical, a self-taught mechanician.

KUDRIASH. It's all one.

[_Silence._

KULIGIN (_pointing away_). Look, Kudriash, who's that waving his arms about over there?

KUDRIASH. There? Oh, that's Dikoy pitching into his nephew.

KULIGIN. A queer place to do it!

KUDRIASH. All places are alike to him. He's not afraid of any one! Boris Grigoritch is in his clutches now, so he is always bullying him.

SHAPKIN. Yes, you wouldn't find another bully like our worthy Saviol Prokofitch in a hurry! He pulls a man up for nothing at all.

KUDRIASH. He is a stiff customer.

SHAPKIN. Old Dame Kabanova's a good hand at that too!

KUDRIASH. Yes, but she at least does it all under pretence of morality; he's like a wild beast broken loose!

SHAPKIN. There's no one to bring him to his senses, so he rages about as he likes!

KUDRIASH. There are too few lads of my stamp or we'd have broken him of it.

SHAPKIN. Why, what would you have done?

KUDRIASH. We'd have given him a good scare.

SHAPKIN. How'd you do that?

KUDRIASH. Why, four or five of us would have had a few words with him, face to face, in some back street, and he'd soon have been as soft as silk. And he'd never have let on to a soul about the lesson we'd given him; he'd just have walked off and taken care to look behind him.

SHAPKIN. I see he'd some reason for wanting to get you sent for a soldier.

KUDRIASH. He wanted to, right enough, but he didn't do it. No, he won't get rid of me; he's an inkling that I'd make him pay too dear for it. You're afraid of him, but I know how to talk to him.

SHAPKIN. Oh, I daresay!

KUDRIASH. What do you mean by that? I am reckoned a tough one to deal with. Why do you suppose he keeps me on? Because he can't do without me, to be sure. Well, then, I've no need to be afraid of him; let him be afraid of me.

SHAPKIN. Why, doesn't he swear at you?

KUDRIASH. Swear at me! Of course; he can't breathe without that. But I don't give way to him: if he says one word, I say ten; he curses and goes off. No, I'm not going to lick the dust for him.

KULIGIN. What, follow his example! You'd do better to bear it in patience.

KUDRIASH. Come, I say, if you're so wise, teach him good manners first and then we'll learn! It's a pity his daughters are all children, there's not one grown-up girl among them.

SHAPKIN. What if there were?

KUDRIASH. I should treat him as he deserves if there were. I'm a devil of a fellow among the girls!

[_Dikoy and Boris advance. Kuligin takes off his hat._

SHAPKIN (_to Kudriash_). Let us move off; he'll pick a quarrel with us, very likely.

[_They move off a little._

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