Man From the USSR & Other Plays by Vladimir Nabokov Page A

exhausted I get, though! I’ve got the most demanding part—the whole film hangs on me. I can imagine what bliss it will be to see it all on the screen afterwards. Good heavens, what’s the matter with you, sweetie, what’s wrong? Olga Pavlovna! Why are you crying? What happened, Olga Pavlovna?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Don’t pay any attention to me.... It’s nothing.... It’ll go away in a minute....
    (She cries, wiping her eyes with her fingers like a child.)
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    MARIANNA
    What is it, what’s the matter? Is something wrong? Come, tell me, darling.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Give me a hankie.
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    MARIANNA
    It’s not quite clean. I’ll get you another one.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Never mind.... There, it’s over....I just didn’t sleep well last night.
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    MARIANNA
    You want me to run out and get some valerian drops? Oh, wait, I have some here.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    It’s all right. Thanks, Marianna Sergeyevna. Really, it’s all right. It’s all over.
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    MARIANNA
    Oh, you’re crying again. What a shame. Here, drink this. Slowly. Now sit quietly. Let’s chat about something.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Let’s chat about something,
(blows her nose and laughs)
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    MARIANNA
    Oh. I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time. What exactly does Alexey Matveyevich do?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I don’t know exactly,
(laughs)
Your hankie is all soaked, look. He’s involved in various commercial dealings.
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    MARIANNA
    I hope you don’t mind my asking—I believe that, in spite of everything, you’re still friends—but there’s something I did want to ask you.... He isn’t a Bolshevik, is he?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Do you hate Bolsheviks a lot, Marianna Sergeyevna?
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    MARIANNA
    I despise them. Art is above politics.... But they debase art. They burn down marvelous Russian country houses. Olga Pavlovna, don’t tell me your husband...
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    His personal life does not concern me. I don’t want to know anything.
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    MARIANNA
(quickly)

And he never-never says anything to you?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Never.
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    MARIANNA
    Aha.
(short pause)
And I have very strong suspicions. Imagine, Oshivenski says he saw Alexey Matveyevich day before yesterday sitting in a café with a notorious agent from the Soviet Mission. Engaged in a very friendly conversation. Oshivenski and his wife are absolutely scandalized.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I was just expecting them today. I don’t particularly like that lady and I don’t know why she keeps visiting me. But he’s a sweet old man, and I’m very sorry for him.
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    MARIANNA
    Still, it’s an awful thing if it’s true.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I think your film is about Bolsheviks, isn’t it?
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    MARIANNA
    Oh, it’s a wonderful film! Of course it’s still too early to talk about the plot because—you know—it’s being shot in bits and pieces. I’m fully familiar only with my own part. But basically the screenplay has to do with the Russian Revolution. And of course there’s a love story mixed in. Absolutely fascinating, I think, very
spannend.
The male lead is Harry Joy. He’s a darling.
(a knock at the door. Kuznetsoff enters.)
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    KUZNETSOFF
    You’re still in this room, Olya....
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    MARIANNA
    Oh, Alexey Matveyevich, I’m glad to have her—
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    You’re back so soon!
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    KUZNETSOFF
    Yes.
(to Marianna)
And you must teach me how to dance, Ma’am.
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    MARIANNA
    May I? Want to try right now?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
(coming alive, with a radiant expression)

What is it, Alyosha? You seem so cheerful.
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    MARIANNA
    I’ll go ask the landlady for a phonograph,
(runs out)
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    KUZNETSOFF
    Olya, the deal went through. I’m getting even more than I expected. In ten days I’m going back.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    But you will be careful, won’t