Короткие пьесы полностью

MISHA CHEKHOV – Sixty year old actor. A smallish dapper man with a beard. Wearing white shirt and tie.

XENIA CHEKHOV – His wife is in her sixties.

It’s 1954 in their home in Los Angeles. Misha is sitting at a desk, or table, with a top drawer in it.

(Misha sits in an office chair on wheels. Using an old phone he holds the receiver and waits. He is smoking. Music is playing very loudly from somewhere in the house)

XENIA (off stage): Misha! Misha, breakfast is ready!

(Misha puts the cigarette into the ashtray and pushes it away. He grabs the phone receiver, dials a number. Xenia enters the room sniffing the air)

MISHA: I am busy…

XENIA: You’re smoking again? You’ll die!

MISHA: I know! I know! I will die… (Smiling) May be not from smoking…

XENIA: You promised me, and your doctor… and you still…

MISHA: OK! That is the last! Don’t nag me any more… I’m calling…

XENIA (off stage): Who are you calling?

MISHA: Yul…

XENIA: (off stage) Yul Brynner? Why? Is he starting lessons again?

MISHA: I heard that he will be in “The Brothers Karamazov”…

XENIA:(entering) You want to congratulate him?

MISHA: I have an idea… I want to help Marilyn Monroe…

(Sighing Misha sets down the receiver) Nobody answers…

XENIA (indignant): Agh! Are you up to your old games!

MISHA: What do you mean?

XENIA: Oh! He doesn’t understand! I’ve had enough of your escapades… Sally, Anne, and Margaret that vamp back in Connecticut…

(Xenia exits)

MISHA: Listen, we were working on “The Cherry Orchard”… This was one of my first lessons with Marilyn. She played, Anya, the daughter of the heroine. To my surprise, I felt a strong sense of excitement… sexual excitement.

XENIA (entering with a tray of tea): No surprise there! It is not the first time…

MISHA: Marylyn projected a powerful feeling.

I stopped her… and asked Marylyn if she was thinking about sex while she was acting the role of Anya.

XENIA: Uh-huh…

MISHA: My sudden question shocked her. She said that in no way was she thinking about sex… She was concentrating only on playing the role.

XENIA: You believed her?

MISHA: It became clear that she completely unconsciously radiated a sexual aura… When I explained this to her she said she wanted to be a serious actress and not just a sex symbol… and… yes… I believed her.

XENIA: Uh huh, so… where does Yul come in? Why do you want to call him?

MISHA: Maybe Yul will talk with the studio bosses about

a role for Marylyn in “The Brothers Karamozov”…

XENIA: What role do you have in mind?

MISHA: Grushenka. Grushenka, the heroine…

XENIA: (astounded) Michael!

MISHA: I’m not Michael; (with shy smile) I’m Misha!

XENIA: Naïve!…You aren’t on the moon, you’re in America!… Marilyn Monroe as a Dostoevsky Russian enchantress!

MISHA (dreamy voice): I can see Marilyn as Grushinka…

XENIA: Misha you are batty. Crazy!… She is another passing fancy of yours.

MISHA: Marilyn is not passing fancy, she is my student.

XENIA: Margaret was your student too and she had no acting talent. But in your craziness you gave her leading roles in your productions…

MISHA(compassionately concerned): Xenia, calm down…

XENIA: I can’t calm down… Have you completely forgotten your mooning outside Margaret’s dorm window in plain view of all your students?

MISHA: But Marilyn is a serious and talented actress…

(Xenia laughs about that idea)

XENIA: You are a great and talented actor too! You’d better think about yourself… I can’t forget how well we lived in Connecticut, you had a group of actors there…

MISHA (with patience): The war began… The money stopped… We could only move to Los Angeles… Here only movie studios, no theaters… They invite me to play in movies, but it’s my Russian accent… here it’s good only for foreign men with beards… for spies… criminals.

XENIA: (angry) No! All was ruined with your infatuations… Nobody wanted to trust their money to a crazy Russian.

MISHA: That night you were crazy too… Remember, what did you cry to the students?

XENIA: Of course!…You get out! You… You all… You nosy! You gossipy understudies! (Pause) And you!… You!… Whore!…Get out! You dumb vamp! Get out! Crazy… Slut…Seductress!… Bait… Bitch… Prostitute!

MISHA: Why did you call my students such dirty words?

XENIA: I called “bitch and prostitute” your lover Margaret.