Maude Aylmer - The power of darkness: a drama in five acts

T HE P OWER OF D ARKNESS

A Drama in Five Acts

Leo Tolstoy

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

DOVER P UBLICATIONS, I NC.

M INEOLA, N EW Y ORK

DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

G ENERAL E DITOR: S USAN L. R ATTINER

E DITOR OF T HIS V OLUME: J ANET B. K OPITO

Copyright

Copyright 2019 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Theatrical Rights

This Dover Thrift Edition may be used in its entirety, in adaptation, or in any other way for theatrical productions, professional and amateur, in the United States, without permission, fee, or acknowledgment. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.)

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2019, is a republication of the work as published in 1905 by Archibald Constable & Co., London, in Plays by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. The footnotes from that edition have been retained. A new introductory Note has been prepared specially for the Dover edition.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 18281910, author. | Maude, Louise, 18551939, translator. | Maude, Aylmer, 18581938, translator.

Title: The power of darkness : a drama in five acts / Leo Tolstoy ; translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

Other titles: Vlast tmy. English (Maude)

Description: Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, Inc., 2019.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018027650| ISBN 9780486828367 | ISBN 0486828360

Classification: LCC PG3366 .V5 2018 | DDC 891.72/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018027650

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

82836001 2019

www.doverpublications.com

Note

COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (18281910) wrote The Power of Darkness in 1886; his depiction of the abject lives of the peasant class of Russia led to the play being officially banned until 1902, when it was mounted by the Moscow Art Theatre. In this truly dark work, Matryona, the mother of the peasant Nikitaa conflicted man who finds solace in alcohol and acts impulsively and, ultimately, with tragic consequencesposes the existential question: One would be glad not to sin, but whats one to do?

As the chief characters in The Power of Darkness do, indeed, sin, it seems as if the world they inhabit has been divided into those with, and those without, a conscience. Anisya, the wife of Peter, a wealthy man whose health is failing, schemes and manipulates others to obtain his money. Matryona is her accomplice in the evildoing. Nikita is too befuddled to fully retrieve his sense of right and wrong until it is too late; his father, Akim, is tormented by the sins that envelop him. Confronting his son, Akim laments, Because of your filth... I feel sick! The troubled child Nan receives a terrifying answer from the old laborer Mitritch when she senses that a horrible crime has been committedshe learns that a bogey may pop her in a sack and punish her for her inquisitiveness. Mitritch then assails the Russian peasants, who are, he claims, as blind as molesknowing nothing. Some of the players in The Power of Darkness will seek redemption, but others will give in fully to their baser desires and avoid a reckoning with their soul.

CHARACTERS

PETER IGNATITCH. A well-to-do peasant, 42 years old, married for the second time, and sickly.

ANISYA. His wife, 32 years old, fond of dress.

AKOULINA. Peters daughter by his first marriage, 16 years old, hard of hearing, mentally undeveloped.

NAN ( ANNA PETROVNA). His daughter by his second marriage, 10 years old.

NIKITA. Their laborer, 25 years old, fond of dress.

AKIM. Nikitas father, 50 years old, a plain-looking, God-fearing peasant.

MATRYONA. His wife and Nikitas mother, 50 years old.

MARINA. An orphan girl, 22 years old.

MARTHA. Peters sister.

MITRITCH. An old laborer, ex-soldier.

SIMON. Marinas husband.

BRIDEGROOM. Engaged to Akoulina.

IVAN. His father.

A NEIGHBOR.

FIRST GIRL.

SECOND GIRL.

POLICE OFFICER.

DRIVER.

BEST-MAN.

MATCHMAKER.

VILLAGE ELDER.

VISITORS, WOMEN, GIRLS, AND PEOPLE come to see the wedding.

N.B.The oven mentioned is the usual large, brick, Russian baking-oven. The top of it outside is flat, so that more than one person can lie on it.

ACT I

The Act takes place in autumn in a large village. The Scene represents Peters roomy hut. Peter is sitting on a wooden bench, mending a horse-collar. Anisya and Akoulina are spinning, and singing a part-song.

PETER [looking out of the window] The horses have got loose again. If we dont look out theyll be killing the colt. Nikita! Hey, Nikita! Is the fellow deaf ? [Listens. To the women] Shut up, one cant hear anything.

NIKITA [ from outside] What?

PETER. Drive the horses in.

NIKITA. Well drive em in. All in good time.

PETER [shaking his head ] Ah, these laborers! If I were well, Id not keep one on no account. Theres nothing but bother with em. [Rises and sits down again] Nikita!... Its no good shouting. One of youd better go. Go, Akoul, drive em in.

AKOULINA. Who? The horses?

PETER. What else?

AKOULINA. All right. [Exit].

PETER. Ah, but hes a loafer, that lad... not at all business-like. Wont stir a finger if he can help it.

ANISYA. Youre so mighty brisk yourself. When youre not sprawling on the top of the oven youre squatting on the bench. To goad others to work is all youre fit for.

PETER. If one werent to goad you a bit, one d have no roof left over ones head before the years out. Oh what people!

ANISYA. You go shoving a dozen jobs on to ones shoulders, and then do nothing but scold. Its easy to lie on the oven and give orders.

PETER [sighing] Oh, if twere not for this sickness thats got hold of me, Id not keep him on another day.

AKOULINA [off the scene] Gee up, gee, woo. [A colt neighs, the stamping of horses feet and the creaking of the gate are heard ].

PETER. Bragging, thats what hes good at. Id like to sack him, I would indeed.

ANISYA [mimicking him] Like to sack him. You buckle to yourself, and then talk.

AKOULINA [enters] Its all I could do to drive em in. That piebald always will...

PETER. And wheres Nikita?

AKOULINA. Wheres Nikita? Why, standing out there in the street.

PETER. Whats he standing there for?

AKOULINA. Whats he standing there for? He stands there jabbering.

PETER. One cant get any sense out of her! Whos he jabbering with?

AKOULINA [does not hear] Eh, what?

Peter waves her off. She sits down to her spinning.

NAN [running in to her mother] Nikitas father and mother have come. Theyre going to take him away. Shelp me!

ANISYA. Nonsense!

NAN. Yes. May I die! [Laughing] I was just going by, and Nikita, he says, Good-bye, Anna Petrovna, he says, you must come and dance at my wedding. Im leaving you, he says, and laughs.

ANISYA [to her husband ] There now. Much he cares. You see, he wants to leave of himself. Sack him indeed!