Man From the USSR & Other Plays by Vladimir Nabokov

agitated)

Actually...
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Shoot.
    Â 
    TAUBENDORF
    Alyosha, I beg you.... I want to go with you! Do you hear, I want to go with you! To stay here will be my undoing....
(From backstage comes the buzzing of klieg lights, then the Assistant Director’s voice through the megaphone.)
    Â 
    MEGAPHONE OFFSTAGE
    People, you’re in Russia! In a square! There’s an uprising going on! First Group waves their flags! Second Group runs left from the barricade! Third Group moves forward!
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    You’re beginning to bore me, my friend. I’ve already told you everything.
    Â 
    TAUBENDORF
    I dare not contradict you. What—are you going now? Will I see you again?
    Â 
    MEGAPHONE OFFSTAGE
    Achtung!
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    No, I don’t think so. I won’t have much free time these last few days. I’ll drop in on Olga Pavlovna for a minute today, and then not until Saturday, before leaving. There’s something else I wanted to ask you: are you going to keep working in the tavern?
    Â 
    TAUBENDORF
    No, no—it’s closing tomorrow. And this is the last day of shooting, too. I’ll find something or other.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Well, there’s shooting and shooting. Let’s say good-by.
(They embrace.)
    Â 
    TAUBENDORF
    God bless you....
(When Taubendorf goes through the door Kuznetsoff whips out a Browning and aims at him.)
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Hold it!
    Â 
    TAUBENDORF
    Alyosha, someone might see you.
(leaves)
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Good for him.... Didn’t even flinch.... And you, my friend, don’t you let me down,
(addressing the pistol, which he aims at the audience)
Don’t you flinch in the clinch,
(puts it back in his pocket)

(A stagehand runs in and carries off the map and the balalaika. Kuznetsoff consults his watch. Buzzing of the klieg lights offstage. Marianna hurries in. She sheds her fur hat and gives her hair a toss.)
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Marianna Sergeyevna, I’m afraid I have to be going.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Alec!
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    You’ve done your part already?
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    No, no.... I’ll only be starting in a minute. I have a scene with the male lead. But that’s not the point. Alec, are you still planning to leave on Saturday?
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Yes.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you are abandoning me. Listen, Alec, listen.... I’ll give up the stage. I’ll forget about my talent. I’ll go with you. Take me away somewhere. We’ll live somewhere in the South, in Nice.... Your silly commercial dealings can wait. Something horrible is happening to me. I’ve already ordered dresses, bright, wonderful dresses for the South....I thought.... No, tell me you’re not going off and leaving me! I’ll caress you. You know how good I am at it, don’t you? We’ll have a villa full of flowers. We’ll be so happy.... You’ll see....
    Â 
    MEGAPHONE OFFSTAGE
    Everybody back! Everybody back! It isn’t worth a damn! Listen, when I say “One!”—that’s when Group One gets up. And when I say “Two!” Group Two runs left. Quiet!
Achtung!
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    I had a good time with you. But now I’m leaving.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Alec, what is the meaning of this?
    Â 
    MEGAPHONE OFFSTAGE
    One!
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    I don’t think I ever gave you reason to believe that our relationship would last. I am a very busy man. To tell you the truth, I don’t even have the time to say I am a busy man.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Oh, so that’s the way it is.... Then let me tell you something too. It was all playacting. I was just doing a part. I feel nothing but revulsion for you. I’m the one who’s leaving you, not the other way around. And one other thing—I know you’re a Bolshevik, a Cheka agent, God knows what else.... You disgust me!
    Â 
    MEGAPHONE OFFSTAGE
    Two!
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    You’re a Bolshevik! Get out of here.