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

(sitting down at the table)

Stop the nonsense—that’s got nothing to do with it. And why on earth are you sending that
halva
?
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Oh, the
halva
is unimportant. The main thing is that he get the fabric to them....
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
    And where do we get the money to settle with the landlady—answer that one!
(At the word “money” he hits the table violently with the palm of his hand.)
I can just hear her screeching like a parrot....
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    If I had another piece of string....
    (A knock at the door; Marianna enters. She is wearing a sober dark suit, as if she were in mourning.)
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
(without enthusiasm)

Welcome....
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Excuse me.... You’re packing.... I’m disturbing you....
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Come on in, honey. It’s all right, we’re finished.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Yes....If I may....
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
    My little tavern—remember? Eh? Nice little tavern, wasn’t it, eh? The passing legs, eh? Look at us now. Nothing but a fourth-class ticket to join our ancestors.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    You’re so pale! Honey, what’s the matter? You look like a ghost.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Oh, please don’t look at me like that. Please don’t.
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
(getting up)

Well, Zhenya, wish me luck. I’m off to confabulate with the landlady. Perhaps she’ll take pity on us.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Go ahead, go ahead. Marianna and I will stay here and have a cup of tea. Oh, I forgot—all the china is packed. Forgive me.
(Oshivenski has left.)
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Yevghenia Vasilyevna, I’ve had a catastrophe.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    I can see, I can see, dear—you’re so listless, so quiet, that I hardly recognize you.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    A terrible catastrophe. I just saw the first screening.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    What screening was that, dear?
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Oh, you know—I had a part in a film. And yesterday the picture was screened for the first time.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Then what was the catastrophe? A fire, or what?
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    Yes, a fire. Everything I had has been destroyed—my dreams, my faith in myself, my life. I’m totally ruined.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Oh, yes, by the way—there was a favor I wanted to ask you, darling. But we can talk about it later. Tell me what happened.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    I saw myself on the screen. It was monstrous. I had waited with such anticipation for the moment when I would see myself, and finally that moment came. An absolute horror. In one place, for instance, I’m lying flat on the couch and then I get up. When we were shooting, I thought I was so graceful, so vivacious. But when I saw myself on the screen, Yevghenia Vasilyevna, I got up—excuse the expression-bottom first....I stuck out my behind and made such a clumsy turn! And it was like that all the way through. Artificial, horrendous gestures. And here that lousy Pia Mora glides around like a swan. It’s mortifying....
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    It’s not as bad as all that, darling. You should see how I came out on my passport photo. A mug you wouldn’t believe.
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    And that’s only the beginning: this was just a private screening for us. But now the film is going to be shown all over Berlin, and then all over the world, and with it my ridiculous gestures and grimaces, my unbelievable gait....
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Here’s what I wanted to ask you, my dear. We have to move and we don’t have a penny. Do you think you might be able to make us a loan of fifty marks or so?
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    A loan? Oh, so that’s what you were talking about....I guess I’m walking around in a kind of fog today. No, Yevghenia Vasilyevna, I’m broke too. I spent all my earnings on dresses.
    Â 
    MRS. OSHIVENSKI
    Shame on you, you clotheshorse. Well, I guess that’s that....
    Â 
    MARIANNA
    On dresses! I bought myself a beautiful,