Chekhov created his own theater, with his own dramatic language, which was not immediately understood by the writer's contemporaries. To many, his plays seemed clumsily made, unstaged, stretched out, with chaotic dialogues, lack of action, vagueness of the author's intention, etc. M. Gorky, for example, wrote about The Cherry Orchard, not without benevolent irony: - of course - from the stage it will blow on the audience with green melancholy. And - about what longing - I do not know. Chekhov created a "theater of mood", hints, halftones, with its famous "undercurrent" (V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko), anticipating in many respects the theatrical searches of the twentieth century.

Chekhov's plays can be better understood by referring to their poetics, that is, to the author's method of depicting life in a dramatic work. Without this, the works will seem monotonous, overloaded with many "superfluous" details (superfluous from the point of view of traditional pre-Chekhov theatrical aesthetics).

Features of the chronotope. Chekhov expanded the chronotope (time and space) of classical Russian literature of the 19th century, which can be called patriarchal: in the center of the works of Russian classics was, first of all, the noble estate, Russia noble and peasant, and he introduced the urban man with his urban worldview into literature. Chekhov's chronotope is the chronotope of a big city. And this does not mean geography, not social status, but sensations, the psychology of an “urban” person. Even M. M. Bakhtin noted that "a provincial philistine town with its musty life is an extremely common place for the accomplishment of novel events in the 19th century." In such a chronotope - closed and homogeneous - meetings, recognitions, dialogues, understandings and misunderstandings, partings of the characters inhabiting it take place. “In the world of Russian classics of the “pre-Chekhov” period, in principle, “everyone knows everyone”, everyone can enter into a dialogue with each other. The epic, “village” image of the world in Chekhov’s work is being replaced by the chronotope of the “big city”, because openness and heterogeneity, the mismatch of geographical space with the psychological field of communication are signs of urban society. Chekhov's characters are familiar strangers, they live side by side, together, but they live "in parallel", each is closed in his own world. This chronotope and a new feeling of a person determined the poetics of Chekhov's drama, the features of conflicts, the nature of dialogues and monologues, and the behavior of characters.

At first glance, the "urban" chronotope (with its disunity of people) is contradicted by the fact that the action of most of Chekhov's plays takes place in a landowner's estate. There are several possible explanations for this localization of the site of action:

In any dramatic work (this is its generic property), the scene of action is limited, and this was most clearly expressed, as you know, in the aesthetics of classicism with its rules of three unities (place, time, action). Chekhov's estate, estate, due to the closed space, limit the actual plot-event side of the play, and the action in this case passes into the psychological plane, which is the essence of the work. The localization of the scene provides more opportunities for psychological analysis;

In a large, complex and indifferent world, “people seem to be driven into the last refuges, where, it seems, while you can hide from the pressure of the outside world: in your own estates, houses, apartments, where you can still be yourself.” But they fail to do this, and in the estates the heroes are divided: they are not given the opportunity to overcome the parallelism of existence; a new worldview - the urban chronotope - embraced both estates and estates;

The estate as a setting allows Chekhov to include pictures of nature, landscape in dramatic action which was so dear to the author. The lyrical beginning brought nature paintings and motives, sets off the illogic of the being of the heroes of the plays.

Features of the conflict. Chekhov developed a special concept of depicting life and man - fundamentally everyday, “unheroic”: “Let everything on the stage be as complicated and at the same time just as simple as in life. People dine, only dine, and at this time their happiness is built up and their lives are broken. The traditional pre-Chekhov drama is characterized, first of all, by an event that disrupts the traditional course of life: a clash of passions, polar forces, and in these clashes the characters' characters are more fully revealed (for example, in A. N. Ostrovsky's The Thunderstorm). In Chekhov's plays, there are no sharp conflicts, clashes, struggles. It seems that nothing happens to them. The episodes are filled with ordinary, even unrelated conversations, trifles of everyday life, insignificant details. As stated in the play "Uncle Vanya", the world will not die from "loud" events, "not from robbers, not from fires, but from hatred, enmity, from all these petty squabbles ...". Chekhov's works do not move from event to event (we do not have the opportunity to follow the development of the plot - in the absence of such), but rather from mood to mood. The plays are built not on opposition, but on unity, the commonality of all the characters - unity in the face of the general disorder of life. A.P. Skaftymov wrote about the peculiarities of the conflict in Chekhov's plays: “There are no guilty ones, therefore, there are no direct opponents either. There are no direct opponents, there is not and cannot be a struggle. The addition of circumstances that are, as it were, outside the sphere of influence of these people is to blame. The sad situation develops out of their will, and suffering comes by itself.

Polyphonic, multi-heroic. Missing in Chekhov's plays through action and the main character. But the play does not crumble into separate episodes, does not lose its integrity. The fates of the characters echo and merge into a common "orchestral" sound. Therefore, they often talk about the polyphony of Chekhov's drama.

Features of the image of characters. In classical drama, the hero reveals himself in deeds and actions aimed at achieving a specific goal. Therefore, delaying the action turned into an anti-artistic fact. Chekhov's characters are revealed not in the struggle to achieve goals, but in self-characteristic monologues, in experiencing the contradictions of life. The characters are not sharply defined (unlike classical drama), but blurred, indefinite; they exclude the division into "positive" and "negative". Chekhov leaves a lot to the reader's imagination, giving only basic guidelines in the text. For example, Petya Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard represents the younger generation, the new, young Russia, and for this reason alone, it seems, he should be a positive hero. But in the play he is both a “prophet of the future”, and at the same time a “shabby gentleman”, a “klut”.

The characters in Chekhov's dramas lack mutual understanding. This is expressed in dialogues: the characters listen, but do not hear each other. In Chekhov's plays there is an atmosphere of deafness - psychological deafness. With mutual interest and goodwill, Chekhov’s characters can’t get through to each other (a classic example of this is the lonely, useless and forgotten old servant Firs from The Cherry Orchard), they are too absorbed in themselves, their own affairs, troubles and failures. But their personal disorder and trouble are only part of the general disharmony of the world. Not in Chekhov's plays happy people: all of them in one way or another turn out to be losers, they strive to break out of the limits of a boring, meaningless life. Epikhodov with his misfortunes (“twenty-two misfortunes”) in The Cherry Orchard is the personification of the general discord in life from which all heroes suffer. Each of the plays (“Ivanov”, “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “The Cherry Orchard”) is perceived today as a page of a sad story about the tragedy of the Russian intelligentsia. Action Chekhov dramas occurs, as a rule, in the noble estates of central Russia.

Author's position. In Chekhov's plays, the author's position is not manifested openly and distinctly, it is embedded in the works and is derived from their content. Chekhov said that the artist must be objective in his work: "The more objective, the stronger the impression." These words spoken by the playwright in connection with the play "Ivanov" apply to his other works: "I wanted to be original," he wrote to his brother, "I did not bring out a single villain, not a single angel (although I could not did not accuse, did not justify anyone.

The role of subtext. In Chekhov's plays, the role of intrigue and action is weakened. The plot tension was replaced by psychological, emotional tension, expressed in “random” remarks, broken dialogues, in pauses (the famous Chekhov pauses, during which the characters seem to listen to something more important than what they are experiencing in this moment). All this creates a psychological subtext, which is the most important part of the performance.

The language of Chekhov's plays is symbolic, poetic, melodic, polysemantic. This is necessary to create a general mood, a general sense of subtext: in Chekhov’s plays, cues, words, in addition to direct meanings, are enriched with additional contextual meanings and meanings (the call of three sisters in the play “Three Sisters” “To Moscow! To Moscow!” is a desire to escape beyond the outlined circle of life). These plays are designed for a subtle, prepared audience. “The public and actors need an intelligent theater,” Chekhov believed, and such a theater was created by him. The innovative theatrical language of A.P. Chekhov is a more subtle tool for cognition, depicting a person, the world of his feelings, the subtlest, elusive movements of the human soul.

Gull(p. 471). - In October 1895, Chekhov was working on The Seagull: “... I am writing a play ... I write not without pleasure, although I lie terribly against the conditions of the stage. Comedy, three female roles, six male roles, four acts, landscape (view of the lake); a lot of talk about literature, little action, five pounds of love” (A. S. Suvorin, October 21).

Having finished the play, Chekhov was even embarrassed by its unusualness: “... I have already finished the play. He started it forte 1 and finished pianissimo 2 - contrary to all the rules of dramatic art. The story is out. I am more dissatisfied than satisfied, and, reading my newborn play, I am once again convinced that I am not a playwright at all ”(to him, November 21). But, despite his doubts, Chekhov was convinced of the legitimacy of his searches. Writer I. N. Potapenko recalls how he passionately defended the need to write in a new way: “No plots are needed. There are no plots in life, everything is mixed in it - deep with shallow, majestic with insignificant, tragic with funny, - said Chekhov. We need new forms, new forms...” (“Chekhov in Revision”, p. 351).

Although the play was finished, the writer considered it unfinished, continued to work on it, and in his letter dated March 8, 1896 to Al. To P. Chekhov we find the following lines: “I am busy with the play. I'm redoing it." On March 15, "The Seagull" was submitted for consideration by the censors. Censorship found sins against morality in the play, and Chekhov was asked to make changes in the coverage of the relationship between Arkadina and Trigorin.

While working on The Seagull, Chekhov thought about staging it at the Moscow Maly Theater (letter to E. M. Shavrova dated November 7, 1895). But the play went on at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Chekhov attended two rehearsals, on October 12 and 14, 1896. At the first rehearsal, to which the playwright came secretly from the actors, he was overwhelmed. “Nothing will come of it,” he said. “It's boring, uninteresting, nobody needs it. The actors were not interested, which means that they will not be interested in the public either. He already had an idea - to suspend rehearsals, remove the play and not stage it at all, ”recalls I. N. Potapenko (“Chekhov in the military”, p. 354). However, the next rehearsal went great. The actors, having seen the author, pulled themselves up, played with enthusiasm, “even something in common, something similar to the mood appeared. When Komissarzhevskaya came out, the stage seemed to be lit up with radiance. It was a truly inspired game... There was something solemn and festive in this rehearsal...” (ibid., p. 355). But dress rehearsal, October 16, also passed very casually, gray. And Chekhov again “worried about the play and wanted it not to go on. He was very dissatisfied with the performance ”(“ A.S. Suvorin’s Diary. M. - Pg., 1923, p. 125). Meeting his sister at the station on the morning of October 17, he told her: “The actors of the roles do not know ... They do not understand anything. They play terribly. One Komissarzhevskaya is good. The play will fail. On the evening of the same day, the premiere took place, forcing Chekhov to say bitter words: “I will never write plays or stage them” (ibid., p. 164). “The play flopped and failed miserably. There was a heavy tension of bewilderment and shame in the theater. The actors played vile, stupid, ”Chekhov wrote to his brother, MP Chekhov, on October 18. Indeed, the failure was unheard of. A large negative role here was played by the fact that such a subtle and original play was staged, at the request of the comic actress E. I. Levkeeva, in her benefit performance, which gathered a specific, unintelligent audience in the hall (“Her admirers were merchants, clerks, gostinodvorets, officers”, - I. N. Potapenko recalled. - “Chekhov and Vos.”, p. 357). The benefit audience, who came to have fun, were disappointed, “defiantly turned their backs to the stage, talked loudly with acquaintances, laughed, hissed, whistled ... The actors ... were confused” (ibid., p. 359). As expected by Chekhov, the actors failed to "interest" the audience. In addition, the atmosphere of envy and anger that Chekhov felt already on the eve of the premiere ("Everyone is evil, petty, false ..." - he wrote to his sister on October 12), manifested itself here in full measure. The writers L. A. Avilova (“Chekhov in the Recollection”, p. 245) and N. A. Leikin (“Reviewers with some kind of gloating glee walked along the corridors and the buffet and exclaimed: “The fall of talent "," Signed out. - LN, p. 504).

The next morning Chekhov left for Melikhovo. He “expected failure and was already prepared for it” and outwardly reacted to the failure “reasonably and coldly” (A.S. Suvorin, October 22). But he was deeply shocked by everything that happened. “On October 17, it was not the play that failed, but my personality. Even during the first act, I was struck by one circumstance, namely: those with whom I had a friendly and friendly frankness until October 17, dined carelessly, for whom I broke spears (like Yasinsky, for example) - all these had a strange expression, terribly strange ... In a word, something happened that gave Leikin a reason to express condolences in a letter that I have so few friends, and to Nedelya to ask: "what Chekhov did to them," and to "Teatral" to place a whole correspondence (95 No. ) about how the writing fraternity made me a scandal in the theater, ”he wrote to A.S. Suvorin on December 14. And although subsequent performances were successful, as V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, I. N. Potapenko, V. V. Bilibin, N. A. Leikin reported to Chekhov, he could no longer calm down. “Of course, I am glad, very glad,” he answered V.V. Bilibin, “but still the success of the 2nd and 3rd performances cannot erase the impressions of the 1st performance from my soul” (November 1). Only the letter of A. F. Koni gave him great pleasure, in which Chekhov believed "more than all the critics taken instead" (reply letter dated November 11), and who expressed admiration for the artistic merits of the play: "This is life itself on the stage, with its tragic unions, eloquent thoughtlessness and silent suffering - everyday life, accessible to everyone and not understood by anyone in its internal cruel irony ... "(November 7).

On April 25, 1898, Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, one of the leaders of the young Art Theater, with a request to allow them to stage The Seagull. Chekhov answered with a decisive refusal. On May 12, Nemirovich-Danchenko writes about The Seagull for the second time: “If you don’t give it, you will stab me, because The Seagull is the only modern play that captures me as a director, and you are the only contemporary writer, which represents big interest for a theater with an exemplary repertoire". After long doubts, Chekhov nevertheless allowed the production of The Seagull at the Art Theater. The theater opened in August.

And what the venerable actors of the old Alexandrinsky Theater did not succeed in, the inexperienced artists of the young, still emerging theater brilliantly succeeded. Their secret was that they groped for the very nerve of the play, they felt how in The Seagull "the pulse of modern Russian life beats" (letter from Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko to K. S. Stanislavsky, June 21), they comprehended deep essence of Chekhov's humanism. “Chekhov is inexhaustible,” Stanislavsky later wrote, “because, despite the everyday life that he supposedly always portrays, he always speaks, in his main, spiritual leitmotif, but about the accidental, not about the particular, but about the Human with a capital letter ". That is why “those who generally try to act and represent in Chekhov’s plays are mistaken. In his plays one must be, that is, live, exist, walking along the main spiritual artery deeply laid inside ”(K. S. Stanislavsky. Collected works in 8 volumes, vol. 1. M., 1954, p. 221, 222). A deep understanding of Chekhov's dramaturgy and its innovation determined the success of the Art Theatre.

Chekhov attended the rehearsals twice, on September 9 and 11, and made his comments, but on the whole he was satisfied. “He found that it was pleasant at our rehearsals, a glorious company and doing great work,” Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote to Stanislavsky.

The premiere took place on December 17th. It was tense: “I don’t remember how we played,” recalls Stanislavsky. “The first act ended in deathly silence auditorium. One of the artists fainted, I myself could hardly stand on my feet from despair. But suddenly, after a long pause, a roar, crackling, wild applause arose in the audience. The curtain went... parted... moved back again, and we stood like stunned. Then again the roar... and again the curtain... We all stood motionless, not realizing that we should bow. Finally, we felt success and, incredibly excited, began to hug each other ... Success grew with each act and ended in triumph. A detailed telegram was sent to Chekhov” (K. S. Stanislavsky. Sobr. soch., vol. 1, p. 226).

Chekhov received a lot of congratulations on the success of The Seagull from various people. The second and third performances brought a new wave of congratulations. The success of The Seagull made Chekhov happy. His Yalta doctor, I. N. Altshuller, tells, “in what a long joyful excitement he was after the triumph and the victory won in Moscow” (“Chekhov in memory”, p. 601). In April 1900, Chekhov presented Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko received a gold keychain with the engraving: “You gave life to my Chaika, thank you” (LN, p. 280).

Uncle Ivan(p. 517).- The basis of "Uncle Vanya" is the play "Leshy" of 1889, from which "the main line and several scenes" remain, in general, "Uncle Vanya" is a completely independent play "(" Chekhov in the .", p. 430). In October 1896, Chekhov gave "Uncle Vanya" to the publishing house of A. S. Suvorin for the collection "Piesy", and in a letter to Suvorin (December 2) he called it "Uncle Vanya, unknown to anyone in the world."

After the appearance of a collection of Chekhov's plays (May 1897), "Uncle Vanya" was successfully staged by several provincial theaters at once. “My “Uncle Vanya” walks all over the province, and success is everywhere. You don't know where you will find, where you will lose. I did not count on this play at all,” Chekhov wrote on October 26, 1898 to MP Chekhov. After watching the performance at the Nizhny Novgorod theater, M. Gorky sent an admiring letter to Chekhov: “The other day I watched “Uncle Vanya”, watched and - cried like a woman, although I am a far from nervous person ... I felt, looking at her characters: as if I'm being cut with a dull saw. Her teeth go right through the heart, and the heart shrinks under them, groans, breaks ... In the last act of Vanya, when the doctor, after a long pause, talks about the heat in Africa, I trembled with admiration for your talent and with fear for people, for our colorless beggarly life” (“Gorky and Chekhov”, pp. 24-25). And soon he writes again: “... “Uncle Vanya” and “The Seagull” are a new kind of dramatic art in which realism rises to a spiritualized and deeply thought-out symbol. I find this to be very true. Listening to your play, I thought about life sacrificed to an idol, about the invasion of beauty into the miserable life of people, and about many other things, fundamental and important. Other dramas do not distract a person from reality to philosophical generalizations - yours do it” (ibid., p. 28).

In the spring of 1899, Chekhov gave the play to the Art Theater. The writer happened to be present at the first rehearsals, with which he was satisfied: “I saw two acts at the rehearsal, it’s going great,” he wrote on June 2 to G. M. Chekhov.

At the premiere of the play, which took place on October 26, Chekhov was not, he lived in Yalta. The performance went well. On the evening of the 27th, congratulatory telegrams began to arrive at Chekhov. “In the telegrams, there was only something about challenges and brilliant success, but something subtle, barely perceptible was felt in them, from which I could conclude that the mood of all of you was not so very good,” he wrote to O. L Knipper 30 October. Chekhov was not deceived in his assumptions. Artists of the Art Theater approached their work with the highest demands. From their point of view, indeed, “it was not so good with Uncle Vanya. The first performance looked almost like a failure, - O. L. Knipper wrote later. - What is the reason? I think it's in us. It is very difficult to play Chekhov's plays: it is not enough to be a good actor and play your part with skill. We must love, feel Chekhov, we must be able to feel the whole atmosphere of this period of life, and most importantly - we must love a person, as Chekhov loved him, and live the life of his people ... In Uncle Vanya, not all of us immediately mastered the images, but what further , the stronger and deeper they got used to the essence of the play, and “Uncle Vanya” became the favorite play of our repertoire for many, many years” (“Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova”, part one. M., 1972, p. 53-54). The sophisticated spectator accepted "Uncle Vanya" from the first performance, as evidenced by enthusiastic telegrams to Chekhov. But, as Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, with “Chekhov’s plays it was like this: a huge success immediately only among the thinnest layer of the public, among people who are sensitive and see further and deeper ... But the large audience neither “Uncle Vanya”, nor “Three Sisters”, nor "The Cherry Orchard" did not take immediately. Each of these plays won its real success only from the second season, and then held on to the end ”(Vl. Iv. Nemirovich-Danchenko. From the past. “Academia”, 1936, pp. 213-214).

Three sisters(p. 559). - The first play written by Chekhov specifically for the Art Theater. Working on it, the playwright adjusted the roles to the creative possibilities of this or that actor. So, on August 5, 1900, he tells L. L. Vishnevsky: “... for you I am preparing the role of the inspector of the gymnasium, the husband of one of the sisters. You will be in a uniform frock coat and with an order around your neck. And on September 28, O. L. Knipper writes: “Oh, what a role for you in the Three Sisters! What a role! (the role of Masha).

The play was created in 1900. On November 24, 1899, Chekhov informed Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko: “I have the plot “Three Sisters”, but before I smoke those stories that have long been on my conscience, I won’t sit down for the play.” On December 3, Nemirovich-Danchenko replied to a request: “You want the play to be by all means by the next season. But what if it doesn't write? Of course, I will try, but I can’t vouch for it and I won’t promise anything.” In the spring of 1900, the Art Theater came to the Crimea to show Chekhov The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. The excellent play of the artists inspired the writer, and he sat down to work. “The play sits in the head, has already poured out, leveled off and asks for paper ...” - he writes to O. L. Knipper on August 18.

It was not easy for Chekhov to work: illness interfered, guests interfered. And it seemed to him that the play was not working out: “I am not writing a play, but some kind of confusion. There are many actors - it is possible that I will go astray and give up writing, ”he informed O. L. Knipper on August 14. Having already finished the play, in a letter to M. Gorky he explained the complexity of his work: “It was terribly difficult to write“ Three Sisters ”. After all, three heroines, each should be on her own model, and all three are generals' daughters! The action takes place in a provincial town like Perm, Wednesday - the military, artillery" (October 16).

On October 23, Chekhov brought the last act of The Three Sisters to Moscow, and on October 29 a reading of the play took place at the Art Theater. “When Anton Pavlovich told us ... the play “Three Sisters,” recalls O. L. Kninper-Chekhova, “some kind of bewilderment, silence reigned ... Anton Pavlovich smiled embarrassedly and, coughing nervously, walked among us ... They began to express something in lonely abandoned phrases, one could hear: “This is not a play, this is just a scheme ...”, “This cannot be played, there are no roles, some hints only ...” (“Olga Leonardovna Kniiner -Chekhov", part one. M., 1972, p. 56). True, the play was not quite completed, the author wanted it to “lay out” until the next season (letter to O. L. Knipper dated September 5 and 15). But the point is not even in the incompleteness of the play, but in its innovative character, in the complexity of Chekhov's dramatic subtext, which sometimes baffled even sophisticated contemporaries. The artist of the Alexandria Theater P.P. Gandeburov recalls how he, who had already played Treplev in The Seagull, was stunned by The Three Sisters: “... with each new page despair seized me more and more - I could not understand anything from what I was reading! I could not imagine how such a play would be performed on the stage, what is its content, why the first lines constitute the beginning of the action, and the last - the end? It turned out that with each new play by Chekhov, one had to re-learn the laws of Chekhov's dramaturgy, re-learn how to play Chekhov's roles ”(TsGALI).

Chekhov went to Pizza for the winter, where he continued to work on the play, sent corrections to the theater and was tirelessly interested in the progress of the rehearsals. “The artists worked diligently and therefore pretty soon rehearsed the play so much that everything was clear, understandable, true. And yet the play did not sound, did not live, seemed boring and long. She was missing something. How painful it is to look for this something without knowing what it is!” - wrote K. S. Stanislavsky. At first, the actors did not feel the optimistic tone of The Three Sisters, which was characteristic of Chekhov in the 900s. passionate desire to “turn life around”. Only after a persistent search was the key to the play found: “Chekhov's people have healed. It turns out that they do not rush about with their melancholy at all, but, on the contrary, they are looking for fun, laughter, cheerfulness; they want to live, not to vegetate. I felt the truth in such an attitude towards Chekhov's heroes, it cheered me up, and I intuitively understood what had to be done ”(K. S. Stanislavsky. Sobr. soch., vol. 1, pp. 235 - 236).

On January 31, 1901, The Three Sisters premiered. O. L. Knipper and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko telegraphed Chekhov about the enormous success; at the end of March, and M. Gorky wrote: “...“ Three Sisters ”are coming - amazing! Better than Uncle Vanya. Music, not a game” (“Gorky and Chekhov”, p. 90). However, the feeling of dissatisfaction with the performance remained with the actors themselves, and partly with the audience. Through letters to him, through the press, Chekhov also felt this dissatisfaction. Before next season, in September 1901, he himself held several rehearsals and conversations with the actors, seeking, in particular, to enhance the optimistic, bright sound of the play. As a result, a performance was formed that gave pleasure even to the exacting author: “...“ The Three Sisters ”are going great, with brilliance, they are going much better than the play was written. I directed a little, made an author's suggestion to some, and the play, as they say, is now going better than last season, ”he wrote on September 24 to Dr. L.V. Sredin in Yalta.

The Cherry Orchard(p. 616).- new play Chekhov conceived immediately after the completion of The Three Sisters, and conceived it as a very cheerful comedy: “The next play I write will certainly be funny, very funny, at least in concept,” he wrote to O. L. Knipper on March 7 1901 At the beginning of June 1902, Chekhov outlined to K. S. Stanislavsky the first outlines of the content of the future comedy. In the same June, in a conversation with E. P. Karpov about the tense, pre-storm situation in Russia, he said: “I would like to catch this cheerful mood ... Write a play ... A cheerful play ... Maybe I'll write... It's very interesting... How much strength, energy, faith in the people... Just amazing!

However, despite the fact that the beginning of the play was, it was hatched by the writer for more than a year. By December, its name was determined: “My The Cherry Orchard will be in three acts,” he wrote on December 24 to O. L. Knipper. He intended to start working on the play directly, first in December (letter to Knipper dated December 1), then in February (K. S. Stanislavsky, January 1, 1903). He was constantly pushed, hurried, the theater wanted to start rehearsals in the spring (Knipper's letter to Chekhov dated January 21). Chekhov responded to reproaches: “My laziness has nothing to do with it. After all, I am not my own enemy, and if I had the strength, I would have written not one, but twenty-five plays ”(O. L. Knipper, March 4). In March, he began the play, but his departure for Moscow interrupted the work, which was apparently resumed in June. Illness keeps Chekhov from writing all the time. On September 26 the play was finished, about which he cabled Knipper. But the correspondence of the play, which Chekhov always resulted in a serious alteration of the new work, dragged on until mid-October. Finally, on October 14, he sent a telegram that the play had been sent.

After reading The Cherry Orchard, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko responded with enthusiastic telegrams. However, their discord with the author was immediately determined: Chekhov wrote a comedy, the directors saw in it a heavy drama. In early December, he leaves for Moscow to personally attend the rehearsals of his play. How serious his disagreements with the directors were is evidenced by Stanislavsky's letter to the actress V.V. Flowers had just appeared, the author arrived and confused us all. The flowers have fallen off, and now only new buds are appearing. Chekhov is extremely concerned about the interpretation of roles by actors, especially roles that carry a charge of optimism. “Anna is first of all a child, cheerful to the end, not knowing life and never crying...”, “... she has tears in her eyes in the 2nd act, but the tone is cheerful, lively.” Quite significant is his remark about Trofimov: “After all, Trofimov is in exile every now and then, he is constantly expelled from the university, but how do you portray these things?” With special care, Chekhov selected the actor for the role of Lopakhin, repeatedly emphasizing that “this is not a merchant in the vulgar sense of the word,” not a fist, but a soft, subtle person, “Lopakhin’s role is central. If it fails, then the whole play will fail.” Chekhov gave such instructions to the actors, but the rehearsals did not satisfy him, and the upcoming premiere frightened him. “My play will go, it seems, on January 17; I don’t expect much success, things are going sluggishly,” he wrote on January 13, 1904 to V. K. Kharkeyevich.

On January 17, indeed, the premiere of The Cherry Orchard took place. After the third act, Chekhov was commemorated on the occasion of the upcoming 25th anniversary of his literary activity. He stood on the stage "deadly pale and thin ... he could not stop coughing ... The anniversary came out solemn, but he left a heavy impression. He smelled like a funeral. It was sad at heart, ”Stanislavsky later recalled (K. S. Stanislavsky. Collected works, vol. 1, pp. 271-272). The play also did not go the way the author and actors wanted. The next day after the premiere, Chekhov wrote to I. L. Leontiev-Shcheglov: “My play was on yesterday, therefore my mood is not very good.” The actors played, in his opinion, "bewildered and not bright" (F. D. Batyushkov, February 19). And on April 10, OL Knipper asks: “Why is my play so stubbornly called a drama on posters and in newspaper ads? Nemirovich and Alekseev positively see in my play something different from what I wrote...” “Are these my types?... With the exception of two or three performers, all this is not mine...,” Chekhov was worried. “I am writing life. .. This is a gray, philistine life ... But this is not tedious whining ... They either make me a crybaby, or just a boring writer ”(“ Chekhov in the Memoirs of Contemporaries ”. M., Goslitizdat, 1952, p. 491). Later, the actors will fully and deeply understand the meaning and meaning of The Cherry Orchard, they will understand that Chekhov was “one of the first to feel the inevitability of the revolution ... one of the first to give an alarm. Who, if not he, began to cut down a beautiful, blooming cherry orchard, realizing that his time had passed, that old life irrevocably condemned to scrap." But during the life of Chekhov, they could not understand this cheerful, life-affirming sound of his play, and “Anton Pavlovich died without waiting for the real success of his last, fragrant work” (K. S. Stanislavsky. Collected works, vol. 1, pp. 275, 272).

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Color palette in dramaturgyA.P. Chekhov: "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", "Seagull","Cherryevy garden»

Introduction

play the color of the Czechs dramaturgy

home goal of this graduation qualification work - a description of the color palette and the identification of color symbolism and the main functions of the color background in the dramaturgy of A.P. Chekhov.

color plays important role in works of fiction. It is symbolic, capable of evoking certain sensations, mobile in its range. It is known that color can be an external expression of the internal state of a person. He is able to convey the experiences of the character, not only as an individual, but often as a representative of an entire era, of his entire generation. With a change in the color background in a work, the general mood and the very nature of the development of the action often change. But how exactly does this happen specifically in Chekhov's dramatic works?

To study this issue, we turned to the history of the teachings about color, about color interaction. So, in our work we rely on the statements of ancient philosophers on this topic, we turn to the works of I.V. Goethe, who developed the original theory of the functioning of color and the forms of revealing the features of its perception, we refer to the works of American physicists that help determine national differences in the perception of color and color symbolism in general, we rely on studies on the mythology of the ancient Slavs with its special understanding of the color associative series and the consolidation of a certain semantic meaning behind a particular color.

As for literary studies on Chekhov's dramaturgy, in our work we rely on the study of B.I. Zingerman, who offers his own understanding of how the "Chekhov theater" works, and traces the evolution of Chekhov's dramaturgy. We also refer to the monographs by M. Kostova-Panayotova and E.N. Petukhova, examining the artistic world of Chekhov's The Seagull from various angles. The monograph by P.N. Dolzhenkov, who investigated the question of how the "poetic" language of Chekhov's dramaturgy changed and what exactly Chekhov's innovation as a playwright is. Some help - in terms of building the concept of studying color symbolism in the context of the work - was provided to us by the article by A.N. Orlova “The color palette in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls" In addition, in order to identify the specifics of the functioning of the color palette in Chekhov's plays, in our work we touch on the issue of the author's vision of color symbolism in the work of N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky.

Relevance and novelty the work consists in the most detailed and constructive consideration of color symbolism and color designations in Chekhov's dramaturgy, which have never been objects of literary research before.

The main methods research are: the method of observation, the descriptive method and the method of complex poetic text analysis.

object research is color symbolism in Chekhov's plays.

Subject research - four classic plays by Chekhov "The Seagull",

"Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard".

Tasks research :

1. analyze various teachings about color in world culture;

2. identify the main functions of color and color background in Chekhov's plays;

4. identify color symbols in the remarks of Chekhov's plays and determine their functions;

5. to establish what role color plays in Chekhov's plays from the point of view of the cultural and psychological characteristics of the characters.

1. Color and symbolism of color as sociocultural concepts. Philosophical and mythological origins of the doctrine of color

1.1 Ancient teachings about color

The problem of studying color and its perception has its roots in antiquity. Even Aristotle, in his treatise “On Sensation and the Sensible”, revealed the connection between external and internal perception of color. Empedocles talked about the existence of related colors, and Plutarch singled out the main and additional colors, which are able to enhance a particular shade. Democritus revealed a whole classification of colors.

Aristotle in his treatise "On Flowers" gives a clear separation of the layers of light and darkness. All colors belong to one group or another and come into conflict with each other. Color is something that lends itself to our perception, that is, is visible. In addition, there is a category of "transparency".

“A transparent medium I call,” said Aristotle, “that which is visible, but visible not by itself in the absolute sense of the word, but by means of another color. Such are air, water, and many solid bodies. For water and air are transparent, not like water and air, but because in both of them there is the same nature that is also inherent in the eternal body above. The color of "transparency" is light itself. Color cannot exist without light. According to Aristotle, the perception of color is contact with the environment, its external sensation.

Thanks to Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, records of the teachings of Democritus "On Flowers" have come down to us. Democritus divided the entire color palette into two groups: “simple” and “mixed” colors.

Simple, according to Democritus, are four colors:

1) white- the surface of matter should be smooth and not cast shadows; matter in its structure can be soft or hard;

2) hyorny- the opposite of white; the surface should cast shadows, therefore, should not be flat;

3) red- temperature conductor; matter retains heat in itself, and when several colors merge, it becomes brighter;

4) andyolto - zelyony is a mixture of two principles: dense and empty.

Simple colors are the ancestors of all the others that appear as a result of their mixing.

Mixed colors include:

1) purple- consists of a whole triad of colors: white, black and red; its basis, of course, is red, and white and black act as applications to the main one. The combination of white and red gives shine, and black is responsible for the "softness of perception" for the vision of such a bright color;

2) tyomulti-blue- consists “of azure and fire-like, of rounded, needle-like figures, so that black [here] has inherent radiance”;

3) azure- consists of two colors: strong black and yellow - green;

4) greenyony- “divine color” and very complex in its structure: it has a shine, it is obtained as a result of mixing “from purple [closer to orange] and azure or from yellow-green and “purple-like”;

5) walnut- consists of yellow-green and a kind of dark blue. It tends to combine with other colors; for example, from it you can get the color "like a flame" when mixed with yellow-green;

6) gold or copper- consist of copper and red, since they have a luster that they got from white, and redness from red.

Democritus initiated the study of color, while Aristotle began to consider this problem more widely. It is from the ideas about the color of these philosophers that the study of the color palette in all areas of science begins.

1.2 Views on color during the Enlightenment

If we talk about the further study of color and color palette, then it is worth moving from antiquity to the Enlightenment, when interest in the study of color was revived. First of all, this is due to the flourishing of painting. Also a huge contribution to the problem of studying color was made by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who in 1810 wrote his famous treatise "On the Doctrine of Color". In it, he refers to the works of ancient philosophers, but he approaches the problem of color much deeper than his predecessors.

First, Goethe divides colors into physiological, physical and chemical: "the former are imperceptibly fleeting, the latter are transient, but nevertheless temporarily observable, the latter are long-lasting."

Secondly, his classification of "simple" colors in the color palette differs from that which was created by ancient philosophers. He distinguishes two primary colors: yellow and blue. If these colors are mixed, you get the third color - greenyony. White and black he considers color separately, as the colors of light and darkness.

In addition, he says that each color carries a certain characteristic and significance, and also has a special affiliation.

According to their characteristics, all colors in the palette are polar. For example, yellow has a positive polarity (its main characteristics are heat, light, light, etc.), and blue is negative (its main characteristics are cold, shadow, dark, etc.).

Each color in the palette is mobile: paints of the same color can thicken, color mixing can occur, etc. With any slightest change in color in the palette, we get a new color, which indicates a slight mobility and transition of colors.

Color always belongs to some natural phenomenon (snowfall, flood, leaf fall), all animals have a special color, etc. Everything in the world is made up of flowers.

The color receives its significance based on the role of its "owner" in the world, but this is not enough to interpret the color. It is necessary to carefully study a living being, a phenomenon, an object of one color or another.

A color can receive its meaning not directly, but by association. AT artistic text, as in painting, we analyze the color in stages, trying to find the most appropriate meaning for the given situation depicted in the text. And in order to find this value, it is important for us to analyze as much as possible associative series. Only by determining the meaning of the color, we can talk about its symbolism.

1.3 Twentieth-century physicists on color backgrounds and color functions

In the 20th century, physicists Brent Berlin and Paul Kay, in their book “Basic Color Terms”, dedicated to the field of color perception, established that in languages, both at the first stages of development and today, there was and exists a division of all colors into “light colors”. ' and 'dark'. Separately, in all languages, red is highlighted.

The color palette appears before us in different colors, depending on the color background. The color background corresponds to a certain time of day, and may also depend on weather conditions.

The change of seasons plays an important role, when a certain palette of colors prevails: autumn is shades of red and yellow; summer - blue, green, red; spring - green, white, pink; winter - white, green, brown, blue.

The perception of colors during the day and at night is different. If it's daytime, it should be light enough. What if it rains during the day? Then the light is a bit muted and consequently the colors are not as bright anymore due to the difficulty in passing the light.

Twilight and nebula, let's say at dawn, give shades of gray or white veil, which, against a bright color background, becomes available to the perception of our vision.

The color background can act as an addition to the main meaning of color, as a means of highlighting color from the general mass of colors, or have its own individual, isolated meaning and perform a separate function independent of the color gamut. It can also be in harmony with the overall picture of the description, but it can also change dramatically and disrupt this harmony (sudden rain, fire, etc.).

All colors have their own affiliation, which means that color can act as one of the characteristics of a particular object. In turn, the object can become one of the color characteristics. For example, red is the color of blood, if we draw a series of associations (blood, war, etc.), then we will come to the conclusion that red is the color of bloodshed, war, and this is one of its symbolic meanings.

Colors are able to evoke various feelings and emotions in all living beings: anger, fear, sadness, joy, etc. This process occurs at the level of associations and under the influence of the surrounding reality.

Moreover, in addition to what we have discussed in the previous paragraphs, that each element natural phenomena has its own palette of colors (color and many of its shades), - it must be said that each phenomenon has an extended system of meanings.

So to give complete analysis color functions, you need to take into account the color background, and only then identify the meaning of the color and its possible shades, if any. After that we can give complete picture internal feelings and experiences of subjects who are observers of this phenomenon.

So, we found out that the "color symbol" is a sociocultural concept. From time immemorial, people have been concerned about the issue of color semantics. In ancient times, it was believed that each color in itself is filled with life.

The foundation of all current teachings about color are the treatises of ancient philosophers, primarily Democritus. He considered the colors in the palette, giving them the most general characteristics, without highlighting them separately. chemical», « physical», « symbolic» color characteristics.

Goethe begins to characterize colors differently than the ancient philosophers did. Goethe has the concept of "chiaroscuro". Since Goethe was interested in painting, he paid special attention to the exact reproduction of color.

Physicists Berlin and Kay established that in all languages ​​of the world there was and still exists a division of all colors into “light” and “dark”, and also stands out separately from the palette of colors "red" color. They also revealed the dependence of the brightness of colors on light and color background.

Color is able to influence the psyche, disturb the depths of human consciousness.

2. General characteristics of the color palette of Chekhov's dramaturgy

2.1 The color palette in Chekhov's plays as a reflection of the author's attitude.Colors "npermanent" and colors "fleeting"

Chekhov can be considered a master of the use of color not only in pictorial purposes but also in a symbolic aspect. Through color, he gives characteristics to his characters, conveys the atmosphere of the action. By changing the scenery, he seems to move us in time through the color scheme. Any detail can have its own associative and semantic series, so the color is assigned a significant value.

"Three sisters"

In The Three Sisters, Chekhov plays on the contrast of colors that carry an eternal, deep meaning, and those that are a kind of vagaries of fashion, something temporary. Let's call the first "permanent", and the second "fleeting" colors.

In the first act of the play, we are presented with a picture of a sunny summer day in the Prozorovs' house, and right there we get to know the main characters and get their characteristics through the corresponding remark indicating the color of their clothes.

Olga is in a blue dress, and blue, according to Slavic mythological symbolism, is the color of purity and wisdom. At the same time, the blue color emphasizes her status as a gymnasium teacher.

Masha is dressed in black dress. Since black is a symbol of the end, it can be assumed that this heroine feels doomed and incapable of correction and rebirth. This will be discussed in more detail below.

Irina - in a white dress. We can assume that the white color in this case is the color of "youth", the color of "beginning", which is the psychological characteristic of the heroine.

In the very first act, we also meet Natasha, the bride of Andrei Prozorov, the brother of three sisters. And Chekhov immediately acquaints us with the sisters' ironic view of her appearance even before her appearance. The combination of red and yellow, which Natasha prefers, in their opinion, has gone and tasteless. Then Natasha herself appears, and Olga sees a green belt on her, which, as it seems to her, is completely out of place here. Natasha is trying to defend her choice: the belt is rather “matte”, but her argument only shows that she does not understand colors in principle.

The color of the dresses of the main characters would be correctly classified as a "fleeting" color. Throughout the play, the color will change depending on what internal shocks the heroine will experience.

In the third act, a fire breaks out - a "red glow" is mentioned in the stage direction. Such a phrase speaks of the scale of the fire, the brightness of its fiery colors. The color background also gives brightness to the fire - it is already late evening in the yard. The color of the fire is red, with a tint of orange, yellowish. These colors in Chekhov are destructive, foreshadowing death. However, the combination of red and yellow has already been encountered in the first act - these are the colors of Natasha's clothes: "yellowish skirt" and "red blouse". These color symbols overlap with each other. Natasha is a destructive principle, like the element of fire, and her strength is enormous, like the strength of this fire, which is impossible to cope with.

One of the important color symbols in the play is green. This is the general color of the old garden, this is the color of the spruce alley. At the same time, for the first time this color appears in the play among the "fleeting" colors. This is the color of Natasha's belt. It is also green, like the color of the spruce alley. But in the case of Natasha, this color means bad taste, while the spruce alley is a sign of the harmonious comfort of the Prozorovs' house. The green belt on Natasha is a symbol of “alien” and indicates that she herself is “alien” for this family, while the spruce alley is a symbol of eternity, a symbol real life and at the same time the symbol genuine culture, which the three sisters possess, and which Natasha does not possess.

So, it is obvious that Chekhov focuses on the opposition of the symbolic meanings of the same color.

In addition to green, the play also contains red, "andyolty"(as shade) "white", "blue" and "hyorny" colors.

Throughout the play, the general color background changes, and this is a fact that cannot be ignored either. The first action takes place at noon, the next in the evening and carry a certain mystery. In order to maximize the focus on the conversation between Natasha and Andrei, Chekhov leaves only the evening dark background of the room and the light from the flame of candles. In the third act, the evening dark background is a means of "highlighting" the fire. Noon of the fourth act, as it were, completes the ring composition of the general color background of the play and is used for a more adequate understanding of the meaning of its finale: this is exactly the same day as in the first act, but at the same time significantly different from it in its significance.

"The Cherry Orchard"

Already in the very title of the play "The Cherry Orchard" we can see a certain color scheme: "white color" with shades of pink", greenyony", "brown". "The Cherry Orchard" is a flowering garden, symbolizing "renewal", "the beginning of life".

From the first lines of the play, we are immersed in the atmosphere of an early morning, a blooming garden, but still a cool May time. The garden is a symbol of purity and beauty, above it is a clear blue sky. "White masses and blue sky" by Chekhov bring harmony and tranquility to the world. The combination of two objectively cold colors in this case has a completely different meaning - together they convey the atmosphere warmth and striving for a sublime harmonious life. A fundamentally different atmosphere is in the house of Ranevskaya and Gaev.

Immediately striking is the appearance of Lopakhin, who is dressed in a white vest and yellow shoes. It can be assumed that here Chekhov traces the Shakespearean motif of a tasteless combination in clothes. We can see a similar combination in "Twelfth Night, or whatever you want" by Malvolio, who was wearing "yellow stockings tied up cross over", which testifies to the pitiful and hopeless attempt of the "plebeian" to look on the same level with the "gentlemen" .

The clerk Epikhodov is wearing brightly polished boots. The boots are shiny, which is clearly not combined with his clumsiness. Thus, the "brilliance" in the appearance of the hero appears as a props.

Rooms - "white" and "purple"- symbolize the purity of the beautiful past. In the symbolism of world culture, purple is usually the keeper of secrets. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Chekhov chose this particular color for the children's room.

Charlotte Ivanovna is the most mysterious character in the play; there is even something “mystical” about her. Nothing is known about her, she herself does not know her origin. At the same time, she is a master at performing various tricks. Her remarks are ambiguous, she is in eternal languor, not finding a "kindred" soul. The white dress on her can be understood both as a symbol of "evil spirits" and as a sign of "mysteriousness".

Gaev admires the garden, the fact that there is so much life and sounds in it, and that even at night it “glistens” in the moonlight. For Gaev, there is something sacred in the cherry orchard, as well as for Ranevskaya, who says that the "angels of heaven" themselves guarded this garden. The white color of the garden carries a divine principle, saving for its owners, as if protecting them from above.

Again we come across in Chekhov with a circular composition of changing color backgrounds. In the play, a cold sunny May morning, two evenings and, finally, - in the finale - a cold, sunny October day, are successively replaced.

In the first act, the cold light of the May morning still gives hope for warmth for the flowering garden, as well as the hope that the heroes can still fight for it and win, but in the last act the same picture appears as already doomed: there will be no warmth in this family , the garden will be destroyed, and then - winter, cold, and the owners will never return to their home. Chekhov shows us the "morning of hope" and the "day of farewell."

We believe that the main color of the play is white, which combines the opposition of two meanings: "evil spirits" and "divine purity".

"ANDyolty" color in the play acts as a sign of bad manners. As in "Three Sisters", " yellow» color wins over the old noble generation with its culture and intelligence. According to Chekhov, the representatives of the "new social system" who are ousting the nobility do not have a high standard of cultural taste and very "badly" imitate their "predecessors".

From play to play there is a clear meaning "andyoltogo" colors in Chekhov: carriers "andyoltogo" receive a characteristic, which is only confirmed later.

"Gold" also, perhaps, is a color with symbolic overtones. Lyubov Andreevna gives the gold coin to the beggar: “Lyubov Andreevna ( dumbfounded). Take ... here you are ... ( Searching in a purse.) There is no silver ... Anyway, here's a gold one for you. Varya does not understand such frivolous generosity of Ranevskaya: “Varya ( frightened). I'll leave... I'll leave... Oh, Mommy, people have nothing to eat at home, and you gave him gold. The combination of a constant lack of money and such reckless steps of generosity, because of her intellectual inability to refuse asking Ranevskaya, looks depressing.

"ANDyolty" in conjunction with "white" symbolizes something else. Lopakhin is a stranger in this house, Charlotte in a white dress and this thoughtless waste "golden" - someone else's for this house, destructive for it, not corresponding to traditional foundations.

A new color appears in the play's palette - purple. The purple walls of the nursery keep the best memories from childhood for the heroes of the older generation. The nursery is the center of the house.

"Uncle Ivan"

In the play "Uncle Vanya" there is also an image of a garden. In the yard - autumn, cloudy day. The light is dimmed due to bad weather, and this “grayness” of the color background plunges you into melancholy, but since autumn is not late, the garden, perhaps, shimmers with shades of “yellow”.

"Grey" here - a reflection of the dull course of life, boredom and longing, the state of mind of the main characters, their agonizing, painful experiences. And this color with its semantic load runs through the whole play.

"ANDyolty" color - the color of the finished fall foliage. This is the color of hopes for the possible salvation of the main characters, which is somehow still present on a gray background and which they are able to admire.

"Zelyony" and "blue"- the colors of life, its living energy. They are gradually disappearing from the geographical map of the area: “The picture of our county as it was 50 years ago. Dark and light green paint means forests; half of the entire area is occupied by forest. Where a red grid was laid on the green, there were moose, goats ... Now let's look below. What happened 25 years ago. Here, under the forest, only one third of the entire area. The goats are gone, but the moose are. Green and blue colors are already paler. And so on and so forth. Let's move on to the third part: the picture of the county in the present. green paint lies here and there, but not entirely, but in spots; elks, swans, and wood grouses have disappeared ... There is not a trace of the former settlements, farms, sketes, mills, ”- just as life itself fades on the estate. They seem to be lost behind a gray veil that acts as a “wall” in the play, separating the new world from the old one.

In "Uncle Vanya" the color background plays an important role, which is a reflection of the state of mind of the characters and their most dull way of life, as well as a sign of their relationship to each other. Either this is a meaningless "gray friendship", then a "gray life", which has reached a dead end, or the dislike of the characters for each other, hidden under the "gray veil".

It is the gray color that conveys the main mood of the play "Uncle Vanya" that can be considered the main one in it.

"Gull"

In the first act of The Seagull, the viewer has a view of the evening alleys. It is worth paying attention to the words of Nina Zarechnaya: "... the sky is red, the moon is already beginning to rise ...". According to European mythology, dark kingdom demons (hell) seemed to be in the west - where the sun sets, where its bright rays go out; since darkness hides everything under its impenetrable veil, the properties and names of a concealer, concealer, predator are attributed to the evil spirit. Of course, the symbolism of the "red sky" has a negative polarity, especially since at the junction of a change in color background, the entire atmosphere plunges into darkness. The ancient Slavs worshiped the evening dawn so that it would shelter them from the unclean forces that awaken at night. The moon in the play appears as a mythological symbol. According to one of the Slavic legends, she is the wife of the Sun and replaces its dominant role when the time of night comes.

The color of Nina Zarechnaya's white dress is contrasted with the "crimson eyes" of the devil approaching her. "Crimson" - the color of a strong condensation of red merging with black. Its symbolism has a negative polarity: death, chaos, destruction.

Before the performance, Arkadina and Treplev exchange lines from Shakespeare's Hamlet. "Bloody ulcers of the soul" - this epithet will not play last role in the fate of Arkadina herself. The “bloody” color already has a negative characteristic, and when it acts as the color of the soul, it acquires an additional meaning: the dying soul, which is tormented, suffers in its vices - “ulcers”.

So, already in the first act of "The Seagull" we are faced with the following triad of colors: red - white - black.

White symbolizes purity, the forces of "light" that oppose the destructive forces of "darkness".

The red color background of the sky acts in the "transitional" role of immersion in "darkness". "Black", night color background is a sign of the awakening of evil spirits and the devil himself.

Thus, we observe in the first act of the play the traditional triad of colors, which was already relevant in the mythology of the ancient Slavs. Preliminarily, we can conclude that the main colors of the play "The Seagull" are "Red White" and "hyorny". Based on the color symbolism of the first act, we can assume that the main conflict of the whole play is the struggle between "light" and "darkness". From an artistic point of view "White color" and all color combinations clearly oppose it "red" and "hyornomu" in any of their shades.

We also managed to establish that some of the heroes of the play are somehow connected with the "dark force". These are the so-called "dark souls", such as Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina and Boris Alekseevich Trigorin. They are opposed by "bright souls" - Nina Zarechnaya and Konstantin Treplev with their ideas, views, pure aspirations. In other words, “bright souls” are heroes who are just starting their life journey, trying to fulfill themselves.

In the second act, we become witnesses of the murder of the main symbol of the whole play - the seagull. Let us turn to the characteristics of the bird that became the title of the play. The seagull has a white color, gradually turning into black. According to the legends of the ancient Slavs, killing a seagull is a great sin. It was believed that a young girl reincarnated as a seagull, on which lies a family curse, because she could not save her honor before marriage. If you believe this legend, then the color of the bird can be interpreted in this way: “white color” is a symbol of youth, a pure feminine principle, the beginning of a life path, and “black” is the stigma of sin. Therefore, the color of the seagull is a possible sign that something bad may happen to the young heroine of the play.

In the meantime, there is a change in the light background - a sunny summer day is coming. Light helps to better understand the characters from the inside: their behavior, communication with each other. The color background in one way or another reveals the characters' characters, their inner world. Nina Zarechnaya - young, innocent, her ideas about life are still very naive, Treplev - suffers from unrecognized, from unrequited love, Trigorin - unhappy in the "light" of his fame, taste for secular life he died, and he is looking for happiness, inspired by Nina, and Arkadina is trying in every possible way to keep everyone's attention on herself and at the same time behaves capriciously infantile.

It is no coincidence that Chekhov leaves the heroes in the "shadow of the old linden". Perhaps he draws some kind of analogy: Arkadina is ready to do everything not to remain in the shadows, because her biggest fear is that she can be surpassed by a new generation. Her main task is not to remain in the shadow of her rival Nina Zarechnaya. Here, light and shade plays the role of a detail that combines the main life experiences of Irina Nikolaevna: “Then, I am correct, like an Englishman. I, my dear, keep myself in line, as they say, and I am always dressed and combed comme il faut. So that I would allow myself to leave the house, at least to the garden, in a blouse or unkempt? Never. That’s why I survived because I was never a fefelo, I didn’t dissolve myself, like some ... ( Arms on his hips, he walks around the site.) Here you are - like a chick. At least play a fifteen-year-old girl. But what horror and annoyance overcome her when Trigorin confesses to her that he is in love with Nina Zarechnaya - "a provincial girl", in her words. She is even ready to humiliate herself in front of him: “... My beautiful, marvelous ... You, the last page of my life! ( Gets on his knees.)».

Chiaroscuro plays a special role in this action, it shows the inner world of the characters. The color background performs the same function. Chiaroscuro is opposed to the color background and actualizes the opposition of two heroines - Arkadina and Zarechnaya. The function of color is to reveal one of the play's conflicts.

In the third act, white dominates. It flashes in the metaphors present in the characters' replicas, as well as in their memories.

In the fourth act, we plunge into the evening atmosphere, nature is restless - in the garden strong wind, "lake of waves", the theater is mentioned again, and the same triad of colors is reproduced again. The color background is “black”, “red” wine for Boris Alekseevich, the mention of the “stuffed seagull”, which Treplev himself killed, saying that the same fate awaits him, and, finally, the arrival of Nina Zarechnaya with her painful and conflicting memories: “I am a seagull. No, not that ... Remember, you shot a seagull? By chance, a man came, saw, and from nothing to do destroyed ... ". All this portends tragic ending plays.

So, we repeat that the main color of the play, from our point of view, is the "white" color and that the triad of colors plays a significant role in it: red - white - black. The color background organizes the circular composition, but in the finale some transformations take place: there is no moon or moonlight, the action takes place indoors, and we know about what is happening in the garden only from the replicas of the characters. However, the atmosphere in the garden portends a terrible event at the very end of the play. The absence of white color as such, its mention only in replicas, recalling the past of heroes, red wine as a possible symbol of blood , bad weather outside the window - all this testifies to the defeat of the forces of "light" before the forces of "darkness" in the play.

2.2 Structural elements of the color palette of Chekhov's plays

We found out that color in Chekhov's plays is multifunctional. It performs a descriptive and characterizing function: the color background is responsible for the "immersion" of the viewer in the atmosphere of the action.

What is the color background on the stage? First of all, it's scenery and lighting.

The color background is simple in its structure. Usually Chekhov's plays feature day and night, or evening and morning. Sometimes the color background is complicated by a number of details. For example, in The Seagull, moonlight has a certain fall trajectory and is less transparent than daylight, but it is more "white". In "Uncle Vanya" the light is dimmed to recreate the hazy atmosphere that late autumn. In The Cherry Orchard, the difference between the spring sun and the autumn sun is clearly visible. Autumn light is softer and warmer in its range, it is dominated by shades of “orange”.

The main space of action in all four plays is a room or a garden. Chekhov does not detailed description garden, but it is obvious that the garden symbolizes the harmony of nature (the garden is “green”).

« Zelyony"Chekhov has the color of harmony, one way or another present in almost every play. It is a noble color, the color of wisdom, towering over other colors. It harmonizes with white. In the "Three Sisters" he is the main one.

« ANDyomean” in Chekhov has a predominantly negative meaning. This color spontaneously "bursts" into the color palette of the play. It is associated either with a “painfully painful”, “heavy”, “stretching” farewell to hopes, or with a lack of taste in life, “rudeness” and “stupidity”. It is for these reasons that "yellow" does not become the main color in any play.

In "The Cherry Orchard" and in "The Seagull" the main color symbol is " white" color. But in both plays, white"color has a "transitivity". In "The Cherry Orchard" this transition does not have a deep meaning, but in "The Seagull" this transition is directly related to the plot and semantic background of the play - "stained purity".

But there are cases in Chekhov when the background suddenly becomes the color symbol of the play. So, in "Uncle Vanya" grey"The color is not a symbol of "wisdom", as was commonly believed by the ancient Slavs. Of course, Chekhov somehow feels the influence of folk traditions of color perception, but in this case we have a different problem. " Grey"the color here is" abyss "," abyss ". " Grey The color, as it were, leads the theme of endless twilight, life's doom in the play, it draws in all other colors, and they fade, dissolve in it.

« Zelyony"the color has a positive polarity only when depicting nature, in all other cases it is scenes with gambling or items of clothing that are "tasteless".

So, primary colors pieces: gray - green - white.

Chekhov attaches great importance to what his characters are wearing: clothes carry either the internal characteristics of the character, creating his psychological portrait, or focus on some particular trait in his character, and sometimes even tell us the story of his life in his own way. . The clothes of Chekhov's heroes are characterized by a certain range of colors, which are also included in the general palette of colors of the main Chekhov plays.

There are two more colors that are included in the overall color palette, although not in " main cast», - « hyorny" and " red" colors. Mostly they have a negative polarity. If you mix red" and " hyorny", then a new color will appear -" crimson”, of course, with negative polarity. " Crimson"The color is found in the play" The Seagull "when Nina Zarechnaya reads a monologue in the play by Konstantin Treplev:" Here comes my mighty opponent, the devil. I see his terrible crimson eyes ... ".

Sometimes color acts as a physical characteristic of the characters. Heroes “turn pale”, “white”, fall ill, or something bothers them in morally, or they are shocked: “Lyubov Andreevna and Gaev enter through the front; she does not cry, but is pale, her face trembles, she cannot speak.

With a night, “dark” color background, the main characters of the play, as a rule, suffer some kind of defeat from their “opponents”.

Based on the accumulated material, let's try to describe the general structure of the color palette of Chekhov's dramaturgy:

1) in the play its main color stands out;

2) in addition to the main color in the play, there are other colors that are opposed to the main color of the play in their semantics or, conversely, may be close to the semantics of the main color;

3) there is a wide variety of color backgrounds in the play;

4) in the color palette of the play, a certain place is occupied by chiaroscuro;

5) in the color palette of the play, a certain role is assigned to mixed colors.

The color in its own way decorates and even complements the images of the female characters of the plays: the innocent Nina Zarechnaya in a “white dress” under moonlight; Maria Kulygina in a "black dress with a hat on her knees", doomed to an unhappy life; Charlotte Ivanovna in a white dress is the most mysterious heroine of The Cherry Orchard; Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina in "white blouses".

The heroines - the owners of "white" colors in their clothes - psychologically have something in common. So, Nina Zarechnaya and Irina Prozorova appear before us in the prime of their youth. Everyone has a dream, a goal in life, but their expectations are not justified in the final.

Also in Chekhov's plays there are women dressed in blue, gray, black clothes. The heroines of this type are characterized by a rich inner world, spiritual beauty, but they are unattractive in their appearance. Their hearts languish from unrequited love, and although they do their best, no matter what, they try to live on, they still remain inconsolable and unsatisfied. These include Sofya Serebryakova from Uncle Vanya, Maria Shamraeva from The Seagull, Maria Kulygina from The Three Sisters.

Chekhov's characters-imitators also stand out in a special group. This is Dunyasha with her “powdered”, pale face and feigned “refinement”, Natalya Ivanovna, who strives to dress as brightly as possible, but does not understand that this may not cause admiration, but ridicule from an outside observer, Lopakhin with his “white vest” , trying to look like a "master", but due to the lack of genuine taste, he prefers boots plain color- "yellow shoes". All these heroes do not understand that, by deliberately "hyperbolizing" their appearance, their "costume", they are ridiculous, and not at all noble. Chekhov ridicules their stupidity and low desire to seize power over everyone in the house, and even someone else's house.

Astrov from "Uncle Vanya" and Trigorin from "The Seagull" are people who are accustomed to their way of life, their measured being, suddenly experience a strong love feeling but neither of them last long. Astrov - a man of pleasant appearance, but far from young, he falls in love with married woman but he can't fight for her. She leaves and everything falls into place. Although he is rejected, he knows that his feeling is not unrequited. He is not ready to change something in his ordinary “gray” life, but he simply does not want it. Trigorin no longer feels the “brilliance”, “radiance” of his fame, he never experienced, in his words, the pleasure of his fame in his whole life. But he is attracted by the "purity" of Nina Zarechnaya, the "brilliance" of her eyes, the way she admires him, but when Nina becomes an ordinary woman in his eyes, and not even the most successful actress, all feelings in him "fade away", and he leaves her.

Chekhov also has a type of characters that would be best described as "workers". These are people who tirelessly do everything for the good of saving either nature or property, or struggle with ignorance, but at the same time, willy-nilly, they lose their lives, sacrificing themselves to routine, circumstances. There is no doubt that in the eyes of the author their struggle is appropriate, but even their strength is not enough to solve all the difficulties that have befallen their family, and the environment either sympathizes with them, or does not understand them, or admires them, but they do not support get none. Varya from The Cherry Orchard, Sonya from Uncle Vanya, Olga from The Three Sisters belong to this type. Their appearance is not described, but it is quite obvious and without descriptions - without shine, in dark, "gray" tones.

According to Chekhov, “brilliance”, “brightness”, “chic” in clothes is a sign of the hero’s “spiritual exhaustion”. The variegation of colors hides internal flaws, which one way or another still become apparent.

cold and dark colors in the external portrait of the heroes they symbolize wisdom and at the same time doom, vulnerability. For example, the heroine of The Three Sisters, Olga, is unable to hear Natalya’s rude statements about the nanny, she immediately feels unwell: “I will refuse. I can’t… I can’t do it… (Drinks water.) You’ve been so rude to the nanny now… I’m sorry, I can’t bear it… even it’s dark in my eyes…”.

As for the colors of the “leaving” generation, then, as a rule, color combinations are used here that make the overall atmosphere sad and painful. These are colors that encourage thoughtfulness, conveying a feeling of sadness, in contrast to the colors of the “new generation”, which combine lightness and playfulness and are full of different shades.

Nature in the plays is presented as a divine symbol. She has power over the fate of the characters. Trees and birds act as amulets for the heroes. All " natural» The color palette consists of colors that are ambiguous in their semantics: "blue sky", "moonlight", "sun rays", "spruce alley".

The structure of the color symbolism of the appearance of the heroes is flexible. But the color symbolism of nature is rooted in mythological antiquity and has well-established interpretations.

The "new generation" looks like a reflection in a "distorting mirror" against the backdrop of nature. The colors of the details of the clothes of the representatives of the "new generation" are similar to the natural color. For example, the green belt of Natalya Ivanovna from the play "The Seagull" echoes in green spruce alley; Ermolai Alekseevich Lopakhin in a "white vest", which is consonant with the color of flowering cherry trees. But it is these heroes who do not feel a sense of reverence for nature. They easily, without even thinking, deal with her: Lopakhin is on the way to destruction cherry orchard, and Natalya Ivanovna condemns the spruce alley to the same fate.

Each play by Chekhov has its own "primary" color.

In Chekhov, the main color of the play is either unipolar, or it can be bipolar, but this bipolarity is not accidental, in the semantic and symbolic context, one can always find an explanation for this phenomenon.

We managed to find out that Chekhov has a division of all colors into “fleeting” and “permanent”.

The color background is able to immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of the play. Sometimes the color background can become the color symbol of the play ( "grey" color in the play "Uncle Vanya").

Color is able to act as a physical characteristic of the characters.

In addition to all that has been said above, color sometimes decorates or complements the images of the heroes of plays.

3. Poetics of Chekhov's dramaturgy in terms of color symbolism

3.1 Color symbols in remarks

“Chekhov is a younger contemporary of the greatest Russian “realists” (you have to quote this one - and so many other terms, to such an extent they are conditional), Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Saltykov, as well as writers - “bytoviki”, “populists” ( contemporary, if not always from the point of view of formal chronology, then from the point of view of the real one) and an older contemporary of the first symbolists, or "decadents".

Undoubtedly, Chekhov relied on classical patterns of drama construction when creating his plays. For example, in "The Seagull" there are such remarks as "quiet" and "loud", characterizing the way the characters' speech is presented. There is a remark, inherent in all Chekhov's plays, which cuts off the hero's remark or completes it - "pause". It is also worth paying attention to the remarks regarding the “movement” of the characters around the stage: “leaves”, “sits down”, “enters”, etc.

Stage directions in plays generally fall into two categories:

1) explanatory remarks for replicas;

2) independent remarks (initial before each action, inter-replica, final).

Usually the stage direction performs an auxiliary function in the play. Chekhov transforms the traditional function of the remark, making it an independent fragment of a work of art.

Chekhov's remarks according to the functional type can be conditionally divided into three groups:

2) remarks that create an atmosphere;

3) remarks that reveal the inner world of the characters.

P.M. Bitsilli noted: “The underlined places here are clearly not for the director, but for the reader. Chekhov sometimes seems to forget that what he writes is intended for the stage. Not without reason, some contemporary critics noted that his plays are more suitable for reading than for a performance. Let's cross it all out similar remarks a lot), and the impression of the whole will weaken. There is no way to show it on stage. And these trifles testify that Chekhov did not achieve full mastery of the inner form of drama.

Indeed, often the viewer does not see the hero, but only from the replicas guesses what is happening, or through the sounds. For example, in "Uncle Vanya": "Elena Andreevna. I haven't played for a long time. I will play and cry, cry like a fool. ( Out the window.) Are you knocking, Yefim? The voice of the watchman. I! Elena Andreevna. Don't knock, the master is unwell. The voice of the watchman. I'll leave now! ( whistles.) Hey, you Bug, Boy! Bug!

In the “Three Sisters” in the second act, the viewer can hear the nanny humming a song to the child, but all this happens behind the scenes, so the viewer, unlike the reader, can only guess, using his own imagination, how it all happens in reality.

But is it possible to assert that Chekhov did not fully master the inner forms of drama?

In our opinion, this is not entirely true. It's just that Chekhov divides his audience into readers, to which the whole “space” of action, sounds, colors, and spectators, which have a more difficult task. Here, of course, the work of the director is important, because the feeling that the audience will have after the performance will depend on the peculiarities of staging the play in the theater.

« The room, which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads to Anna's room. Dawn, soon the sun will rise. It's already May, the cherry trees are blooming, but it's cold in the garden, it's a matinee. The windows in the room are closed”, - the viewer, unlike the reader, does not know what kind of room this is, he does not see the remarks. But what is in front of his eyes? It's getting light, then the action will take place in the room, the view from the window opens up a cherry orchard, but the window itself is closed, because it's still cold. The light on the stage should be diffused, it is a little muffled, because the sun has not yet risen above the horizon. The key detail here is the window. Outside the window, we can see shades of green, white, blue and, since it is May coolness in the yard, it is possible to intersperse a pinkish tint above the horizon. This is the opening scene of the first act of The Cherry Orchard.

In the second act, the scenery changes. A field spreads out in front of us, in the background we see a chapel, a well, stones that were once gravestones. The scenery lends a mystique to the stage atmosphere. Further: "… The road to Gaev's estate is visible. To the side, towering, poplar trees darken: there begins a cherry orchard. In the distance a row of telegraph poles, and far, far away on the horizon is not clearly indicated Big city, which is only visible in very good, clear weather. Soon the sun will set". In this scene, the viewer sees only the road, the greenery of poplars, and the cherry orchard almost literally “drowns in darkness”, the viewer sees not him, but only a black color in the distance. The light is bright, with tints of orange, but soft - sunset is coming soon.

A gloomy picture of an old, ruined cemetery opens, the cherry orchard appears as a “black shadow”, and the light will soon fade, darkness will swallow everything. gray paint telegraph poles, stone slabs begin to thicken, which indicates the imminent awakening of the "forces of darkness." It is also indicative that the action is preceded by a monologue by Charlotte Ivanovna.

The garden is shown from the mystical side. It is no longer blooming, white, clean, but “dark”, i.e. cherry trees can also be seen as creating a mystical space.

In the fourth act of the play, the scenery repeats the scenery of the first act. Most likely, the director will have to repeat the combination of the color scheme of the first act, but exclude white from the color palette, as well as pink, for the reason that it is already autumn in the yard, the trees have faded.

In The Seagull, the reader also gets acquainted with the setting and atmosphere of the play already in the first act thanks to the remark: “ Part of the park in the estate of Sorina. A wide alley leading in the direction from the audience into the depths of the park to the lake is blocked by a stage hastily put together for a home performance, so that the lake is not visible at all. To the left and to the right near the platform there is a bush. Several chairs, table. Only what gone sun.On the stage behind the lowered curtain Yakov and other workers; coughing and knocking are heard. Masha and Medvedenko walk on the left, returning from a walk". It is not yet clear to the viewer whose estate this is, he will be able to understand this only from the replicas of the characters and the action itself. The reader already knows that a “home performance” will take place, but for the viewer this is still a mystery. Also, the viewer does not see the lake, because, as stated in the remark, it is not visible at all.

In the first act, the viewer still has a view of the lake when the curtain rises. The reflection of the moon is visible against the dark background of the water. The atmosphere becomes mysterious and partly even mystical. interesting detail contains the following note: The swamp lights are showing". The Slavs believed that "wandering lights" or "swamp lights" are the souls of drowned people. In terms of color, "swamp lights", in our opinion, are better to depict in the performance with soft whitish highlights over the lake. The atmosphere, conveyed with the help of stage details and the color contrast of "white" and "black", becomes mysterious, exciting.

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THREE SISTERS

A. P. CHEKHOV

THREE SISTERS

Drama in four acts

CHARACTERS

Prozorov Andrey Sergeevich. Natalya Ivanovna, his fiancee, then his wife. his sisters: Olga, Masha, Irina. Kulygin Fyodor Ilyich, gymnasium teacher, Masha's husband. Vershinin Alexander Ignatievich, lieutenant colonel, battery commander. Tuzenbakh Nikolai Lvovich, baron, lieutenant. Solyony Vasily Vasilievich, staff captain. Chebutykin Ivan Romanovich, military doctor. Fedotik Alexey Petrovich, second lieutenant. Rode Vladimir Karpovich, second lieutenant. Ferapont, watchman from the zemstvo council, an old man. Anfisa, nanny, old woman, 80 years old.

The action takes place in the provincial town.

Act one

In the house of the Prozorovs. Living room with columns, beyond which a large hall is visible. Noon; it's sunny and fun outside. Breakfast is served in the hall.

Olga in the blue uniform of the teacher female gymnasium, all the time corrects student notebooks, standing and on the go; Masha in a black dress, with a hat on her knee, sits and reads a book, Irina in a white dress is standing in thought.

Olga. Father died exactly a year ago, just on this day, May 5, on your name day, Irina. It was very cold, then it was snowing. It seemed to me that I would not survive, you lay in a swoon, as if dead. But now a year has passed, and we remember it easily, you are already in a white dress, your face is shining. (The clock strikes twelve.) And then the clock also struck.

I remember when they carried my father, music played, they shot at the cemetery. He was a general, he commanded a brigade, meanwhile there were few people. However, it was raining then. Heavy rain and snow. Irina. Why remember!

Baron Tuzenbach, Chebutykin and

Salty.

Olga. It's warm today, you can keep the windows wide open, but the birch trees have not yet blossomed. My father got a brigade and left Moscow with us eleven years ago, and, I remember very well, in early May, at that time in Moscow everything was already in bloom, warm, everything was flooded with sun. Eleven years have passed, and I remember everything there, as if we left yesterday. My God! This morning I woke up, saw a lot of light, saw spring, and joy stirred in my soul, I passionately wanted to go home. Chebutykin. Hell no! Tuzenbach. Of course, it's nonsense.

Masha, thinking about the book, quietly whistles a song.

Olga. Don't whistle, Masha. How can you!

Because I go to the gymnasium every day and then give lessons until evening, my head constantly hurts and I have such thoughts as if I had already grown old. And in fact, during these four years, while serving in the gymnasium, I feel how strength and youth come out of me every day, drop by drop. And only one dream grows and grows stronger... Irina. To go to Moscow. Sell ​​the house, finish everything here and go to Moscow... Olga. Yes! More likely to Moscow.

Chebutykin and Tuzenbakh laugh.

Irina. My brother will probably be a professor, he won't live here anyway. Only here is the stop for poor Masha. Olga. Masha will come to Moscow for the whole summer, every year.

Masha quietly whistles a song.

Irina. God willing, everything will be fine. (Looking out the window.) Good weather today. I don't know why my heart is so light! This morning I remembered that I was a birthday girl, and suddenly I felt joy, and remembered my childhood, when my mother was still alive. And what marvelous thoughts agitated me, what thoughts! Olga. Today you are all shining, you seem unusually beautiful. And Masha is beautiful too. Andrei would be good, only he has become very fat, this does not suit him. But I have grown old, I have lost a lot of weight, probably because I am angry at the girls in the gymnasium.

THIRD PLACE IN THE EDUCATIONAL COMPETITION "MONOLOGUE" - INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION GREAT WANDERER FOR YOUTH

I don't believe in love at first sight. When I met him during the intermission of the play "Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya", he was coming down the stairs to the theater cafe. I went there too. He was held by the arm of a lady, and it was she who first attracted my attention. Fragile, with bright eyes and intricate hair, she was much older than her companion and looked at him with undisguised adoration. He is at her - with tenderness.

I took my coffee and sat across from the unusual couple: “Not busy? I won't interfere?" The lady smiled, "Please." Age was betrayed by her well-groomed hand with thin fingers and, alas, an senile "buckwheat" on the back of her hand. Well, everything is clear with her. Judging by the diamonds in her necklace, the lady is able to buy herself a handsome macho as a cure for loneliness, well, and for going out.

The guy, however, did not pull on a macho. An expensive haircut with shaved temples, a charming smile - everything is with him, only he obviously does not do bodybuilding: he is too thin and stoops a little. He probably sits eight hours a day at a computer in some mid-range company.

As I sipped my coffee, I listened to the dialogue.

He: well, how do you like this attempt on Chekhov?

She: in general, I don’t like modernizing the classics, and even disrespecting Chekhov’s text, but, you must admit, it was done witty, funny. Let's see what happens in the second act.

He: otherwise we can leave, take a walk around the evening city, and then I'll take you home and if you want, I'll stay the night with you, mommy.

Everything turned upside down in my head. The guy's words touched me much more than the performance in which the hidden homosexual Uncle Vanya rushed between Vershinin and Irina. I followed the couple into the hall and now did not take my eyes off him. And his stoop seemed to me sweet, and his thinness touching. If he is so kind to his mother, then to a woman in general? Or is it an option sissy who will always be under her heels? No, he lives separately from his mother, which means he is financially independent. My imagination pictured the Prince to me - not because he drives a white Volvo, but because he treats a Woman like a princess, he is noble and generous.

I no longer looked at the stage, but thought only about how to get to know the guy. Will my mom like me? It is clear that this is important for him, but problems must be solved as they arise. It didn't matter that I had been dating a fellow student for several months. His image faded sharply: he was one of those about whom my grandmother said: “Simplicity, which is worse than theft,” he simply cannot be dragged into a theater or museum.

My brain-computer gave out a dozen ways to get to know a man, but none of them were good: trite, stupid, vulgar. The curtain closed, the audience poured into the wardrobe. He stood at the column next to his mother - waiting for the stream of spectators to subside. Unexpectedly for myself, I approached them: “Excuse me, can I detain you for a minute?” They looked at each other and smiled at the same time, "Please!"

“We were sitting next to each other in a cafe and you know…. I just admired you. Your son… I never had such a relationship with my mother, and for the first time I thought that it was my own fault…” I fell silent, feeling like a stupid and annoying girl. "Nice to meet you!" - said the lady and held out her hand to me: "Irina Andreevna." The guy bowed slightly: "Denis." He was not the first to extend his hand - he was well brought up, of course.

We went down to the empty wardrobe. “And let's go to our place to drink tea with a pie! And we will discuss the performance,” suggested Irina Andreevna. I looked questioningly at Dennis. He smiled silently. I could not zip up my jacket with trembling fingers. Finally we got out into the frosty air and moved towards the parking lot. I felt like Cinderella at the ball and was glad that I was wearing not jeans, but a new dress that showed off my slender legs.

Suddenly, Irina Andreevna asked: “Denis, when does Alena return from a business trip?” “On Saturday, I already miss you, I call her five times a day,” he replied. “Alena is the bride of her son,” Irina Andreevna explained to me. The clock struck, the carriage turned into a pumpkin, and I regretted that I had not put on jeans: my legs froze in an instant. I remembered that I still had a lot of things to do, said goodbye and quickly went to the tram stop.

We did not coincide with the Prince in time. We met too late, maybe too early. I am sad, but “my sadness is bright”: I am convinced that the Princes are not extinct on Earth and I can quite meet Him, free and ready to fall in love. You just need to wear skirts and dresses more often and manage to stay in this cruel world as a Woman - kind, gentle and merciful.