The Books: “Collected Plays of Anton Chekhov” – ‘Swan Song’ (Anton Chekhov)

Next script on my script shelf:

Next play is Chekhov’s “Swan Song,” included in The Plays of Anton Chekhov. Translated by Paul Schmidt. I had owned an old copy of some old translation for years – whenever I worked on a scene or a monologue, it was that one I worked from. Can’t remember the translation. Then a couple of years ago, my friend Kate recommended the Paul Schmidt translation to me, raving about it, and so I, with no trepidation at all, switched translations. It makes SUCH a difference! If you’re into Chekhov, and you’ve read him in different manifestations, I highly recommend the Paul Schmidt translation.

First play in the collection is a really moving short play called Swan Song: A Dramatic Sketch in One Act. It is 7 pages long and there are two characters: Vasily Vasilich Svetlovidov (a 68 year old actor) and Nikita Ivanich (a prompter in the theatre). It takes place out “in the provinces”, on a theatre stage, late at night, after the audience has gone home. Basically, Svetlovidov, an actor coming to the end of his life, does not want to leave the theatre. The void at the heart of a life of an actor.

EXCERPT FROM The Swan Song, by Anton Chekhov.

NIKITA INVANICH: (gently, respectfully) Vasily Vasilich, it’s time for you to go home.

SVETLOVIDOV: No, no, I can’t! I haven’t got a home! I can’t! I can’t!

NIKITA IVANICH: Oh dear. Did you forget where you live?

SVETLOVIDOV: I won’t go back there — I can’t! I’ll be all alone, Nikita. I haven’t got anybody — no wife, no children, no family. I’m all alone. I’m like the wind in an empty field … I’m goingt o die, and no one will remember me … It’s awful to be alone. No one to hug you, keep you warm, put you to bed when you’re drunk … Who do I belong to? Does anybody need me? Does anybody love me? Nobody loves me, Nikita!

NIKITA. (almost in tears) The audeince loves you, Vasily Vasilich!

SVETLOVIDOV: The audience? Where are they? They’ve gone home to bed and forgotten all about me. No, nobody needs me, nobody loves me. No wife, no children …

NIKITA. Now, now, what are you getting all upset about?

SVETLOVIDOV. I’m a human being, aren’t I? I’m still alive, aren’t I? I’ve got blood in my veins, not water. And I come from a good family, Nikita, a very good family. Before I got involved in show business I was in the army. I was an officer — I was an artillery officer. You should have seen me when I was young. I was so good-looking, I was clean-cut, strong, full of energy, full of life! Oh my God, where did it all go? And what an actor I was, Nikita, huh? (gets up, leaning on Nikita’s arm) Where did it go, all that? My God, I … Tonight I looked out into that darkness, and it all came back to me, everything! That darkness swallowed up forty-five years of my life, Nikita. But what a life! I look out into that darkness and I can see it all again, just like I see you now! My youth, my confidence, my talent, the women who loved me … the women who loved me, Nikita!

NIKITA. Vasily Vasilich, I think it’s time for bed.

SVETLOVIDOV. When I was a young actor, and just beginning to feel how good I was, I remember, there was this one woman … She loved me for my acting! She was tall, beautiful, elegant, young, innocent. She burned with a pure flame, like the dawn light in summer! One look from those blue eyes, that magic smile, you couldn’t resist! I remember one time, I stood before her, just like I’m standing before you now. She was so beautiful that day, so beautiful, and she was looking at me — I’ll never forget that look, not to my dying day. Her eyes like velvet, full of love, full of passion, the dazzle of her youth! I wanted her, I was mad for her, fell to my knees in front of her … (His voice starts to trail off) And she said, you have to choose. Me or the theatre. (Beat.) Give up the theatre! You understand? She wanted me to give up the theatre. She could make love to an actor, but marry one — never! And I remember that day; I was playing … oh, it was some awful part, nothing but cliches, and I was out there onstage … and all of a sudden my eyes were opened! And I realized then there was no holy art of acting, it was all lies and pretending, and I was just a toy, a slave to other people’s pleasure, a clown! Just a cheap clown! That’s when I realized what the audience was after, what they wanted from me! And after that I never believed the applause, the bouquets of flowers, the glowing reviews. It’s true, Nikita! They applaud me, they buy my photographs, but we are strangers to one another, and they think of me as trash, as a whore! They want to get to know me because I’m a celebrity — it flatters them — but they wouldn’t lower themselves to let me marry one of their sisters or daughters! And I don’t believe their applause! (falls back onto the stool) I just don’t believe them anymore!

NIKITA. Vasily Vasilich, you’re scaring me … You look just awful! Let’s you and me go home. Come on now …

SVETLOVIDOV. That’s when I finally found out what it was all about, Nikita. I understood what they were like, and that knowledge has cost me dear! After that — after that girl — I rished off without any direction, didn’t care what my life was like, never thought ahead. I played cheap parts, cynical parts, I played the joker, I seduced anyone I could get my hands on…But what an actor I was, what an artist! And then I let my art go, I got vulgar and commercial, I lost the divine spark … That black hole out there swallowed me up! I didn’t realize it until now, but now, just now, when I woke up, I looked back, and I saw those sixty-eight years! I’m old! My life is over! I have sung my swan song! (sobs) I have sung my swan song!