Three men are working on a house’s reconstruction on the ground floor of the house. (It’s their temporary occupation). The lady of the house, a young beautiful woman, lives upstairs.
First man is a sarcastic intellectual, second is fussy and bitter, and the third one is brutal and wicked retiree. All three of them are guessing about the woman and how far her hospitality might go if they will use their charms…
Retiree offers to prove to his temporary pals that he can conquer the woman. He leaves the ground floor, then returns and tells his story. It is theatre in theatre - the audience sees on the stage what he is telling about himself and the woman above – so any mise en scene solutions are possible. The audience and the men on stage are confused – is it really true what he is telling?
Sarcastic intellectual doesn’t believe in the story of retiree and goes upstairs himself… When he returns we see another story and a new perception of the woman above but with the same final – the man wins her heart.
The last man, Tsaplin, fussy and bitter intellectual – doesn’t believe him and also goes upstairs to check. But this time the audience sees what truly happened there: first he begs the woman for intimacy; then blames her and asks to tell the truth about the others (if she has been intimate with each of them as they say) and then decides to kill her…
The play has multiple aspects, meanings and interpretations of characters and the story, but few of them are: a woman can be anything a man wants to see and - all unattainable is always desirable but instead of reaching for above a human often falls lower…
There is also a symbolical context in male characters – three men are related to three hypostasis of manhood – self-defense sarcasm, aggression and self-uncertainty.
The play is successfully staged in Russia and in Byalostok Drama Theater, Poland. All other language rights are available.
Excerpt:
OLGA. Calm down. It is possible.
TSAPLIN. Seriously?
OLGA. Absolutely.
TSAPLIN. Then… Then what… Then I… I am going to the shower, right?
OLGA. Why? I said – it is possible. Why is it necessary to prove it? What will it add?
TSAPLIN. Maybe you are deceiving me? Reassuring me?
OLGA. No. It is possible. It happened. You and me. Imagine that half an hour passed already, and it happened. Isn’t fantasy enough for you?
TSAPLIN. It’s enough. In fact…
OLGA. It happened. And we are saying good-bye here. And I am kissing you good-bye. (Kisses Tsaplin).
TSAPLIN. Of course… I have little experience… But you did it… You did it without lying. You kissed me so, so… Is it also a profession?
OLGA. No. Just felt like that. I felt like kissing you. Just like that. From my heart.
TSAPLIN. Do you mean you like me?
OLGA. Yes. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done that.
TSAPLIN. Then… Then why are we saying goodbye? I want to stay here. With you. We’ll be on equal terms. No one will understand you like me. You will be happy, dear. People can’t love – but I can.
OLGA. Is it hard for you to accept that I want to be alone? Without you, without anyone else whatsoever? Alone, all by myself? Can you let me live without you – or aside of you? I want to be a stranger, will you let me? Do I have right for that?
TSAPLIN. Sure… I don’t believe you! You know I will not forget it! You are a psychologist – and I see what you’ve learned! You are even worse than that doggy man. He halloos and takes revenge for himself. You also take revenge. But for what? For your beauty? For being… For half an hour you tortured me like a hundred women will never do in my whole life! You know what, girl, enough. I will stop your pleasures. We’ll do without shower. And no screaming, no screaming, no screaming…
Aleksey Slapovsky
