Savva and The Life of Man | Page 4

zealously interested himself in Andreyev's behalf.
In 1902 his story named "The Abyss" appeared and created a sensation
immediately. Even Countess Tolstoy joined in the dispute which raged
over this story, attacking it as matter unfit for literature. But the verdict
of Andreyev's generation was in his favor. Since then nearly every new
work of his has been received as an important event in Russia and has
sent the critics scurrying to his attack or defence. His first drama, "To
the Stars," appeared while the Russians were engaged in fighting for
liberty (1905), and, naturally enough, it reflects that struggle. "Savva"
was published early the next year, and "The Life of Man" later in the
same year. The production of "Savva" is prohibited in Russia. It has

been played in Vienna and Berlin, and recently it was staged again in
Berlin by "Die Freie Bühne," meeting with signal success.

A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PLAYS
By LEONID ANDREYEV
TO THE STARS (K Zviezdam), 1905; SAVVA (Savva), 1906; THE
LIFE OF MAN (Zhizn Chelovieka), 1906; KING HUNGER (Tzar
Golod), 1907; THE BLACK MASKS (Chiorniya Maski), 1908; THE
DAYS OF OUR LIFE (Dni Nashey Zhizni), 1908; ANATHEMA
(Anatema), 1909; ANFISSA (Anfissa), 1909; GAUDEAMUS
(Gaudeamus), 1910; THE OCEAN (Okean), 1911; "HONOR"
("Chest"), 1911 (?); THE PRETTY SABINE WOMEN (Prekrasniya
Sabinianki), 1911; PROFESSOR STORITZYN (Professor Storitzyn),
1912; CATHERINE (Yekaterina Ivanovna), 1913; THOU SHALT
NOT KILL (Ne Ubi), 1914.

SAVVA or IGNIS SANAT
(SAVVA)
A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
1906

PERSONS
YEGOR IVANOVICH TROPININ, _innkeeper in a monastic suburb.
An elderly man of about fifty, with an important manner and a item,
dignified way of speaking._
ANTON _(Tony), anywhere from thirty-five to thirty-eight, bloated
from drinking and always under the influence of alcohol. His face is

bloodless, sad, and sleepy. He has a sparse beard, speaks slowly and
painfully, and never laughs._
OLYMPIADA _(Lipa), twenty-eight years old. She is fair and rather
good-looking. There is a touch of monastic severity in her dress._
SAVVA, _twenty-three, large, broad-shouldered, with a suggestion of
the peasant in his looks. He walks with a slight stoop, elbows out, feet
in. The motions of his hands are rounded and graceful, his palms being
turned up as if he were carrying something. His features are large and
rough-hewn, and his cheeks and chin are covered with a soft light down.
When agitated or angry, he turns gray as dust, his movements become
quick and agile, and his stoop disappears. He wears the blouse and
boots of a workingman._
PELAGUEYA, _a freckled, colorless woman, of about thirty, wearing
the ordinary dress of her class. She is dirty and untidy._
SPERANSKY GRIGORY PETROVICH, _an ex-seminarist; tall, very
lean, with a pale, long face, and a tuft of dark hair on his chin. He has
long, smooth hair parted in the middle and falling on each side of his
face. He is dressed either in a long, dark overcoat or in a dark
frock-coat._
FATHER KONDRATY, _a friar, forty-two years old, ugly,
narrow-chested, with swollen, animated eyes._
VASSYA, _a novice, a strong and athletic youth of nineteen. He has a
round, cheerful, smiling face, and curly, lustrous hair._
KING HEROD, _a pilgrim, about fifty. He has a dry, emaciated face,
black from sunburn and road dust. His gray, dishevelled hair and beard
give him a savage appearance. He has only one arm, the left. He is as
tall as Savva._
A FAT MONK.
A GRAY MONK.

A MAN IN PEASANT OVERCOAT. _Monks, pilgrims, cripples,
beggars, blind men and women, monstrosities._
_The action takes place at the beginning of the twentieth century in a
rich monastery celebrated for its wonder-working ikon of the Saviour.
There is an interval of about two weeks between the first and the last
act._

SAVVA
THE FIRST ACT
_The interior of a house in a monastic suburb. Two rooms, with a third
seen back of them. They are old, ramshackle, and filthy. The first one is
a sort of dining-room, large, with dirty, low ceiling and smeared
wall-paper that in places has come loose from the wall. There are three
little windows; the one giving on the yard reveals a shed, a wagon, and
some household utensils. Cheap wooden furniture; a large, bare table.
On the walls, which are dotted with flies, appear pictures of monks and
views of the monastery. The second room, a parlor, is somewhat
cleaner. It has window curtains of muslin, two flower-pots with dried
geraniums, a sofa, a round table covered with a tablecloth, and shelves
with dishes. The door to the left in the first room leads to the tavern.
When open, it admits the sound of a man's doleful, monotonous
singing.
It is noon of a hot and perfectly still summer's day. Now and then the
clucking of hens is heard under the