Produced by Bryan Ness, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [ Transcriber's Note: This e-book belongs to Tolstoy's Plays (Complete Edition). The front matter, including the table of contents, can be found in e-book #26660; it lists the other plays in the collection. Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to the original text are listed at the end of this file. ] THE LIVE CORPSE A PLAY IN SIX ACTS CHARACTERS THEODORE VASÍLYEVICH PROTÁSOV (FÉDYA). ELISABETH ANDRÉYEVNA PROTÁSOVA (LISA). His wife. MÍSHA. Their son. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Lisa's mother. SÁSHA. Lisa's younger, unmarried sister. VICTOR MIHÁYLOVICH KARÉNIN. ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA KARÉNINA. PRINCE SERGIUS DMÍTRIEVICH ABRÉZKOV. MÁSHA. A gipsy girl. IVÁN MAKÁROVICH. An old gipsy man. } } Másha's parents. NASTÁSIA IVÁNOVNA. An old gipsy woman. } OFFICER. MUSICIAN. FIRST GIPSY MAN. SECOND GIPSY MAN. GIPSY WOMAN. GIPSY CHOIR. DOCTOR. MICHAEL ALEXÁNDROVICH AFRÉMOV. STÁKHOV. } } BUTKÉVICH. } Fédya's boon companions. } KOROTKÓV. } IVÁN PETRÓVICH ALEXÁNDROV. VOZNESÉNSKY. Karénin's secretary. PETUSHKÓV. An artist. ARTÉMYEV. WAITER IN THE PRIVATE ROOM AT THE RESTAURANT. WAITER IN A LOW-CLASS RESTAURANT. MANAGER OF THE SAME. POLICEMAN. INVESTIGATING MAGISTRATE. MÉLNIKOV. CLERK. USHER. YOUNG LAWYER. PETRÚSHIN. A lawyer. LADY. ANOTHER OFFICER. ATTENDANT AT LAW COURTS. THE PROTÁSOVS' NURSE. THE PROTÁSOVS' MAID. AFRÉMOV'S FOOTMAN. KARÉNIN'S FOOTMAN. THE LIVE CORPSE ACT I SCENE 1 Protásov's[1] flat in Moscow. The scene represents a small dining-room. [1] Protásov is his family name, but the name by which he is usually addressed is Fédya, an abbreviation of his Christian name--Theodore. The ceremonious form of address would be Theodore Vasílyevich. Anna Pávlovna, a stout grey-haired lady, tightly laced, is sitting alone at the tea-table on which is a samovár. Enter nurse, carrying a teapot. NURSE. May I have a little hot water, ma'am? ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Yes. How's Baby? NURSE. He's restless.... There's nothing worse than for a lady to nurse her baby herself! She has her troubles, and the child must suffer. What can her milk be like, when she lies awake crying all night? ANNA PÁVLOVNA. But she seems quieter now. NURSE. Quiet, indeed! It makes one ill to see her. She's been writing something, and crying. Enter Sásha. SÁSHA [to Nurse] Lisa is looking for you. NURSE. I'm coming, I'm coming. [Exit]. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Nurse says she keeps on crying.... Why can't she control herself? SÁSHA. Well really, mother, you are amazing!... A woman has left her husband, her child's father, and you expect her to be calm!