Читать книгу Plays - Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky - Страница 5

MADAM ULANBÉKOV,[1] an old woman of nearly sixty, tall, thin, with a large nose, and thick, black eyebrows; of an Eastern type of face, with a small mustache. She is powdered and rouged, and dressed richly in black. She is owner of two thousand serfs.

[Footnote 1: The name hints at a Circassian origin and a tyrannical disposition. Ostróvsky frequently gives to the persons in his plays names that suggest their characteristics.]

LEONÍD, her son, eighteen years old, very handsome, resembling his mother slightly. Wears summer dress. Is studying in Petersburg.

VASILÍSA PEREGRÍNOVNA, a toady of MADAM ULANBÉKOV'S, an old maid of forty. Scanty hair, parted slantingly, combed high, and held by a large comb. She is continually smiling with a wily expression, and she suffers from toothache; about her throat is a yellow shawl fastened by a brooch.

POTÁPYCH, the old steward. Tie and vest, white; coat black. Has an air of importance.

NADÉZHDA[2] (called NÁDYA), seventeen years old, favorite protégée of MADAM ULANBÉKOV; dressed like a young lady.

[Footnote 2: Hope.]

GAVRÍLOVNA, the housekeeper; an elderly woman, plump, with an open countenance.

GRÍSHA, a boy of nineteen, a favorite of the mistress, dandified in dress, wearing a watch with a gold chain. He is handsome, curly-headed, with a foolish expression.

NEGLIGÉNTOV, a clerk in a government office; a very disreputable young man.

LÍZA, a housemaid, not bad-looking, but very stout and snub-nosed; in a white dress, of which the bodice is short and ill-fitting. About her neck is a little red kerchief; her hair is very much pomaded.

A peasant girl, a footman, and a housemaid: mute personages.

The action takes place in the springtime, at the suburban estate of MADAM ULANBÉKOV