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KNIPPER (harshly): You walk like a chambermaid… Don’t turn your back. Chin up… higher. Move slowly with dignity… back straight.

(Anna walks smoothly, slower, erect, and with her head slightly turned pleasantly)

KNIPPER: You’re swimming? Be tense, like a horse before a race. Every vein bulging with just one desire…

ANNA: The desire to gallop?

KNIPPER: To arouse men!

ANNA: What men?

KNIPPER: All… and now smile, and throw your head back…

(Anna smiles and tries to walk as directed)

Now Scene 1,Act 1. Ranevskaya enters…

(Anna recites Ranevskaya’s words in Russian)

ANNA: Детская, милая моя, прекрасная комната… Я тут спала, когда была маленькой… И теперь я, как маленькая…

KNIPPER: No! No! Where have you been these past weeks in these lessons? Watch… Watch me… “The nursery, my dearest perfect place. I slept here when I was a child… (weeps)… alas, now I am like a child again.” Now… like Stanislavski says, feel the words…Please, in Russian language… Like in Chekhov’s play.

ANNA: Детская, милая моя…. детская моя милая… Прекрасная, милая…

(Pause)

Olga Leonardovna, I can’t….

KNIPPER: Anna! What’s the matter?… Your mind doesn’t seem to be here…

ANNA: Olga Leonardovna… I’ve just come from the doctor…

(Pause) I am pregnant! I don’t know what to do…

KNIPPER: How far along are you?

ANNA: Two months…

KNIPPER: Anna, of course you have to decide for yourself… Two months gives some time yet…(Pause)

(Business like)… We will continue to work. Focus… Concentrate.

ANNA: Wait a second… I’ll try…

(Pause, Anna takes jam, a sip of tea, and collects herself,)

KNIPPER: Anna, a great actress has to have a strong character… I performed in any situation, despite sickness… through pain…

(Pause) The moment I walked on the stage, I listened for the breathing in the hall. They followed my every movement… my expression… my smile…

ANNA: You were not just an accomplished actress, but also the wife of Chekhov. They envied you…

KNIPPER: Envied, because they couldn’t imagine how to be the wife of a famous writer and a leading actress too… Envied and hated…

ANNA: Hated?

KNIPPER: All Moscow followed the relationship between Chekhov and me… They thought I was a bad wife… My German Parentage was not a “plus”… They were jealous of their now famous “country Doctor” turned writer. Our romance existed largely in our letters between Moscow and Yalta… over 1000 miles… over 400 letters… I’ve kept them all…

ANNA: Tell me how you married Chekhov?…

KNIPPER: After our first meeting Chekhov invited me to spend some time in Yalta…. We parted with him tenderly, I cried… Our relations changed…

ANNA: Then you were married?

KNIPPER: Not right away… to be lovers is easier than to be married… Winning him turned out to be far harder than I had thought…

ANNA: You pushed him?

KNIPPER: My dear! And just how else do you think a woman can end up with a husband?

ANNA: I think that when a man puts a lot of effort into a relationship, he will highly value his woman.

KNIPPER: Did your director Vadim put much effort into seducing you? (Pause)