[II-7]

[Chekhov]

(Nina joins them.)

DORN: What's going on in there?

NINA: Irina is crying, and Pyotr is having an asthma attack.

DORN: I'll give them some medicine.

(Nina hands him the flowers.)

NINA: For you.

DORN: Thank you.

(He exits, with Polina following.)

POLINA: What pretty flowers! (As they move away:) Give them to me!

(Dorn resists, she grabs them and tears them into tiny pieces, tossing them away. Then they go toward the house.)

[follow them]

(Nina is alone. She speaks to the audience:)

NINA: How strange to see such a famous actress cry over nothing. And Trigorin - a famous writer, read by everyone and always written up in the papers, his photograph for sale everywhere, his books translated into every language - and he likes nothing better than to fish all day and is delighted to catch two fish. I always put famous people on a pedestal - I thought they were unapproachable and had contempt for the rest of us. I thought they used glamour and fame to get revenge on those who put money and class first. But it seems they cry and fish, play cards and laugh, and get upset like anyone else.

(Treplev enters, carrying a gun and a dead sea gull.)

[continue]