THE CONFORMIST
City life scenes in four acts
Maxim Titovets
TRANSLATED BY OLGA SAVCHUK
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
Sergey Lebedev, a professor, a neuro surgeon, 65.
Victoria Pavlovna, his wife, an owner of an art gallery, 62.
Aglaya, his eldest daughter, art expert, 28.
Inna, his younger daughter, 23.
Nikolay Orlov, an aspiring painter, 25.
Olga Orlova, his mother, a high-level public official at the ministry of education, 50.
Leonid Gromov, a retired general, a businessman, 63.
Mitya Gromov, his son, a man of pleasure, 25.
Liliya Vasilievna, Mitya’s mother, general Gromov’s wife, 54.
Alexander Veselov, the director of the art gallery, 30.
Katya, Inna’s friend, 23.
Domeniko Longhi, a professor of painting.
Slepyen, a facilitator, Boss’s assistant.
Exhibition guests, journalists, pub visitors and others.
Bright new life.
The action takes place in Russia at the present time. Seventeen months pass after Act 4.
Scene 1
Sunday evening. Professor Lebedev’s house. There’s a big living room with a door to a terrace. The window is closed. The light is dim.
Lebedev is sitting on a wooden chair at a huge desk, he’s taking some items and children’s paintings from its drawers, looking at them, touching them. Victoria Pavlovna is sitting in the armchair near the unlit fireplace with a book, on her lap we see a cat.
Lebedev. My treasures’ treasures. (Pensively) Time passes by really fast. (Takes off his glasses, locks them in a drawer)
Is everything in the modern world really organized in such a way as to make every person think only about their pocket and how to line them better, how to fix their offsprings better… What about mission, duty for the society, love, after all? Could it happen to be important for anybody?
Victoria Pavlovna. These things don’t exclude each other if one just knows the limits. But you’ll always be romantic, Sergey.
Lebedev. This quality is what helped me take you away from Leonid Gromov thirty years ago, Victoria.
Victoria Pavlovna. A boaster, too. (Smiling) Right, I haven’t made a general’s wife.
Lebedev. But you have made the best wife and mother in the world. (He stands up and hugs his wife)
