186
PARTISAN REVIEW
of action to the superior level of consciousness. It is Chekhov's
peculiar
use of a kind of modified soliloquy to treat the theme of self-conscioua–
ness that is his dramatic signature; Miss Cornell and most of her fellow·
actors handle these delicate passages as though they were either so many
yards of plain expository material or interpolated operatic dirges.
It is curious to find the Chekhovian themes popping up in an
im·
probable melodrama called
Counter-Attack,
which by a further irony
is a play by a Russian named Vershinin, that has been adapted by
Janet and Philip Stevenson to American tastes. The revolution Colonel
Vershinin anticipated has taken place, ahead of schedule, and the Red
Army is defending its beautiful new world against the Germans on the
Eastern Front.
In
reality, the new world might have afforded the Colonel
his final disillusionment; in the play, the only flaw in the new world
is
the presence of Nazi troops on its territory: democracy and freedom
prevail and the Russian soldier dreams of the "strong firm hand" of
Comrade Stalin pressing him gently on his weary shoulder. Nevertheless,
the obsessions that dominate
The Three Sisters
persist. Of the two Rua–
sian soldiers in the play, one is obsessed with the idea of correctness,
military and ideological, and the other, who is a peasant and therefore
more old-fashioned, is obsessed with the idea of heroism. One difference
between this play and
The Three Sisters
is that both dreams come
true.
In trying circumstances, in a bombed dug-out with six Nazi prisoners,
the soldiers are correct and heroic, and, after the war,
I
suppose, they
will get a trip to Moscow at government expense. As Mme. Litvinov
hints,
if
the three sisters had lived under Stalin, their problems would
have been non-existent.
By looking hard enough, one can even find touches of Chekhov
in
Dark Eyes,
a comedy by Elena Miramova and Eugenie Leontovitch.
This
is a play about three irresponsible Russian ladies and a rich Long Island
factory-owner who is giving his all, under severe handicaps, to the
WPB.
Here the Russian character is burlesqued for the carriage trade, in what
I presume is a gesture of amity to our victorious allies. The play is both
coarse and reactionary; references to governmental red tape and Mrs.
Roosevelt bring down the house and the appearance of a colored butler
with an enema hag provides a suitable curtain at the end.
Yet
traits of
the true Russian character, which is here called the Russian Soul, occa·
sionally make themselves felt. Solyony, in
The Three Sisters,
goes of
to a duel with a quotation from Lermontov on his lips. Nick, a dubious
White Russian member of cafe society, in habits not unlike Solyony,
is inspired by another quotation from Lermontov to enlist in the Canadian
army. It is apparently easier for Russians to do things
if
they are under
the impression that they are someone else. And Chekhov may he
dis–
tinguished from Miss Miramova and Miss Leontovich by his belief
that
action induced by such intoxicants is not likely to be of the highelt
social worth.
MARY
McCuTHY
