Can One Live This Way?

8/2/2019 Can One Live This Way?

1/17

Can One Live This Way?A Ten-Minute Play

by

Natalya Churlyaeva

Translated from Russian

by

Jane H. Buckingham

Natalya ChurlyaevaKolomenskaya 12/42Krasnoyarsk, Russia

[email protected]

Can One Live This Way? by Natalya Churlyaeva


2/17

CHARACTERS

GALYA: a middle-aged housewife.

VADIM: GALYAS husband.

YURA: GALYAS son.

YANA: GALYAS daughter.



3/17

SETTING

The action takes place in Galyas apartment.

TIME

The present.



4/17

1

As the curtain rises, the large room is in semidarkness.

There is a table in the middle. GALYA sits by the table with

her head on the tabletop. In front of her on the table are aglass and a half-finished bottle. VADIM enters.

VADIM(Turns on the light.)

Are you at this again?

(GALYA tries to wake up, but cannot.)

VADIM

Galina, do you hear me? I'm talking to you!

GALYA

(Talks through her sleep.)

Leave me alone.

VADIM

(Shakes GALYA'S shoulder.)

Wake up.

GALYA

Why?

VADIM

Because your husband came home from work.

GALYA

From w-work?(Lifts up her head.)

What do you have that's work?

(Spitefully.)I know this work. Fondle the broads, and lick the boss' ass...

VADIM

Listen, you! Shut your filthy mouth.

GALYAI won't! I'm your wife! Besides, a legal one. After all these years of suffering with you, I've

earned the right to say what I think of you.

VADIM

You can no longer think. You simply have nothing to think with. Ruinedyour brain with drinking long ago, trash.



5/17

2

GALYA

Don't you dare insult me! I can...

VADIM

You can what? Still drink another glass of wine?

(Takes the glass and pours wine from the bottle into it.)Here, drink up!(Pushes the glass closer to GALYA.)

Drink! Always not enough for you. Have another glass...(Put the glass into GALYA'S hand.)

GALYA(Takes the glass and examines it with drunken eyes.)

No!

VADIM

Why not? You want to say you won't drink it?

GALYAI will... Only tomorrow. Have to leave it till morning, else my head willreally hurt.

VADIM(Gives GALYA a slap in the face.)

Galina! I'd kill you.

GALYA

(Throws the glass of wine in VADIM'S face.)Don't you dare lay a hand on me! Ever.

VADIMI hate you.

GALYA(Grins drunkenly.)

But I love you... You're indeed the father of my children...(Giggles maliciously.)

VADIM(Wipes his face with a hanky.)

Enough! Stop talking about the children.

GALYA(Spitefully.)



6/17

3

My children, and also your children... But parents should always talkabout their children... And the main thing, everywhere. Right? You dothis yourself, everywhere tell what remarkable children I've given you.

VADIM

I said: don't touch the children.

GALYAOoooh...

(Mimics.)

Don't touch the children... Anyone who doesn't know you would think:what a caring father!

(With emotions.)

How caring, simply exemplary! A father of all fathers!(Sits down and continues in her normal tone.)

But you're not so... Quite the opposite. You're even not their father...

VADIM

Don't continue! I warn you, never touch the subject.

GALYAAnd what will you do to me? What can you do to me at all? Who are youthat you can do something to me? You're nobody! Just the son of yourfather, a father who had already rotted in the grave long ago. Byyourself, you're a big fat zero. You only know how to suck up to the boss.Not a man but a flunky...

VADIM(Grabs GALYA'S by the hair.)

I'll show you, you miserable fool, for these words...

GALYAWhat? You'd kill me?

VADIM(Grabs GALYA'S throat with one hand.)

I'll choke you!

GALYAAnd you'll go to jail. But there're those like you... Very fond of...

(Giggles maliciously.)

VADIM(Pushes GALYA away.)

I can't even look at you. I hate you! Hate you!



7/17

4

GALYA(Gets up from the table.)

I only hear this from you...

(Mimics.)I hate you, hate you...

(Sits down on the sofa. Sobers up a little.)My dear, to hate is not your role. Your role is to love! All, and each...and every...except

me... But why, why couldn't you love me for the rest of your life? I haven't done you anyharm...

VADIM

You've ruined my life, drunk!

GALYAAnd you? You didn't ruin me?

VADIMWhat? How could I have ruined you?

GALYALife. My life.

VADIM

What life did you have that was ruined?

GALYABefore I met you, I had a normal life. I lived as all normal people and

could have gone on living that way.

VADIM

How? Like your parents, the alcoholics? Of course, you could have livedlike them, in such misery and poverty, only you didn't want to.

GALYABecause I fell in love with you.

VADIM

You're incapable of loving anyone or anything at all, except money.

GALYAIt's you who loves nothing except money!

VADIM

You think so? If it were really so, then why would I need you?

GALYA



8/17

5

So that you would have the opportunity to rake in money. It's I who gave you this

opportunity! If not for me, if I didn't save you, twice, then you wouldn't even be able to get

minimum wage now. So, everything you have...(Indicates the surrounding with her hands.)

Lots of everything...even more than necessary. Take note, all this is thanks to me...

(YURA enters.)

VADIM(Looks around at YURA.)

Why did you come? And why without notice?

YURAI need something.

VADIM

You always need something. Just like your mother.

YURAIs that bad?

VADIMWhat's bad?

YURAThat I'm like mother.

VADIMLook at her, is this good or bad?

(Points to GALYA.)

Drunk, as always! So, this is good?

GALYAGood! Very good! At least, much better than taking after you, my dear hubby.

YURAAre you two bickering again?

GALYA(Maliciously.)No, sonny, we're not bickering, we're just talking this way with each other.

YURAYou talk this way all your life.

VADIM



9/17

6

Well, if we talk this way all our life, then you would already be used to this.

YURAA person gets used to the good very quickly, but the bad, never.

VADIMIf you think it's so bad here, then don't come. And if you don't come here at all, I won'tmourn over it.

YURAWhy?

VADIM

Why? Because you don't live up to my expectations.

YURA

That's not an answer.

GALYA(Laughs.)

Now here's news! It turns out that papa had expectations of sonny.

VADIM

You bet.

GALYAWhy did you never mention this?

(Makes a face.)Perhaps I would help you somehow with these expectations...

VADIM

You will pester me!

(Threatens GALYA with a hand.)

YURA(Grabs VADIM'S hand.)

Father! Don't you dare touch Mother.

VADIM(Pushes YURA away.)

And don't you dare touch me, you bastard!

YURAIf I'm a bastard, then you're the father of this bastard!

VADIM



10/17

7

Not likely.

GALYAYurka, calm down, you're not his bastard...

(Laughs spitefully.)

You have another father...

YURA(Waves this off.)

Enough! I've already heard this drunk lunacy. And more than once...

(Turns to VADIM.)Father! Can't you finally make a decision about Mother? She had long needed treatment.You can send her to a private hospital. Maybe they'll help her there?

VADIM

Everybody will know this right away.

YURASo?

VADIMI can't do this in my position.

YURAWhy? Why not? So what, she's indeed sick! Many relatives are alcoholics, there's nothingto be ashamed of.

VADIMHave you ever heard of people with my social status treating an alcoholic wife?

YURAWell, then I don't know what to do with her. I can only say one thing: can't live this way

any longer.

GALYASo kill me! I'll die and you won't have any problems. Will live happily ever after... Caneven live together...like husband and wife...

(Giggles maliciously.)

YURAFool!

GALYADon't you dare insult me! I'm your mother!

YURA



11/17

8

What kind of a mother are you, if you can say such things?

GALYAI only say them, but he...

(Points to VADIM.)

...does...

VADIM

This is an outrage! Enough! I refuse to live with you...(Turns to YURA.)

That's it, take her with you and do whatever you want with her.

YURAWhy me? In a month, I'm flying to London for training.

VADIM

Then phone your sister. Let her take her.

YURAShe won't. She has a new boyfriend, 7 years younger. Where is she going to find the moneyfor a crazy mother?

GALYAI'm not crazy! And I was never crazy. I'm just very unhappy... And you...you, my son, can't

understand this...can't forgive your own mother...forgive her for giving birth to you, though

there was not need to...should never have... You're indeed no child to me...

YURAWh-at?

GALYAYou were my perjury. Which I gave birth to in order to save him...

(Points to VADIM.)...from big trouble...

YURA(Turns to VADIM.)

Father, it seems to me that she desperately needs a psychiatrist. Her alcoholic mania has

started!

GALYAI don't have any alcoholic mania. You don't get that from 2 glasses of wine. What mania ifeverything inside me is frozen...iced over... I haven't been a woman for a long time... not

even a person...

(Turns to VADIM.)Don't look at me like that. I'm not afraid of you.



12/17

9

YURA(Gets ready to leave.)

Fine, sort it out yourselves without me. I'm leaving...

GALYA(Grabs YURA by his hand.)You're not going anywhere. Hear what I'll tell you. I'm tired of seeing how you pose as a

wealthy heir...

(YANA enters.)

GALYA(Turns to YANA.)

Ah-h-h! Here's another Russian elite! Speak of the devil.

YANAI wouldn't have come, but I urgently need a hundred thousand.

YURAAnd, of course, not rubles. As always, you need dollars.

YANAAs a matter of fact, I need Euros.

VADIMListen, I'm not giving anyone anything anymore. Understand? I'm tired of this. After all,

my salary doesn't allow me to support your wild life among other things. Especially since...

GALYAEspecially since you're not obligated to do this...

(Turns to YURA and YANA.)Yes, yes, exactly. He's not obligated to support you. You're nobody to him.

YANAWhat's this nobody. I'm his daughter, and I love...

YURA

Moolah and young gigolos, who gives you pleasure.

VADIM

Shut up! Get out of here. Everybody get lost.

YANAPapa, give me money, please, and I'll leave right away.



13/17

10

VADIM

No.

YANAWell, give me part of it then. It's Valerii's birthday soon. He wants a new car, I promised

him. If I don't buy him a new car, he's going to leave me.

(VADIM sits down at the table, holds his head with his hands.)

YURAIf your Romeo needs money, car, and a double-barreled, let him earnthem himself.

YANAWhat double-barreled?

VADIMReally, what double-barreled?

(Becomes thoughtful.)Why a double-barreled...

YURAIt's a joke.

VADIMI'm sick of you...all of you...

(Leaves the room.)

YANA(Calls after VADIM.)

Papa, money! I beg you, bring money!

YURA(Calls after VADIM.)

Father, and don't forget about me!

GALYA(Knocks on the table with her fist.)

Listen to me! I just can't understand what I've given birth to, idiots or skunks. How manytimes do I have to repeat, he's not your father! He doesn't have kids, can't have! He's gay,understand, gay! And was always so...

YURASo, what if he is? Who's shocked by this these days? I, for example is bisexual, and she's...

(Points to YANA.)...a complete pervert... She's a cougar...



14/17

11

YANAI'm not a pervert. Now all older women have young lovers if they can...

YURA

That's exactly it, if they can pay them. But you can't pay, so you run here all the time forFather's money.

YANAWhat's the difference whether I pay him with my money or Father's money. Father also

doesn't give it to us from his own salary. It won't send him to the poor house, he's rolling in

dough.

GALYA(Turns to YANA.)

And your father, your biological father, has nothing, no money! He has absolutely nothing!

He's disabled from Chernobyl, understand?

YANA(Walks up to GALYA and looks her in the eye.)

Mama, if you slept when drunk with some handicapped with no money, then no need to

confess to me now. If you slept with some current tycoon, then you could let me in on your

secret now. But try to foist some penniless cripple on me instead of a rich father, it's justinsane. And if you'll continue in the same vein...

(Maliciously.)

...then I'll decide that you're simply insane, Mama.

YURAI've been saying this for a long time! I already suggested to Father, have her diagnosed atsome resort for mental patients, else she'll even find for me some bum instead of Father.

GALYAYour father's not a bum. He's a respectable man, a doctor, all his life worked in ICU.

YURAIf he doesn't have his own plastic surgery clinic, then you don't need to continue. In this

case, I have no intention of running to him for a DNA paternity test. I have a father, and

while he has money, whoever he might be, I'd sooner renounce you than him...

VADIM

(Appears at the doorway, hands behind his back.)I heard everything. I've come to a decision. A final one.

YURAIt concerns Mother?



15/17

12

VADIM

Shut up, SOB!

(Pulls out a double-barreled shotgun from behind his back.)It concerns all of you...every single one.

YANAFather, what are you doing! Put down the gun!

VADIMI'm not your father.

GALYA(Turns to YANA and YURA.)

Heard that? I've been telling you this, but you just want to send me to the funny farm.

YANA

Father, you raised us, and whoever raised us is our father!(Turns to YURA.)

Right?

YURA(Turns to YANA.)

Why are you so scared? You think he's going to shoot us? Have no fear, he won't.

VADIM(Turns to YURA.)

You're sure?

YURAHundred percent.

(Calmly walks to VADIM, who steps back.)Well, why don't you shoot? Afraid? Or you don't want to go to jail?

GALYA(Turns to YURA.)

Of course, he doesn't want to. If he did, you wouldn't have been born...(Turns to VADIM.)

Am I right? I gave birth to Yurka only because you begged me to. Have you forgotten how

you got down on your knees and pleaded with me to get pregnant quickly? Get pregnantwith whomever I wanted, if only you wouldn't turn up in the slammer for a couple of years

after the scandal with your underground VIP gay club. Haven't forgotten, huh?

VADIM

(Aims the gun at GALYA.)And have you forgotten how you deceived me? Have you forgotten how you married me?

How you got me totally drunk in your stinking dorm? How you lied the next morning that I



16/17

13

assaulted and raped you, a poor innocent girl! How you threatened my parents and me with

jail if I didn't marry you? How you dragged your alcoholic parents from the village and

they screamed, "What grief! Our daughter! Raped! Pregnant!" I was a real fool, got scared,and got married. Only when she...

(Points to YANA.)

...was born after 6 months...I understood how you deceived me...

GALYAI...

VADIM

You're a cheat! She weighed 4 kilos at 6 months! Cheat! You ruined my whole life! I hateyou! Hate you! Go to hell, cheat!

(Shoots GALYA.)

GALYA

Ah... (Slips down to the floor.)

(YURA and YANA are numbed with horror, then try to talk at the same time.)

VADIM

Shut up, mongrels!

YANAPapa! Papa! Calm down!

VADIM(Aims the gun at YANA.)

You can't even imagine how calm I am...

(Shoots YANA, who grabs her stomach and slips down to the floor. Turns to

YURA.)

YURADon't! Don't do this, I won't tell anyone!

VADIM

Of course, you won't...

(Walks towards YURA.)

YURA(Backs to the window.)

I will be quiet! Only give me the gun... Okay?

VADIM

(Pretends to consider YURA'S proposal.)



17/17

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Can One Live This Way?