Original
Original
THE LIFE OF MAN
A Play In Five Acts
By Leonidas Andreyev
Translated By C. J. Hogarth
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. New York: The Macmillan Company.
1915
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
The Being in Grey.
The Father of the Man.
The Man.
The Man's Wife.
First Doctor.
Second Doctor.
An Old Serving Woman.
Old Women of a Semi-supernatural Character.
Musicians; Friends, Enemies, and Relations of the Man; Guests at the Man's Ball, etc.
CONTENTS
ACT III—THE BALL GIVEN BY THE MAN
PROLOGUE
[A Being, clad in Grey, is speaking. He is speaking of the Life of Man.
[The stage presents the semblance of a large, square, empty room which has neither doors nor windows, and within which all is uniformly grey and misty. The ceiling, walls, and floor are grey, and from some hidden source there flows a stream of dim, unflickering light, of the same dull, monotonous, elusive colour. This light throws no shadows, nor is reflected back from any point.
[Without a sound the Being in Grey detaches himself from the wall, with which he has almost seemed to mingle. He is clothed in a loose, grey, shapeless habit, roughly outlining a gigantic frame, and his head is veiled in a cowl of the all-pervading hue. This cowl throws the upper portion of his face into deep shadow, so that no eyes, but only a nose, mouth, and prominent chin are visible; all of which features are as clear-cut in outline and granite-like in texture as though they were hewn of grey stone. At first his lips are tightly compressed; until presently he raises his head a little, and begins to speak in a stern, Cold voice—a voice as destitute of passion or emotion as that of some hired clerk reading aloud, with dry nonchalance, the records of a court of law.]
Look ye and listen, ye who have come hither for sport and laughter; for there is about to pass