The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-28
GORKrS PLAY OF TRAMPS
RUSSIAN DRAMA ENTITLED Glow
DOWN IN THE CELLAR OF LIFE"
Authors Effort to Show that Even in
Dens of Most FrightfuI Poverty
There Are Germs of Good.

Low Down in the Cellar of Life" is the
title of a play by Maxim Gorkinow in the
hands Of the Russian censor of the drama.
The Moscow Artistic Theater Society has
the play in rehearsal and will produce 1t
If the censor permit. 1t is in the terms of
all of Gorkis tales-the sewer of Russian
society, wherein drop men and women of
all classes that are cast off by the prosper
Gus or enslaved majority These ''tramps"
(this word is not acourate) long for better
life. Cork declares. and are not merely
ignorant, brutal beings. "In the cellar life
flows slowly, in dark streams" he says.
but even there CLEAN pearls of courage.
of intelligence and heroism. Even beauty
and love exist there. paid dearly for the
right to believe this; therefore it is mine
my whole life long. And thus 1 have won
the right to demand that you; too, believe
as 1 do, for L am the true voice of that
life, the despairing cry of those that have
remained below and that have sent me to
herald their pain. They also long to rise
to self-respect, to light and freedom.
A letter from Moscow thus describes the
play:
Scene of the first, second and fourth
acts, the X, a cellar unQeT d ram
shackle big tenement used as lodging
house and abiding place for tramps or both
sexes. The keepers are Kostylen, an ex-
penitentiary bird, and his wife. The third
act plays in the alley adjoining the cellar.
One of the chief characters is an actor,
who, in the fourth act, hangs himself to
door nail. This man is given TO drink, but
he has seen better days and his dormant
ambition is to get cured of alcoholism and
return TO the stage. Meanwhile he vege-
tates as best he can, and, when in his cups,
rails against society that poisoned him
with bad vodka and then turned its back
upon the victim Another habitue is Satin,
doctor OF philosophy, who likewise owes
his downfall to rum. He has learned
much, says Gorki But he cannot bear to
talk of his past or to think Of it, Yet the
rest of the cellar jewellers learned in some
way that five years of his life were spent
in prison. in Siberia perhaps.
Though typical tramp in appearance
and habits, Satin retains the language OF
polite society. While his comrades talk
in criminal jargon, his is the vocabulary OIL
a professor even when he joins in general
conversation. This makes splendid con-
trast of which Cork Is proud. AT one time
he calls thing 'transcendental, whlch
word caused quite stir in the cellar AS
the tramps think 1t synonymous with
sweeping criticism of the upper ten, the
Car or the government, perhaps, they pc
seech the doctor to explain. Instead OF do
ing so, he thows them another bone, the
words "fata morgana.' Another hero OF the
play, Waska Pepel, is an out-and-out tmel
alternating between the penitentlary and
the gutter. waska is the lover of Wassil-
lissa the wife of the keeper OF the asylum
These four predominant at the beginning
Of the play making all the action ana n6a Gon-
Lukas the Pilgrim joins the criminal
colony to supply the moral element Though
not a professional reformer, Lukes gains
great influence over his fellows, who up to
then, could see no possible end to their
suffering save in death. The professional
thief, particularly, feels encouraged TO
make another bid for happiness, as he
understands it, and reasons that to give up
his affair with Wassillissa must be the
first step. At that point Natascha, the wom-
ans sister, appears upon the scene Waska
falls in love with her. His Is a pure I'M
selfish love that, he trusts. will influence
him for the good and give him strength to
extricate himself from his surroundings
and lead a better life.
But Wassilissa refuses to give up the
thief and in her jealous rage falls upon
her rival and maltreats her most brutally
On one of these occasions Pepal comes to
Natascha's rescue and turns the tables on
his discarded sweetheart, who wrftheS on
the floor under his blows, while he shouts:
You asked me to kill your husband. pre-
destining me for career in Siberia. Now
you again interfere with my plans for the
future. Look out, little mother, 1 will
knock these things out of you or kick
them out Of you, If necessary.
.Natascha is sentimental and naive She
spends the day reading dime novels, 'Mys-
terious Love and the like, the silly action
of which makes her weep with emotion,
and out of the great many romances she
read she CONSTITUTES for herself one of her
own, highfalutin, impossible, yet ever so
consoling to this poor creature, VINO,
STEPPED in vice as she is. has soul above
her surroundings. Natascha firmly believes
in the realization of her dreams of love
and responsibility, and thinks of little else.
Pilgrim LukaS is a character AS he
gets more and more acquainted with the
people in the dive he resolves 10 make
them understand that man is born for
something better than the cellar. Every
where that man is there is good-good not
in chunks always. but still it is there,
just plant may be all dead save the
root. That root will grow and flourish and
ed to-
''Lukas tells the hoboes if they only let
him he will pink their souls even as the
Czarina pinks her face To make his ideas
the better understood and his teachings re-
membered he introduces them to the form
of stories, dramatic and humorous. But
ers refuse point blank to believe that there
is better world outside the cellar
THE third act plays in the alley, where
large crowds assemble TO listen TO pilgrim
Lukass queer speeches. When Kostyleff
ridicules the speakers promise of happier
existence the professional thief, eager to
reform. kills him. The fourth act is sullen
oblivion: none of the dramatis personae
have succeeded in escaping the cellar
Alcohol reigns supreme. and even the actor
has given zap hope of being cured of the
terrible Woe. Aside from the characters
mentioned many others, similar ones, are
introduced. among them Tartar, who:
like Lukas, is also a queer combination of
moral reasoning and physical and mental
abandonment. In the midst of violent quar-
rels and drunken rows of all sorts this
stranger performs his religious duties faith
fully at the given hour. The play closes
with the suicide of the actor, who hangs
himself because he despairs of ever finding
the place on earth where alcohol is not
king
THE play as read by Cork made deep
impression upon all in attendance. It's vast
dramatic possibilities almost staggered the
managers. Even lola, they said, never at
tempted anything so realistic and effective.
Each of the characters stands out boldly,
and though each is a moral monster IN GER
tain respects, Cork succeeded in showing
his or her human side. the better inner man
or woman in all these abandoned creatures.
When. for instance, Kostyleff's widow mar
rieS q policeman the latter formerly most