A kind man from Sichuan performance. The Good Man from Szechuan

Notes from an amateur.

No. 21. Taganka Theater. The Good Man from Szechwan (Bertold Brecht). Dir. Yuri Lyubimov.

Black and white classic.

A Good Man from Szechwan is Lyubimov’s graduation performance, which became a symbol of the Taganka Theater, with which he came to the theater back in 1964 as artistic director. Thus, the production in which Vladimir Vysotsky and Valery Zolotukhin were involved is already more than 50 years old. The fascination with Bertolt Brecht and his ideas of “epic theater” was reflected not only in a specific performance, but also in the theater as a whole. The viewer is greeted by an empty black box of an open stage, without a curtain, without decorations. But in this small, brown hall, filled with elderly spectators, it is soft and cozy.

The action begins very cheerfully, the actors play lively, energetically, self-confidently, if not arrogantly. What happens grabs you from the first seconds and doesn’t let go until the end of the performance. The emphasis is on the satirical portrayal of the characters, each of whom is simple, but well developed and self-sufficient. The actors focus on portraying the most characteristic features of their characters, behaving straightforwardly and predictably, there are no omissions or hints. Everything is clear, clear and understandable.

The director outlines the events with a dotted line; he dwells only on the most significant episodes. You can feel a firm, confident hand in everything, telling the story quite dryly but tightly. There is nothing superfluous, only the most important thing, but in this laconicism the acting and their impact on the viewer are even more clearly demonstrated. Events happen faster, there are fewer lyrical digressions, and not so many zongs. As a result, coupled with a lot of humor, the performance looks like a monolith in one go. The honored director, wise from life and experience, but not losing all his irony, from the height of his years, leads the story with a firm and skillful hand. Everything is straightforward, simple and clear.

Shen Te is a very kind, but too simple-minded girl, whom every rogue immediately climbs onto her neck. Her alter ego, “cousin” Shui Ta, on the contrary, sees right through everyone, knows what she wants and goes straight for it, only chips fly. Idle beggars, “the scum of the block”, directing all their abilities to ruin their benefactress, are evil here, but charming in their comic originality, their expressive antics are funny. For Lyubimov, the whole logic of the development of events pushes towards the need for the appearance of a “cousin” to save the situation. Shen Te has no painful torment here; she turns into Shui Ta forcedly and inevitably. He had to appear, it couldn’t have been any other way.

The performance is designed in full accordance with the Brechtian “alienation effect”, the decorations are practically absent, and those that exist are completely conventional - in the structure of metal rods you recognize wood, and the tobacco shop is recreated with the help of a table and the inscription “Tobacco”. The inscription is a frequently used technique in “epic theater.” If a modest wedding takes place in a cheap restaurant, then the banner will say “Cheap Restaurant.” Everything else is up to the actors, who create a unique, fiery and slightly hooligan style and special energy. What is happening captivates and arouses genuine interest. Another important element of the epic theater is music; the zongs that accompany and permeate the performance are performed here with a guitar and button accordion, but this, coupled with the signature acting style and aura of Taganka, looks organic. You can feel a special collective acting spirit here, this is one “gang”.

Here the paradoxes laid down by the author appear - the world is structured in such a way that in certain situations, following your “heart”, remaining kind and good for everyone, in the end you can destroy yourself. To do useful things in our world, sometimes you have to do dirty work, be ruthless and tough, understand the true meaning of actions and know the value of things. The gods themselves “approve” the appearance of Shui Ta, but making the reservation that no more than “once a month.” Another paradox is that the only kind person in Sichuan turned out to be a prostitute; other people stopped being kind a long time ago. This can be seen as a kind of hint; the author notes where the modern cynical world places decent people and how it treats them. Kindness is a luxury in the human world, a companion to poverty and a heavy burden, and you cannot be rich and successful if you are not evil.

If you compare the productions of Lyubimov and Butusov, it becomes obvious who drew inspiration from whom. Some of Butusov’s characters simply completely copy Lyubimov’s characters: a cheerful, funny old woman with a squeaky voice, a fashionable landlady Mi Tzi, swaying her hips and smoking cigarettes through a long cigarette holder. The collective image of arrogant, treacherous hangers-on is also taken from Taganka. Lyubimov’s three Gods, unlike Butusov’s, are shown in detail, with attention and love. The gods are handsome, fair and charming and too similar to people with their weaknesses: they fortify themselves with kefir and grumble while playing dominoes. Also, quite humanly, they argue, doubt, not knowing what to do. Every episode with them is bright and memorable.

If we compare performances with clothes, then the performance from Taganka looks like a simple peasant shirt with a belt made of coarse fabric. Butusov's brainchild is a ceremonial uniform with shiny copper buttons, a sword and aiguillettes. Butusov captivates with his complex, virtuoso form and deepening in particular, while Lyubimov captivates with his simple, pure, but perfect content. Taganka is an old black and white classic masterpiece that has stood the test of time. The Pushkin Theater is a modern spectacular remake, with stars, a big budget and in 3D format.

Bertolt Brecht

Philosophical parable play

Translation from German Yu. Yuzovsky And E. Ionova, poetry in translation B. Slutsky
Director - Yuri Lyubimov
Music - Anatoly Vasiliev, Boris Khmelnitsky

“The Good Man of Sezhuana” is our first performance, the Taganka Theater began with it. It has become the symbol and talisman of the Theatre, has not left the stage for more than half a century, and this unusually long life of the performance continues not at all because we take care of it as a talisman. Yuri Lyubimov never held on to a performance if he considered it irrelevant, outdated, if the audience stopped understanding and perceiving it (although this was not the case in his work).

So, the play about kindness is dedicated to the affirmation of kindness - an innate, according to Brecht, human property.

The gods descended to earth and unsuccessfully searched for at least one good person. We must find it, if they don’t find it, then this world is not worth existing. And finally they find the prostitute Shen Te, a man who cannot say no.

Brecht believed that there are human categories that can be depicted and explained only in the form of myth, symbol, in the genre of parable plays. Such is the immanent and irresistible kindness of the heroine - Shen Te. But where will it lead her, is it even possible to embody kindness in the world around us, what does the duality of the soul mean and why does it exist, how a person is forced to defend himself - these are the questions the author of the play and the performance are trying to answer or ask.

On stage, positions and characters are known to everyone, almost everyday, instantly recognizable. And the gods are actually a funny trinity in modern suits, looking for a place to stay for the night. And these are the gods who will decide the fate of the world, in which - we will see - what is destruction for man and what is salvation.

Discovering the dramaturgy of Brecht, Lyubimov was looking for special techniques for working with artists - they learned to talk to the public, because Brecht has provisions when the author is very important the position of the actor outside the image, his own attitude to reality, the actor at this time leaves the image, leaving it aside. These principles of Brechtian theater were to Lyubimov’s gut and should, in his opinion, broaden the horizons of both the artist and the viewer, make him think and understand something around him. Subsequently, they took a strong place in the artistic concept of the Taganka Theater, outlining its aesthetic space and way of conversation with the audience, as well as the choice of topics - the human heart, soul, relationships with the world, love... And then, in the 60s - the years of unfulfilled hopes , I was generally amazed by the very presence of this conversation, which was not accepted in other theaters. The audience gets involved in the action, they don’t just watch the performance, experience and empathize, but participate.

In this performance, no one pretends to be anyone, no one is led by the nose, no one is lectured. Everything here is conditional and everything is real. After all, the art of theater is not an approach to life and not a feigned imitation of it, but a different, meaningful, newly created, moreover, an artistic canvas created right before our eyes.

Conventionality on stage turns into absolute authenticity, perceived directly. Metaphor overrides any similarity, affects feelings, and the action is direct. Wonderful gods, a tree made of slats, a factory is depicted with clapping hands, and the soul is torn into its two irreconcilable and inseparable parts, and all this evokes the most real feelings and thoughts, and compassion, and tears, and fear.

Characters and performers:

1st GOD - Alexey Grabbe
2nd GOD - Erwin Haase / Alexander Margolin
3rd GOD - Nikita Luchikhin
SHEN TE - SHUI TA - Maria Matveeva / Galina Volodina
YANG SUN, unemployed pilot - Ivan Ryzhikov
MADAME SONG, his mother - Larisa Maslova
WANG, water bearer - Vladislav Malenko / Dmitry Vysotsky
SHU FU, barber - Timur Badalbeyli / Igor Pekhovich
MI TCI, landlady - Anastasia Kolpikova / Margaret Radzig
MRS SHIN - Tatiana Sidorenko
POLICE OFFICER - Konstantin Lyubimov
LIN TO, carpenter - Sergey Tsimbalenko
WIFE - Polina Nechitailo
HUSBAND - Sergey Trifonov
BROTHER WUNG - Alexander Fursenko
BRIDE - Ekaterina Ryabushinskaya
GRANDFATHER - Victor Semenov / Roman Staburov / Igor Pekhovich
BOY - Alla Smirdan / Alexandra Basova
NIECE -
NEPHEW - Alexander Fursenko (Jr.)
CARPET DEALER - Sergey Ushakov
HIS WIFE - Yulia Kuvarzina / Marfa Koltsova
UNEMPLOYED - Philip Kotov / Sergey Tsimbalenko
OLD PROSTITUTE - Tatiana Sidorenko
YOUNG PROSTITUTE - Marfa Koltsova / Yulia Stozharova
PRIEST - Alexander Fursenko (Jr.)
MUSICIANS - Anatoly Vasiliev, Mikhail Lukin

The main city of Sichuan Province, which summarizes all the places on the globe and any time in which man exploits man, is the place and time of the play.

Prologue. For two millennia now the cry has not stopped: this cannot continue! No one in this world is able to be kind! And the concerned gods decreed: the world can remain as it is if there are enough people capable of living a life worthy of a person. And to check this, the three most prominent gods descend to earth. Perhaps the water-carrier Wang, who first met them and treated them to water (he, by the way, is the only one in Sichuan who knows that they are gods), is a worthy person? But his mug, the gods noticed, had a double bottom. The good water-carrier is a swindler! The simplest test of the first virtue - hospitality - upsets them: in none of the rich houses: neither Mr. Fo, nor Mr. Chen, nor the widow Su - can Wang find lodging for them for the night. There is only one thing left: turn to the prostitute Shen De, because she cannot refuse anyone. And the gods spend the night with the only kind person, and the next morning, having said goodbye, they leave Shen De an order to remain just as kind, as well as a good payment for the night: after all, how can one be kind when everything is so expensive!

I. The gods left Shen De a thousand silver dollars, and she bought herself a small tobacco shop with them. But how many people in need of help turn out to be next to those who were lucky: the former owner of the shop and the previous owners of Shen De - husband and wife, her lame brother and pregnant daughter-in-law, nephew and niece, old grandfather and boy - and everyone needs a roof over their heads and food. “The little boat of salvation / Immediately goes to the bottom. / After all, too many drowning people / Grabbed the sides greedily.”

And then the carpenter demands one hundred silver dollars, which the previous owner did not pay him for the shelves, and the landlady needs recommendations and a guarantee for the not very respectable Shen De. “My cousin will vouch for me,” she says. “And he will pay for the shelves.”

II. And the next morning, Shoi Da, Shen De’s cousin, appears in the tobacco shop. Having decisively driven away the unlucky relatives, skillfully forcing the carpenter to take only twenty silver dollars, prudently making friends with the policeman, he settles the affairs of his too kind cousin.

III. And in the evening, in the city park, Shen De meets the unemployed pilot Sun. A pilot without a plane, a postal pilot without mail. What in the world should he do, even if he read all the books about flying in Beijing school, even if he knows how to land a plane, as if it were his own ass? He is like a crane with a broken wing and has nothing to do on earth. The rope is at the ready, and there are as many trees as you like in the park. But Shen De does not allow him to hang himself. To live without hope is to do evil. The song of the water carrier selling water during the rain is hopeless: “Thunder rumbles and rain pours, / Well, I sell water, / But the water is not sold / And it is not drunk at all. / I shout: “Buy water!” / But no one buys. / Nothing gets into my pocket for this water! / Buy some water, dogs!”

And Shen De buys a mug of water for his beloved Yang Song.

IV. Returning after a night spent with her beloved, Shen De sees for the first time the morning city, cheerful and giving joy. People are kind today. The old carpet merchants from the shop opposite give dear Shen De a loan of two hundred silver dollars - this will be enough to pay the landlady for six months. Nothing is difficult for a person who loves and hopes. And when Sun’s mother Mrs. Yang says that for the huge sum of five hundred silver dollars her son was promised a place, she happily gives her the money she received from the old people. But where to get another three hundred? There is only one way out - turn to Shoy Da. Yes, he is too cruel and cunning. But a pilot must fly!

Sideshows. Shen De enters, holding a mask and a Shoi Da costume in his hands, and sings “The Song about the Helplessness of Gods and Good People”: “The good ones in our country / cannot remain good. / To reach the cup with a spoon, / You need cruelty. / The good are helpless, and the gods are powerless. / Why don’t the gods declare there, in the ether, / That it’s time to give all the good and the good / The opportunity to live in a good, kind world?”

V. Smart and prudent Shoi Da, whose eyes are not blinded by love, sees deception. Yang Song is not afraid of cruelty and meanness: let the place promised to him be someone else’s, and the pilot who will be fired from it has a large family, let Shen De part with the shop, except for which she has nothing, and the old people will lose their two hundred dollars and lose their home , - just to achieve his goal. This cannot be trusted, and Shoi Da seeks support in a rich barber who is ready to marry Shen De. But the mind is powerless where love operates, and Shen De leaves with Sun: “I want to leave with the one I love, / I don’t want to think about whether it’s good. / I don't want to know if he loves me. / I want to leave with the one I love.”

VI. In a small cheap restaurant in the suburbs, preparations are being made for the wedding of Yang Song and Shen De. The bride in a wedding dress, the groom in a tuxedo. But the ceremony still does not begin, and the boss looks at his watch - the groom and his mother are waiting for Shoi Da, who should bring three hundred silver dollars. Yang Song sings “The Song of Saint Never’s Day”: “On this day evil is taken by the throat, / On this day all the poor are lucky, / Both the owner and the farmhand / Walk together to the tavern / On Saint Never’s day / The skinny one drinks at the fat one’s house.” . / We can’t wait any longer. / That’s why they should give us, / People of hard work, / The Day of Saint Never, / The Day of Saint Never, / The Day when we will rest.”

“He will never come again,” says Mrs. Yang. Three are sitting, and two of them are looking at the door.

VII. Shen De's meager belongings were on the cart near the tobacco shop - the shop had to be sold in order to repay the debt to the old people. The barber Shu Fu is ready to help: he will give his barracks to the poor people whom Shen De helps (you can’t keep goods there anyway - it’s too damp), and write a check. And Shen De is happy: she felt in herself a future son - a pilot, “a new conqueror / Of inaccessible mountains and unknown regions!” But how to protect him from the cruelty of this world? She sees the carpenter's little son looking for food in a garbage can, and swears that she will not rest until she saves her son, at least him alone. It's time to turn into a cousin again.

Mr. Shoi Da announces to those gathered that his cousin will not leave them without help in the future, but from now on the distribution of food without reciprocal services will stop, and those who agree to work for Shen De will live in the houses of Mr. Shu Fu.

VIII. The tobacco factory that Shoi Da set up in the barracks employs men, women and children. The taskmaster - and cruel - here is Yang Song: he is not at all saddened by the change in fate and shows that he is ready to do anything for the sake of the interests of the company. But where is Shen De? Where is the good man? Where is she who many months ago, on a rainy day, in a moment of joy, bought a mug of water from the water carrier? Where is she and her unborn child that she told the water-carrier about? And Sun would also like to know this: if his ex-fiancee was pregnant, then he, as the father of the child, can claim the position of owner. And here, by the way, is her dress in the knot. Didn't a cruel cousin kill the unfortunate woman? The police come to the house. Mr. Scheu Da will have to appear in court.

IX. In the courtroom, Shen De's friends (water carrier Wang, the old couple, grandfather and niece) and Shoi Da's partners (Mr. Shu Fu and the landlady) are waiting for the hearing to begin. At the sight of the judges entering the hall, Shoi Da faints - these are gods. The gods are by no means omniscient: under the mask and costume of Shoi Da, they do not recognize Shen De. And only when, unable to withstand the accusations of the good and the intercession of the evil, Shoi Da takes off his mask and tears off his clothes, the gods see with horror that their mission has failed: their good man and the evil and callous Shoi Da are one person. It’s impossible in this world to be kind to others and at the same time to yourself, you can’t save others and not destroy yourself, you can’t make everyone happy and yourself together with everyone! But the gods have no time to understand such complexities. Is it really possible to abandon the commandments? No never! Recognize that the world needs to change? How? By whom? No, everything is okay. And they reassure people: “Shen De did not die, she was only hidden. There remains a good person among you.” And to Shen De’s desperate cry: “But I need a cousin,” they hastily answer: “Just not too often!” And while Shen De desperately stretches out his hands to them, they, smiling and nodding, disappear above.

Epilogue. The actor’s final monologue before the audience: “Oh, my honorable audience! The ending is unimportant. I know this. / In our hands, the most beautiful fairy tale suddenly received a bitter denouement. / The curtain is down, and we stand in confusion - the questions have not been resolved. / So what's the deal? We are not looking for benefits, / And that means there must be some sure way out? / You can’t imagine what for money! Another hero? What if the world is different? / Or maybe other gods are needed here? Or no gods at all? I am silent in alarm. / So help us! Correct the trouble - direct your thought and mind here. / Try to find good ways for good. / Bad ending - discarded in advance. / He must, must, must be good!”

Retold T. A. Voznesenskaya.

May 16, 2018, 10:17

I made a post from pieces, excerpts from books and articles. When you put together the puzzles of text and video, I hope that you will feel the atmosphere of the theater, or rather of one very interesting performance, this is exactly what I wanted to express in my post:

During Brecht's lifetime, his relationship with the Soviet theater was, to put it mildly, not particularly successful. The main reasons were the official theater’s ideological rejection of Brecht’s artistic quest, as well as the paradoxical figure of Brecht, who greatly irritated the authorities. The dislike was mutual. On the one hand, in the 1920s–1950s, domestic theaters hardly staged Brecht’s plays. On the other hand, the German playwright’s own acquaintance with Soviet theatrical practice more than once plunged him into despondency.

Brecht found himself in the Soviet chalk circle. Only at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, after his death, rare productions of his plays appeared. Among the first and most significant it should be mentioned: “The Dreams of Simone Machar” at the Moscow Theater. M. Ermolova, directed by Anatoly Efros (1959); “Mother Courage and Her Children” at the Moscow Academic Theater. Vl. Mayakovsky (production by Maxim Strauch) (1960); “The Good Man from Szechwan” at the Leningrad Academic Theater. Pushkin (1962, director – Rafail Suslovich); “The Career of Arturo Ui” at the Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater. Gorky (1963, director – Erwin Axer).

However, these and some other Brecht Thaw productions pale in comparison to the significance of one educational student performance. In 1963, young Vakhtangov students, third (!) year students of the B.V. Theater School. Shchukin, presented the fruit of their six-month work - the play “The Good Man from Szechwan” staged by the course teacher Yuri Lyubimov.

His success was stunning. In the last year of the thaw, in the small hall of the Shchukin school on Old Arbat (later it was played on other stage venues in Moscow), the performance was watched by I. Erenburg, K. Simonov, A. Voznesensky, E. Evtushenko, B. Okudzhava, B. Akhmadulina, V. Aksenov, Y. Trifonov, A. Galich, O. Efremov, M. Plisetskaya, R. Shchedrin... It would seem that another student production was perceived by the Moscow public not only as a theatrical breakthrough, but also as a kind of social manifesto , a banner that promised changing times. It is very symptomatic that a year later, on April 23, 1964, Lyubimov’s “The Good Man from Szechwan” will open a new theater - the Taganka Theater, where it continues to this day.
(Excerpt from an article about Brecht’s work.)

Moscow is an amazing city - everyone there knows everything by rumors. Rumors spread that some interesting performance was being prepared. And since everyone is bored, and diplomats too, if something is interesting, it means there will be a scandal. As my late friend Erdman said, “if there is no scandal around a theater, then it is not a theater.” So, in this sense, he was a prophet in relation to me. And so it was. Well, it’s boring, and everyone wants to come and see, and they know that if it’s interesting, it will be closed. Therefore, it took a long time for the performance to begin; the audience rushed into the hall. These diplomats sat down on the floor in the passage, a fireman ran in, a pale director, the rector of the school, said that “he won’t allow it, because the hall might collapse.” In the hall, where there are seats for two hundred and forty people, there are about four hundred sitting - in general, there was a complete scandal. I stood with a flashlight - the electrics there were very bad, and I myself stood and moved the flashlight. Brecht's portrait was highlighted in the right places. And I kept driving this lantern and shouting:

For God's sake, let the performance continue, what are you doing, because they will close the performance, no one will see it! Why are you stomping around, don’t you understand where you live, you idiots!

And yet I calmed them down. But, of course, everything was recorded and reported. Well, they closed it after that.
Excerpt from Yuri Lyubimov's book "Stories of an Old Talker"

"The Good Man from Sichuan" Bertolt Brecht (German: Der gute Mensch von Sezuan) · 1940
Brief summary of the play (for those who don’t know what it’s all about)))

The main city of Sichuan Province, which summarizes all the places on the globe and any time in which man exploits man, is the place and time of the play.

And Shen De buys a mug of water for his beloved Yang Song.

Vladimir Vysotsky and Zinaida Slavina in the play “The Good Man from Szechwan”. 1978

“He will never come again,” says Mrs. Yang. Three are sitting, and two of them are looking at the door.

X. In the courtroom, Shen De's friends (water carrier Wang, the old couple, grandfather and niece) and Shoi Da's partners (Mr. Shu Fu and the landlady) are waiting for the hearing to begin. At the sight of the judges entering the hall, Shoi Da faints - these are gods. The gods are by no means omniscient: under the mask and costume of Shoi Da, they do not recognize Shen De. And only when, unable to withstand the accusations of the good and the intercession of the evil, Shoi Da takes off his mask and tears off his clothes, the gods see with horror that their mission has failed: their good man and the evil and callous Shoi Da are one person. It’s impossible in this world to be kind to others and at the same time to yourself, you can’t save others and not destroy yourself, you can’t make everyone happy and yourself together with everyone! But the gods have no time to understand such complexities. Is it really possible to abandon the commandments? No never! Recognize that the world needs to change? How? By whom? No, everything is okay. And they reassure people: “Shen De did not die, she was only hidden. There remains a good person among you.” And to Shen De’s desperate cry: “But I need a cousin,” they hastily answer: “Just not too often!” And while Shen De desperately stretches out his hands to them, they, smiling and nodding, disappear above.

Retold by T. A. Voznesenskaya.

Brecht Berthold

Good man from Sichuan

Bertolt Brecht

Good man from Sichuan

Parabolic play

In collaboration with R. Berlau and M. Steffin

Translation by E. Ionova and Yu. Yuzovsky

Poems translated by Boris Slutsky

CHARACTERS

Van is a water bearer.

Three gods.

Yang Song is an unemployed pilot.

Mrs. Yang is his mother.

Widow Shin.

Family of eight.

Joiner Lin To.

Homeowner Mi Ju.

Police officer.

Carpet dealer.

His wife.

Old prostitute.

Barber Shu Fu.

Waiter.

Unemployed.

Passers-by in the prologue.

Setting: the semi-Europeanized capital of Sichuan.

Sichuan Province, which summarized all the places on the globe where

man exploits man; now he does not belong to such places.

A street in the main city of Sichuan. Evening. Water Carrier Wang introduces himself to the audience.

Wang. I am a local water carrier - I sell water in the capital of Sichuan. Hard craft! If there is little water, you have to go far to get it. And if there is a lot of it, the income is small. In general, there is great poverty in our province. Everyone says that if anyone else can help us, it’s the gods. And imagine my joy when a cattle trader I knew - he travels a lot - told me that several of our most prominent gods were already on their way and could be expected in Sichuan any hour now. They say that heaven is very worried about the many complaints that it receives. It’s already the third day that I’ve been waiting here at the city gates, especially in the evening, to be the first to greet the guests. Later it is unlikely that I will be able to do this. They will be surrounded by high-ranking gentlemen, try to get through to them then. How can you recognize them? They will probably not appear together. Most likely one at a time, so as not to draw too much attention to yourself. These ones don’t look like gods, they are returning from work. (Looks carefully at the workers passing by.) Their shoulders are bent from the weights they are carrying. And this one? What a god he is - his fingers are covered in ink. At most, an employee of a cement plant. Even those two gentlemen...

Two men pass by.

And those, in my opinion, are not gods. They have a cruel expression on their faces, like people who are used to hitting, and the gods have no need for this. But there are three! It's like it's a different matter. Well-fed, not the slightest sign of any activity, shoes covered in dust, which means they came from afar. They are them! O wise ones, dispose of me! (Falls on his face.)

First God (joyfully). Are they waiting for us here?

Van (gives them something to drink). A long time ago. But I was the only one who knew about your arrival.

The first god. We need an overnight stay. Do you know where we could settle down?

Wang. Where? Everywhere! The whole city is at your disposal, O wise ones! Where would you like?

The gods look at each other meaningfully.

The first god. At least in the nearest house, my son! We'll try as soon as possible!

Wang. My only concern is that I will incur the wrath of those in power if I give special preference to one of them.

The first god. That is why we order you: start with the nearest one!

Wang. Mister Fo lives there! Wait a minute. (Runs up to the house and knocks on the door.)

The door opens, but it is clear that Van is refused.

(He timidly returns.) What a failure! Mr. Fo, as luck would have it, is not at home, and the servants do not decide on anything without his orders, the owner is very strict! Well, he’ll be furious when he finds out who wasn’t accepted into his house, won’t he?

Gods (smiling). Undoubtedly.

Wang. One more minute! The house next door belongs to Su's widow. She will be overjoyed. (Runs to the house, but, apparently, is refused again.) I’ll do better on the contrary. The widow says that she has only one small room, and it is not in order. I’ll turn to Mr. Chen now.

Second god. A small room is enough for us. Tell her we'll take her.

Wang. Even if it's not tidy, even if it's full of spiders?

Second god. Nonsense! Where there are spiders, there are few flies.

Third god (friendly, Vanu). Go to Mr. Chen or somewhere else, my son, I must admit, I don’t like spiders.

Van knocks on a door again and is let in.

Wang (returning to the gods). Mr. Chen is in despair, his house is full of relatives, and he does not dare to appear before your eyes, the wisest ones. Between us, I think there are bad people among them, and he doesn’t want you to see them. He is afraid of your anger. That's the whole point.

Third god. Are we that scary?

Wang. Only for unkind people, isn't it? It is known that the residents of Kwan province have been suffering from floods for decades - God's punishment!

Second god. How's that? Why?

Wang. Yes, because they are all atheists.

Second god. Nonsense! Simply because they didn't fix the dam.

The first god. Shh! (To Van). Do you still hope, my son?

Wang. How can you even ask such a thing? Just go one more house and I will find you a place to live. Each one licks his own fingers in anticipation that he will host you. Unfortunate coincidence, you know? I'm running! (He walks away slowly and stops hesitantly in the middle of the street.)

Second god. What did I say?

Third god. Still, I think this is a simple coincidence.

Second god. Chance in Shun, chance in Kwan and chance in Sichuan. There is no more fear of God on earth - this is the truth that you are afraid to face. Admit that our mission has failed!

The first god. We may yet come across a kind person. Any minute now. We shouldn't give up right away.

Third god. The decree stated: the world can remain as it is if there are enough people worthy of the title of man. Waterbearer himself is such a person, unless I am deceived. (Approaches Van, who is still indecisive.)

Second god. He is being deceived. When the water bearer gave us a drink from his mug, I noticed something. Here's the mug. (Shows it to the first god.)

The first god. Double bottom.

Second god. Scammer!

The first god. Okay, it's gone. So what's wrong with one with foulbrood? We will also meet those who are capable of living a life worthy of a human being. We must find! The cry has not stopped for two millennia; it cannot continue like this! No one in this world is able to be kind! We must finally point to people who can follow our commandments.

Third god (Vanu). Maybe it is very difficult to find shelter?

Wang. Not for you! Have mercy! It’s my fault that it wasn’t found right away - I’m not looking well.

Third god. This is certainly not the case. (He returns back.)

Wang. They already guess. (To a passerby.) Honored sir, excuse me for addressing you, but the three most important gods, whose impending arrival has been talked about throughout Sichuan for many years, have now actually arrived and are in need of housing. Do not leave! See for yourself! One glance is enough! For God's sake, help me out! You have a lucky chance, take advantage of it! Offer refuge to the gods before someone intercepts them - they will agree.