SCENE FIVE
RUSSIA: 1927: COMMUNIST HEADQUARTERS
(GLEB is at his desk, on the phone. He dismisses the OFFICERS and they exit. We hear half of this conversation.)
GLEB
Thank you, sir. Your confidence in me will be justified. My own office. The view of the Nevsky Prospekt. A Russian telephone that works.
(He laughs.)
Ah. That was a joke.
(A MALE COMMUNIST OFFICER enters.)
GLEB (cont.)
We have wonderful telephones.
MALE COMMUNIST OFFICER
She's here.
GLEB
I'm sorry, I have to go. Thank you again. For Russia!
(GLEB hangs up the phone and walks to the front of
the stage.)
ANYA
Why was I brought here?
GLEB
(He turns and sees her. He is surprised.)
You? The frightened little street sweeper! You are the one who-
(He stops. He dismisses the two COMMUNIST OFFICERS watching.)
GLEB (cont.)
I had almost stopped looking for you. Anya. Am I right?
ANYA
Yes.
GLEB
I am deputy commissioner Gleb Bolshevik.
(He puts out a hand for her to shake. She doesn't.)
ANYA
Bolshevik?
GLEB
My father was the great Rasputin. The one who led the revolution, but unfortunately died before he could bring it. He entrusted it to me.
(ANYA withdraws)
But really, it's the uniform and the office that give the bad impression. I'm really not so bad.
(ANYA is not convinced.)
GLEB (cont.)
You're shivering again. A friendly cup of tea will warm us both up.
ANYA
What is the charge?
GLEB
There is no charge. Why should there be? You have a job, food on the table, your own place in the new order of things.
ANYA
I'm very thankful.
GLEB
Which is why I'm warning you to leave your land of make believe before it's too late.
ANYA
I don't understand.
GLEB
If you really were who you're pretending to be, they'd
kill you. Without hesitation.
ANYA
Everyone imagines being someone else, I'm no different.It's an innocent enough fantasy.
GLEB
No, Anya. It is a dangerous one. The Romanovs are gone. Every last one of them. They no longer exist. My father... was... one of the guards.
ANYA
I don't want to hear this.
(She gets up and turns away.)
GLEB
My father! He had a vision. He wanted to help Russia. But people, and maybe I-
(ANYA turns around.)
Yes, maybe I might think that he went too far.
#8 THE NEVA FLOWS
(ANYA sits back down.)
GLEB
BE VERY CAREFUL OF THESE RUMORS THAT PREVAIL
BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY
I WAS A BOY WHO LIVED THE TRUTH BEHIND THE TALE
AND NO ONE GOT AWAY
I SAW THE CHILDREN AS THE SOLDIERS CLOSED THE GATE
THE YOUNGEST DAUGHTER AND HER PRIDE
MY FATHER LEAVING ON THE NIGHT THEY MET THEIR FATE
HIS PISTOL BY HIS SIDE
THE NEVA FLOWS,
A NEW WIND BLOWS
AND SOON IT WILL BE SPRING
THE LEAVES UNFOLD
THE TSAR LIES COLD
A REVOLUTION IS A SIMPLE THING
I heard the shots. I heard the screams. But it's the silence after I remember most.
THE WORLD STOPPED BREATHING
AND I WAS NO LONGER A BOY
MY FATHER SHOOK HIS HEAD AND TOLD ME NOT TO ASK
MY MOTHER SAID HE DIED OF SHAME
BUT I BELIEVE HE DID A PROUD AND VITAL TASK
AND IN MY FATHER'S NAME:
THE NEVA FLOWS
A NEW WIND BLOWS
AND SOON IT WILL BE SPRING
THE LEAVES UNFOLD
THE TSAR LIES COLD
COULD I HAVE PULLED THE TRIGGER
IF I'D BEEN TOLD?
BE CAREFUL WHAT A DREAM MAY BRING
A REVOLUTION IS A SIMPLE THING.
(ANYA walks over to him.)
ANYA
Thank you for your warning, comrade.
GLEB
It's Gleb. Please.
ANYA
Gleb.
(He puts his finger under her chin, warningly.)
GLEB
Your eyes. A man could look right into them.
ANYA
I'm late for work.
GLEB
As your new friend, be careful Anya.
(She goes to exit and he grabs her arm.)
As Deputy Commissioner Gleb Bolshevik, be very careful.
(ANYA exits.)
#8A SCENE TRANSITION AFTER THE NEVA FLOWS
GLEB
I SAW THE CHILDREN
AS THE SOLDIERS CLOSED THE GATE
ANYA
YOU ARE READING
Anastasia Revisioned
RomanceThis is kinda not(?) a fanfiction, but a retelling of a mashup of Disney and Broadway's Anastasia. In playwriting format. --- Anya, a girl suffering from amnesia, doesn't remember her past. Her only clue to it is to go to Paris. She teams up with tw...
