



Produced by David Widger from page images generously
provided by the Internet Archive









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.

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