Welcomeby Richard Stuart Dixon
© Richard Stuart Dixon, 2005
(Note: Performance of this play requires the author’s permission. Please contact Good School Plays for details.)
Production Notes:
• running time: approx. 40 minutes
• style: episodic drama
• suitable for general audiences
• 17 characters (10 female, 7 male)
• black-box staging (no set required)
Summary of Script Content:
• Ludmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet Red Army sniper in World War Two. She killed 309 enemy soldiers. This play, based on historical data, is a fictionalized account of Ludmila’s experiences during the sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol in 1941-42.
(This play was first performed on April 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, & 18, in the year 2005, at Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.)
∗Published Online by Good School Plays, March 11 , 2017.
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CHARACTERS:
Lieutenant Ludmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, 25, a Red Army sniper, 25th. Chapayev Infantry Division, Soviet Coastal Army.
Sergeant Alexei (Alyosha) Dmitrich Ivanov, 23, Ludmila’s “spotter”.
German Army Troops:
Sergeant Evald Kohler, 34, 11th. German Army, 54th. Corps, 22nd. Division.
Corporal Max Altman, 24, 11th. German Army, 54th. Corps, 22nd. Division.
Private Karl Steiner, 20, 11th. German Army, 54th. Corps, 22nd. Division.
Red Army Political Officers:
Colonel Sergei Romanovich Savransky, 41
Lieutenant Irina Petrovna Akilina, 34
Red Army Troops:
Sergeant Viktor Aleksandrovich Kamarov, 32
Private Pavel Pavlovich Droski, 30
Private Natalia Sergeyovna Fedorova,20
Private Anna Constantinovna Zerovskya, 22
Red Army Field Nurses:
Nina Ivanovna Karkova, 21
Valentina Fyodorovna Koslova, 22
Soviet Civilians from Odessa:
Marisa Stepanovna Nevskya, 33
Tamara Vadimovna Galina, 40
Alisa Viktorovna Berina, 31
Yelena Ruslanovna Kominskya, 23
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 1:
“Naming the Rifle’s Parts”
(LUDMILA is downstage. She is cradling her rifle. Upstage, SGT. KAMAROV and his three PRIVATES stand formally with their rifles. LUDMILA addresses the audience as if training them in the use of the Mosin Nagant 91/30 rifle.)
LUDMILA
This a Model 1891/30 Mosin Nagant, a 5-shot bolt action sniper rifle which fires a one hundred and forty-eight grain bullet at 900 meters per second, with an acccurate range of over 600 meters. It kicks like a mule and kills with simple efficiency.
(LUDMILA steps to one side.)
SERGEANT KAMAROV
(to AUDIENCE as though addressing recruits in training)
The 7.62 cartridge is powerful, accurate, and kills quickly. The bullet hits a man’s flesh, sends out a massive shock wave, and begins to tumble, tearing apart muscles and internal organs. After the bullet exits the body, a permanent wound cavity remains, causing massive bleeding. The shock wave from the bullet triggers rapid and certain death as it impacts the brain, heart or liver.
LUDMILA
(to AUDIENCE)
The Mosin Nagant kicks like a mule and kills with simple efficiency.
(SGT. KAMAROV and his troops speak rapidly and forcefully, like the quick firing of rifles.)
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Droski, list the parts of your rifle’s bolt.
PRIVATE DROSKI
Bolt head, spring, firing pin, connector bar, cocking piece, and bolt body, Comrade Sergeant.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Federova, what is “headspace”?
PRIVATE FEDEROVA
The gap between the cartridge rim and the head of the rifle bolt, Comrade Sergeant.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Zerovskya, what will happen if the headspace is too great?
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
When the rifle is fired, the release of high pressure gas through the headspace will cause the rifle to explode, leading to serious injury or death, Comrade Sergeant.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Droski, what will happen if you do not clean the bore of your rifle’s barrel after use?
PRIVATE DROSKI
The gunpowder deposits on the rifle’s bore will corrode the metal, destroying the rifle’s accuracy, Comrade Sergeant.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Federova, how often must you field strip and clean your rifle?
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
At least once a day, Comrade Sergeant.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Zerovskya, what is the rate of fire of the Mosin Nagant 91/30 rifle?
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Ten to fifteen aimed shots per minute, Comrade Sergeant.
LUDMILA
A bullet fired from this rifle will strike a man’s head accurately at a distance of half a kilometer, shattering the skull and dispersing bits of bone, blood, and brain tissue over a wide area.
(SERGEANT KAMAROV and PRIVATES DROSKI, FEDOROVA, and ZEROVA exit.)
LUDMILA
My name is Ludmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko. I am a sniper in the 25th. Infantry Division of the Red Army of the Soviet Union.
(LUDMILA goes to stage left and watches.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 2:
“Germany Invades”
(CORPORAL ALTMANN and PRIVATE STEINER enter, looking relaxed but expectant. They snap to attention when SERGEANT KOHLER enters and addresses them.)
SERGEANT KOHLER
Tomorrow is June 22nd, l941. In the hour before dawn, we soldiers of Army Group South, along with our Romanian allies, will cross the border into the Soviet Union. When you first enlisted in the German Army, you swore an oath. Repeat it now.
ALTMANN and STEINER
I will render unconditional obedience to Adolph Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich and people, supreme commander of the armed forces, and I shall at all times be prepared, as a brave soldier, to give my life for this oath.
SERGEANT KOHLER
The Russian forces will be surprised and disorganized. Most of their top military leaders are dead, killed by their own government in the purges of 1937. If all goes well, we’ll win before winter. Dismiss.
(The privates click their heels, turn, and exit. After a moment of watching them exit, SERGEANT KOHLER also exits.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 3:
“Ludmila Joins the Red Army”
(LUDMILA goes centrestage and addresses the audience.)
LUDMILA
I was a university student in Kiev, studying history. On the first day of the fascist invasion, my husband and I were on vacation in Odessa. We saw German dive-bombers attacking the docks. We joined the Red Army immediately.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter, along with the two Red Army field nurses, NINA KARKOVA and VALENTINA KOSLOVA. SAVRANSKY and AKILINA have two folding chairs, on which they sit, and clipboards. LUDMILA carefully puts down her rifle, and puts on a civilian overcoat. The nurses stand to one side as SAVRANSKY and AKILINA interview LUDMILA.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
So you want to enlist in the army, Comrade Pavlichenko?
LUDMILA
Yes. In the infantry, Comrade Colonel.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
The infantry. In what capacity?
LUDMILA
I want to carry a rifle and fight.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA find this response amusing.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Do you know anything about rifles?
LUDMILA
(producing a document and handing it to COLONEL SAVRANSKY)
I’m a good shot. This is a certificate of marksmanship from my shooting club.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY looks briefly at the document and hands it to LIEUTENANT AKILINA.)
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
(looking it over cursorily and handing it back to LUDMILA)
Very good, Comrade Pavlichenko. But we would prefer that you become a field nurse.
NINA KARKOVA
Join us, comrade. Soon enough we will be overwhelmed with work.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
Instead of putting bullets into men, you can pull them out.
NINA KARKOVA
You can hurt the Germans by healing the wounded of the Red Army.
LUDMILA
No. I must refuse your offer. As a Soviet citizen, I have the right to choose the infantry, and to carry a rifle and fight. I demand that you honour my choice.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
The Germans think our use of women in the front lines is a sign of weakness.
LUDMILA
Then I shall make them regret that thought.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Colonel Savransky, she is a good shot. Perhaps she could be trained as a sniper.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
She’s too headstrong. Snipers must be patient and careful.
LUDMILA
I’m not headstrong…I’m stubborn. I would lie in stubborn stillness for endless hours in the hope of killing a fascist.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
(after looking at her carefully for a moment or two)
All right, Comrade Pavlichenko. we’ll enlist you in the 25th. Infantry Division.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
You’ll get your chance to hunt fascists. The 25th. Infantry Division uses women as snipers.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
If we meet again, Comrade Pavlichenko, you will be wounded and perhaps dying.
NINA KARKOVA
And we will have to work to save your life. Then you’ll no doubt be grateful that some of us chose to be nurses instead of soldiers.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
This war against the fascist invaders requires every Soviet citizen to be a hero.
LIEUTENANT AKLINA
There are no exceptions. What sort of hero will you be, Ludmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko?
(NURSE KARKOVA, NURSE KOSLOVA, COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA exit.)
LUDMILA
(to the AUDIENCE)
Colonel Savransky was right about the need for heroes. The Fascists were defeating us on every front.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage left, takes off her civilian overcoat, and picks up her rifle, and crosses to stage centre.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 4:
“Target Practice”
(SERGEANT IVANOV, nicknamed ALYOSHA, and who at this point is a private, enters and crosses to center stage. He has a pair of binoculars and a log book.
ALYOSHA
(offering his hand)
Private Pavlichenko?
LUDMILA
(taking ALYOSHA’S hand and shaking it firmly.)
Yes.
ALYOSHA
I’m Private Aleksei Dmitrych Ivanov. I’ve been assigned to be your spotter.
LUDMILA
Then you’re a fellow sniper, Private Ivanov.
ALYOSHA
Yes. My eyesight’s very good, and I’m a decent shot with a sniper rifle. But not as good as you.
LUDMILA
I expect perfection from myself and my rifle.
ALYOSHA
Because you’re a better shot than me, I’ll be your spotter until you’re wounded or killed.
LUDMILA
And if you’re killed first?
ALYOSHA
Then you will have to spot the enemy on your own.
LUDMILA
My husband says that death is as necessary as bullets in the fight against the fascists.
ALYOSHA
Your husband?
LUDMILA
There’s more than one Private Pavlichenko in the 25th. Infantry Division. He’s training to be a sniper too.
(They lie down on the ground, preparing to shoot at a distant target.)
ALYOSHA
The target is set at 400 meters.
LUDMILA
(making adjustments to her scope)
400 meters.
ALYOSHA
That’s a long shot.
LUDMILA
Is it?
(LUDMILA aims her rifle. Sergeant Ivanov watches through his binoculars. Ludmila fires, then looks at Sergeant Ivanov.)
Well?
ALYOSHA
Fourteen centimeters to the right of the bull’s eye. Remarkable.
(He records the shot in his log book.)
LUDMILA
Remarkably poor.
ALYOSHA
I’ve never seen anyone get that close on the first shot at a target almost half a kilometer away.
LUDMILA
Not close enough.
(She makes a small adjustment on her scope, reloads, and fires again.)
ALYOSHA
Ten centimeters from the bull’s eye at two o’clock. Outstanding.
(Again he records the shot in his log book.)
LUDMILA
There must be something wrong with the scope.
ALYOSHA
You’re joking with me.
LUDMILA
Comrade Ivanov, in the front lines I might get a glimpse of a German sniper’s head four hundred meters away for less than a second. In that second, I have to aim, fire, and hope the bullet reaches the target before he moves.
ALYOSHA
(reaching for LUDMILA’S rifle)
I’ll take your rifle in and get the scope checked.
LUDMILA
(pulling her rifle towards herself protectively)
No. This rifle never leaves me, not even for a second. I’ll take care of the scope myself.
ALYOSHA
Right. That’s best.
LUDMILA
I’m glad you understand.
ALYOSHA
I’m a good spotter, Private Pavlichenko. I’m partly colour-blind, so enemy camouflage can’t fool me. I’ll guide you to the target every time.
LUDMILA
Colour blind. So you can’t see red. You’ll be spared the sight of all the blood that’s going to be spilled.
ALYOSHA
You’re confident. That’s good.
LUDMILA
I’m talking about Russian blood, Ukrainian blood…our blood.
ALYOSHA
(holding up his log book)
I better report these scores to the captain.
(He exits. LUDMILA faces the AUDIENCE)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 5:
“Civilians Evacuate from Odessa”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
The Germans and their Romanian allies advanced quickly into Ukraine. By the end of August, they were poised to take the city of Odessa.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage left. TAMARA GALINA, ALISA BERINA, and YELENA KOMINSKYA enter from different points and form a tableau. They have old leather or cardboard suitcases, and are preparing to flee from Odessa. As they wait for transportation, MARISA NEVSKYA enters.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
Is this the embarkation point for transport out of Odessa?
ALISA BERINA
It is. But they won’t let you go unless you’ve got the proper papers.
MARISA NEVSKYA
I’m a primary school teacher. I’m trying to get back to Sevastopol. That’s where I work.
TAMARA GALINA
A teacher. Not much use for you now, unless you can teach children how to throw grenades and fire mortars.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
I’m a singer from the Odessa Theatre of Opera and Ballet. My colleagues have already been evacuated.
MARISA NEVSKYA
The Odessa Theatre is such a beautiful building. I hope it survives the war.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
It burned down during the Great Fire and was rebuilt better than ever.
TAMARA GALINA
Why are you worried about a building? What about the people of Odessa who can’t leave? Who’s going to rebuild them after they’re blown up by fascist bombs?
ALISA BERINA
And there are lots of Jews here. What will happen to them if the fascists capture the city?
MARISSA NEVSKYA
I thought most of them had left Odessa.
TAMARA GALINA
There were two hundred thousand Jews in Odessa in 1939. Since then, lots have left, but there are still over ninety thousand here.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
How do you know?
TAMARA GALINA
I’m a librarian in the government archives. I’ve seen the demographic records.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
What will happen to them?
TAMARA GALINA
What do you think? The Romanians hate them. The Germans hate them.
ALISA BERINA
I’m Jewish…a hotel maid. I’m no threat to anyone, but I know what the Germans and their allies would do to me.
MARISA NEVSKYA
What? What would they do?
ALISA BERINA
Put me in some sort of camp or prison. Work me to death. Or worse.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
What about your family? Why aren’t they leaving with you?
ALISA BERINA
I have no family…all dead from the Famine of 1933.
MARISA NEVSKYA
Everyone knows someone who died in the Famine. And now this war.
TAMARA GALINA
We must do what we can to survive: the purpose of life is survival.
(SERGEANT KAMAROV enters with PRIVATES DROSKI, FEDOROVA, and ZEROVSKYA, and ALYOSHA, marching in file. LUDMILA joins them.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
Sergeant?
(SGT. KAMAROV holds up his hand, and the column of TROOPS comes to a halt.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
Are you on your way to the front?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Yes, comrade. We’ve been ordered to defend the region around the village of Belyayevka.
TAMARA GALINA
You’ll be fighting the Romanians. Perhaps they’re not as strong as their German allies.
PRIVATE DROSKI
Romanians, Germans, they’re all fascists, they all have guns, and they all want to kill us.
PRIVATE FEDORVA
And so we must kill them.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
And we will.
ALISA BERINA
Tell us the truth: can they be stopped? Do we have any chance at all?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
I’m no expert.
(indicating LUDMILA)
Perhaps Private Pavlichenko will offer her opinion.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
What do you think, comrade?
LUDMILA
I’m not a tactician. My job is to shoot fascists. That is what I intend to do.
TAMARA GALINA
We are leaving Odessa. There’s a boat going to Sevastopol.
PRIVATE DROSKI
And if the Germans lay siege to Sevastopol? Where will you go then?
TAMARA GALINA
Into the Black Sea, where we will ask for help from the fishes, who might do a better job than you.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
We will do our duty, comrade. But what are you doing? Running away.
MARISA NEVSKYA
I’m a teacher from Sevastopol. My duty is to my students, the little children in my care.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Stop thinking about the small things. Think about the big thing: the war. The war is everything, everyone, and everywhere.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
There is no past…no future. There is only now, and now is the war.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Each of us must find our own way to fight. I will go to Sevastopol and there I’ll prepare myself for this war. Here, there is no time for that. Here, the enemy has already won, no matter how bravely you talk.
ALISA BERINA
(to the Red Army soldiers)
I am grateful to you, comrades. You risk your lives to give me time to escape from here, to get away from the Jew-haters who are almost upon us.
MARISA NEVSKYA
(looking off left)
The boat to Sevastopol is open for boarding. We must hurry.
(The evacuees gather their suitcases and exit.)
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Come along, comrades. The front is only a few kilometers to the west.
(The RED ARMY TROOPS exit in line, except LUDMILA, who goes center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 6:
“Suffering in the Field Hospitals”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
As we left Odessa going west, we passed field hospitals full of wounded troops.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage left and watches. COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter with their folding chairs, which they set up downstage. NURSES KARKOVA and KOSLOVA enter and begin to cross upstage, but are hailed by COLONEL SAVRANSKY.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Comrade nurses!
(The two NURSES go downstage to COLONEL SAVRANSKY.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
We’re here to make a report on the field hospitals.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Tell us what you know, as well as your impressions. And be honest. We promise you will remain anonymous.
(LIUETENANT AKILINA and COLONEL SAVRANSKY take notes as the two NURSES describe conditions. Throughout the scene, the NURSES physically display tired restlessness,frustration, and anger.)
NINA KARKOVA
I’ve had maybe four hours sleep in three days, tending to the wounded.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
These field hospitals are like butcher shops that never close.
NINA KARKOVA
Who would believe that soldiers could be injured in so many ways?
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
One fellow’s skull was smashed so badly the blood, bone, and brains looked like part of the blanket he was lying on.
NINA KARKOVA
I had one who’s jaw was completely gone, most of his face, just gone, leaving only his eyes, staring at me, asking me something, but what?
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
And the chest wounds…holes right through them…lungs spouting blood.
NINA KARKOVA
Guts spilled out, covered in dirt.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
Knees without knee caps, legs without feet, mangled flesh, blood flooding the stretcher.
NINA KARKOVA
We eat our bread while we work, our fingers still bloody from changing bandages.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
Endless hours of injections, amputations, stitching up wounds, trying to keep instruments sterile in all that filth and gore.
NINA KARKOVA
The hardest part is the pain they suffer: excruciating, continuous pain. Even when we fill them full of morphine, the pain’s still there: a dull ache waiting like a vulture for the drug to wear off.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
Severe physical pain is the worst thing in the world.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Our brave soldiers know they risk painful wounds in the defense of our homeland.
NINA KARKOVA
Most young men can’t imagine real pain. If they could, they wouldn’t march off to war so willingly.
VALENTINA KOSLOVA
If the men who make wars had to feel the pain they bring to their soldiers, you can be sure there wouldn’t be any wars.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
(rising from his chair to make his point)
You are nurses. Don’t waste your energy indulging in sentimental speculation.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
(also rising from her chair)
It’s counter-productive to debate the morality of the war while we are in the middle of it.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
All thought, all discussion, must address one question: how best can we achieve victory.
NINA KARKOVA
Excuse us. We must get back to “achieving victory”.
(NURSE KARKOVA and NURSE KOSLOVA exit.)
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
So many soldiers, torn and bleeding and dying…a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand. It’s impossible to grasp.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
There will be millions before this war is over.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA exit as LUDMILA crosses to center stage and faces the audience.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 7:
“Respecting the Enemy”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
My unit made its way to a hill near the village of Belyayevka. We were ordered to defend the hill against the enemy: mostly Romanians, and a few Germans, sent to observe the battle.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage left as the three GERMAN SOLDIERS enter warily, rifles at the ready, as they reconnoitre the territory around Belyayevka.)
SERGEANT KOHLER
(raising his arm to signal a halt)
We’ll establish an observation post on this ridge.
(Throughout the scene, SERGEANT KOHLER checks his compass and map as he determines their exact location. CORPORAL ALTMANN and RIVATE STEINER keep a wary lookout for the enemy.)
CORPORAL ALTMAN
From here, we’ll be able to see the Romanians and Russians butchering each other.
SERGEANT KOHLER
You should speak with more tact, Corporal Altmann. The Romanians are our allies. Every soldier they kill is one less enemy for us to worry about.
PRIVATE STEINER
The Red Army is finished. It’s only a matter of time.
SERGEANT KOHLER
It’s a fatal mistake to underestimate the enemy, Private Steiner.
PRIVATE STEINER
But the Russians fight badly. They make suicide charges against heavily defended positions. What good are demonstrations of courage if they result in defeat?
CORPORAL ALTMANN
Russian soldiers are brave, but their leaders are stupid, throwing away their best troops in hopeless counter-attacks. We Germans would never sacrifice our soldiers that way.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Corporal Altmann, how big is the Red Army?
CORPORAL ALTMANN
Three million men.
PRIVATE STEINER
Less, now that we’ve wiped out entire divisions.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Even if we killed all three million, they could still put nine million more in uniform, all of them young enough and strong enough to fight like the devil.
PRIVATE STEINER
Our equipment and training is superior to theirs.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Their T-34 tank is better than anything we’ve got. And for them, this war is a life or death struggle. That makes them learn quickly.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
Sergeant Kohler, are you saying that we might lose this war?
SERGEANT KOHLER
No, Corporal. I’m saying that only a fool underestimates his enemy. That outcropping over there is well-concealed. That’s where we’ll set up our observation post.
(They GERMAN TROOPS exit warily as LUDMILA goes center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 8:
“Defending the Hill”
(LUDMILA addresses the audience.)
LUDMILA
Our unit prepared to defend the hill. Private Ivanov and I positioned ourselves on the left flank.
(The RED ARMY SOLDIERS enter, and take up firing positions on stage right. LUDMILA and ALYOSHA are on stage left, some distance from the others.)
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Where are the enemy, Sergeant Kamarov?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Somewhere down there in that forested area.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
How will they launch their attack?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
First, they’ll try to weaken us with mortar and shell fire. Then they’ll send in their infantry to finish us off.
PRIVATE DROSKI
(raising himself up to look)
I can’t see a damn thing.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
(pulling him down)
Keep down, comrade.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
It’s hard to believe there’s anyone out there. The countryside looks as peaceful and sleepy as a cat with a bellyful of milk.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
A beautiful August day.
PRIVATE DROSKI
(rising up slightly)
Maybe they’ve withdrawn to a different position.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Get down, you fool!
(There is the distant crack of a rifle shot. PRIVATE DROSKI is hit in the left arm, causing him to fall to the left.)
PRIVATE DROSKI
Jesus!
ALYOSHA
(looking through his binoculars, giving instructions to LUDMILA)
To the left at nine o’clock, in that stand of willows, about three hundred meters.
(LUDMILA fires her rifle, immediately reloading. The other troops are startled by the shot and look over at her.)
ALYOSHA
Your first kill, Comrade Pavlichenko. A perfect head shot.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
(to Private Droski)
I told you to stay down.
PRIVATE DROSKI
It’s just my arm. It’s not too bad.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Private Federova, bandage his arm.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Yes, Comrade Sergeant.
(She crawls to PRIVATE DROSKI, takes out a field dressing, and wraps it around his arm.)
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
(to PRIVATE DROSKI)
Comrade Pavlichenko shot the sniper, Pavel Pavlovitch.
(PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA now rises up slightly to look. There’s another shot. She ducks.)
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Christ save us!
ALYOSHA
(scanning with his binoculars)
Two o’clock, comrade, by those rocks, two hundred and fifty meters.
LUDMILA
(searching with her scope on her rifle)
I can’t see anything. Private Zerovskya, stick your head up again…
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Are you crazy?
LUDMILA
Trust me, comrade.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
I’ll do it.
(SERGEANT KAMAROV raises himself up, and LUDMILA fires and reloads. SERGEANT KAMAROV ducks down again.)
ALYOSHA
(looking through his binoculars)
He’s wounded. Looks like you hit him in the right shoulder.
(LUDMILA fires again.)
ALYOSHA
That finished him.
LUDMILA
I should have killed him with the first shot.
PRIVATE FEDEROVA
Well he’s dead now, thank god. Two kills, Comrade Pavlichenko.
PRIVATE DROSKI
She wasn’t fast enough to save me from a bullet.
LUDMILA
I apologize, comrade. I’ll try to do better in the future.
(The sound of battle erupts. PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA looks up and
sees a flare.)
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Sergeant Kamarov, we’re being signalled to move right.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
(looking up at the flare, and then to the right)
We must change positions…three hundred meters to the right…but keep down.
(All of them scurry to the right except ALYOSHA and LUDMILA.)
ALYOSHA
Are you all right, Ludmila Mikhailovna?
LUDMILA
I couldn’t be better, Private Ivanov.
(The gunfire fades. ALYOSHA freezes. LUDMILA goes center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 9:
“Ludmila is Promoted”
(LUDMILA addresses the audience.)
LUDMILA
I fought alongside my comrades in the defense of Odessa for two and a half months. The job of killing the enemy was made easier by the recklessness of the Romanian attackers. Private Ivanov kept the record of my kills.
(ALYOSHA goes to her)
ALYOSHA
Today you killed your thirtieth fascist, Comrade Pavlichenko.
LUDMILA
Yes. Thank you for your fine work as a spotter, Alyosha.
SERGEANT IVANOV
And it’s only been ten days since we arrived at the front.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter. LUDMILA and ALYOSHA snap to attention.)
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
(handing ALYOSHA a document)
Private Ivanov, for your good work as a spotter in the 25th. Infantry Division, you have been promoted to the rank of corporal.
ALYOSHA
Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
(handing LUDMILA a document)
And you, Comrade Pavlichenko: you have been promoted to the rank of sergeant.
LUDMILA
(refusing to take the document)
I don’t need a promotion to do my job, Colonel Savransky.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
You are becoming important to us as a symbol of resistance, Sergeant Pavlichenko.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
So your “job” is becoming more complicated. Others in the Red Army need to see that outstanding service is rewarded.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Then, they will try to emulate you.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
You are a role model, comrade. You’re enmeshed in the politics of war.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Do you remember when Colonel Savransky told you this war requires heroes? You are becoming a hero.
LUDMILA
Everyone who fights to defend our homeland is a hero.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Then be a hero to those heroes. Help their courage grow even stronger by setting an example.
(He again offers the document.)
LUDMILA
Very well, Comrade Colonel.
(taking the document)
I will accept the rank of sergeant.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
You are fully deserving of this promotion. If every soldier in our army could kill three fascists a day, the war would be over by tomorrow morning.
(She and COLONEL SAVRANSKY exit.)
LUDMILA
Do you think I’ll go to hell for this, Aleksei Dmitrich?
ALYOSHA
You mean for killing so many men?
LUDMILA
No. For allowing myself to be used for political purposes.
ALYOSHA
I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in heaven or hell.
(He exits. LUDMILA goes downstage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 10:
“Retreat from Odessa”
(LUDMILA addresses the audience.)
LUDMILA
During those two and half months defending Odessa, I had many opportunities to “set an example” for my fellow soldiers. Soon, I had registered forty kills, then fifty. The numbers grew and grew. Then, one day, it was a hundred, and I was promoted again, this time to lieutenant. My spotter was given the rank of sergeant. His logbook recorded more and more kills, until it reached a hundred and eighty seven. But the Romanians were closing in and we had to evacuate Odessa.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY enters with LIEUTENANT AKILINA. ALYOSHA and the RED ARMY SOLDIERS enter, exhausted. PRIVATE DROSKI still has his arm wound, and PRIVATE FEREROVA has a head wound. We are witnessing the defeated Red Army. The two FIELD NURSES enter, hurrying from the abandoned field hospital. Even LUDMILA appears beaten and spent as she joins the others.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
(doing his best to rally the troops)
Comrades! The time has come to withdraw from Odessa.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
We will come back to Odessa one day, comrades! We will avenge the looting of this beautiful city.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
But now we must take up the fight on a new front. We are to go to the Crimean Peninsula, to help defend it against the Germans.
(The tired TROOPS show uneasiness, restlessly shifting as they lean on their rifles for support.)
LIEUTANANT AKILINA
Patience, comrades! Your sacrifices are not in vain!
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
You will be boarding Soviet naval vessels within the hour. We must leave without delay.
(He and LIEUTENANT AKILINA exit.The FIELD NURSES address the TROOPS in an effort to express their despair about the fate of the wounded who must be left behind.)
NURSE KARKOVA
We are abandoning some of the wounded.
NURSE KOSLOVA
It’s impossible to take them all.
NURSE KARKOVA
There are thousands and thousands.
NURSE KOSLOVA
We are leaving too many in the hands of our enemies.
NURSE KARKOVA
(approaching SERGEANT KAMAROV)
What will become of them?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
They will be murdered, every one of them.
PRIVATE DROSKI
The Romanians hate Communists, and to them every Red Army soldier is a Communist.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
It will be just as bad for the Jews of Odessa. The Romanians will find a thousand ways to make them suffer.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
We’ve shown the fascists no mercy, and now they’ll take their revenge on the weak and defenseless souls who remain here in Odessa.
NURSE KOSLOVA
War is cruel beyond belief.
NURSE KARKOVA
We nurses have worked beyond the farthest limits of exhaustion to keep the wounded alive, only to leave them to be slaughtered.
NURSE KOSLOVA
They have patiently suffered terrible pain, only to be tormented again by the enemy, and put to death.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY enters.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Come, comrades! We have received our embarkation orders!
(All exit, except LUDMILA, who goes downstage to face the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 11:
“The Germans Besiege Sevastopol”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
We made our way to Sevastopol, the great port city on the Crimean Peninsula. I tried to keep track of the whereabouts of my husband, who was in the same division as me, but it was impossible. The chaos of war and the demands of duty kept us apart. Sevastopol was heavily defended, but the German 11th. Army was determined to drive us out.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage right, and the three GERMAN SOLDIERS enter, and sit downstage, cleaning their rifles.)
SERGEANT KOHLER
Now we’re back with the main elements of the 11th. Army, our duties will change.
PRIVATE ALTMANN
I’m glad to be fighting alongside my fellow Germans again, no matter what we’re ordered to do.
PRIVATE STEINER
The Crimean Peninsula is falling quickly under our assault.
PRIVATE ALTMANN
Only Sevastopol remains.
SERGEANT KOHLER
It’s extremely well-defended, but we’ll keep up the pressure until it falls.
PRIVATE STEINER
I’ve heard that we’re bringing in siege guns.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Yes. They’ve even hauled in “Big Dora”.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
That 800 milimeter monster?
SERGEANT KOHLER
It took sixty railcars to transport the thing.
PRIVATE STEINER
They protect it with two anti-aircraft regiments.
SERGEANT KOHLER
It fires a shell as heavy as a large truck…over five tons.
PRIVATE ALTMANN
That ought to make them keep their heads down.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Remember when I told you to never underestimate the enemy?
PRIVATE STEINER
Who could forget, Herr Sergeant.
SERGEANT KOHLER
The Red Army’s heavily dug-in. There’s a system of underground tunnels in Sevastopol, as well as three rings of heavily armed trenches and two massive fortresses. And they’ll fight to the death to defend every meter of ground.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
Then so be it. We’ll fight to the death to defeat them.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Now you’re beginning to understand what’s being asked of you.
(They sling their rifles on their shoulders and exit. LUDMILA goes center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 12:
“A Political Argument”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
Sevastopol was overflowing with troops and civilians. Everyone was expected to help with the defense of the city. Many women in good health were pressed into service as auxilliary nurses.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage right. MARISA NEVSKYA, TAMARA GALINE, ALISA BERINA,and YELENA KOMINSKYA enter and talk as they take off their civilian clothes and put on military uniforms.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
We were evacuated from Odessa together, and now it looks like we’re going to work together as auxilliary nurses here in Sevastopol.
YELINA KOMINSKYA
I’m a singer. I know nothing about nursing or fighting, but I’ll do my best to learn.
TAMARA GALINA
Perhaps you can soothe the wounded with pretty songs.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
You’re as sarcastic as ever, Tamara Vadimovna.
TAMARA GALINA
Sarcasm is an excellent defense against stupidity, Comrade Kominskya.
MARISA NEVSKYA
I’m sick with worry about the children I teach. We applied to have the whole school evacuated, but they turned us down, and they’ve closed the school because of the bombing.
ALISA BERINA
All transportation is reserved for the military.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Little children are innocent. They should not have to suffer the cruelties of war.
MARISA NEVSKYA
The bombs of the enemy airplanes don’t discriminate between men, women, and children. And small children die so easily.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Death is the faithful companion of modern warfare. Thousands and thousands die every day.
TAMARA GALENA
In peacetime, death is a tragedy. In wartime, it loses all its drama and becomes as ordinary as doing the laundry.
ALISA BERINA
Have you heard the reports from Odessa?
YELENA KOMINSKYA
You mean the stories about the persecution of the Jews?
ALISA BERINA
Yes. A bomb went off in the Romanian Army headquarters, so the Romanians put nineteen thousand Jews in a public square. Some of them had luck on their side. They were shot to death.
MARISA NEVSKYA
How can you call that luck?
ALISA BERINA
They sprayed gasoline on the others, and set them on fire.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Burned alive.
ALISA BERINA
Yes. The next day, sixteen thousand more Jews were put in buildings on the outskirts of Odessa. The Romanians fired machine guns into the buildings, then burned them down.
MARISA NEVSKYA
How could they be so cruel?
TAMARA GALINA
The Romanian fascists hate Communists, and they assume that all the Jews in Odessa are Communists. Like the Nazis, they think Jews use communism as a way to control the world.
ALISA BERINA
I’m Jewish and I was nothing but a hotel maid. I’m not even a member of the Communist Party. I have no plans to take over the world. In fact, I have no plans at all.
TAMARA GALINA
Of course. But to the fascists, you’re a deadly threat to civilization.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Fascism must be some form of mass insanity.
TAMARA GALINA
They’re not insane at all. They just believe a lie. Haven’t you ever thought that maybe communism is a lie, too?
MARISA NEVSKYA
It’s not a lie. It’s an idea.
TAMARA GALINA
And ideas should never be treated as truth. That’s where all the trouble begins.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
You should be careful what you say, Tamara Vadimovna.
TAMARA GALINA
Should I? Why is it that the truth is so dangerous?
MARISA NEVSKYA
Perhaps because the truth is a threat to those who hold power.
TAMARA GALINA
Exactly. Our communist leaders lie to us routinely.
ALISA BERINA
At least they don’t persecute Jews.
TAMARA GALINA
Perhaps not, but they persecute anyone who might threaten their power. I worked in the government archives, remember?
MARISA NEVSKYA
I remember you telling us about the ninety thousand Jews trapped in Odessa.
TAMARA GALINA
You learn lots of secrets in my line of work. I’ve filed lists of political prisoners who went to jail without proper trials, and stored books full of the names of men and women who were executed because our leaders didn’t like them.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
You sound like a propaganda mouthpiece for the fascists.
MARISA NEVSKYA
You could be shot for saying such things, especially in wartime.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Think of all our soldiers who have been captured and put in German prison camps, over a million of them, starved, beaten, shot, dying of disease……
ALISA BERINA
Our leaders aren’t responsible for that.
TAMARA GALINA
If they’d prepared for war properly, our soldiers wouldn’t have been captured by the Germans in the first place.
MARISA NEVSKYA
This is no time to criticize our government. We must all stand shoulder to shoulder against the enemy.
ALISA BERINA
We must fight to defeat the fascists, not squabble about the sins of our leaders.
TAMARA GALINA
None of this would be happening if people everywhere demanded the truth from their leaders. Tyranny depends on lies.
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 13:
“Training the Auxiliary Nurses”
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter with NURSE KARKOVA and NURSE KOSLOVA.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Comrades, the city of Sevastapol is besieged by the German 11th. Army.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
The enemy is building up an immense force to destroy us.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Every citizen must serve in the defense of the city, just as they did during the war against the British, French, and Turks one hundred years ago.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Then, Sevastopol held out for almost a year against three major powers.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Now, we will honour our ancestors by fighting with the same determination.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Comrades! It’s your duty to work as auxiliary nurses and orderlies. You will receive instruction from Comrades Karkova and Koslova, who have gained front line experience in the siege of Odessa.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
You must brace yourselves for the struggle ahead. You must do your duty.
(He and LIEUTENANT AKILINA exit)
NURSE KARKOVA
Comrades, let us begin your training as nurses by warning you that you will need great physical strength, a strong will, and endless courage.
NURSE KOSLOVA
You will face horrors you cannot imagine.
NURSE KARKOVA
You’ll never forget the pleading eyes of the injured, full of fear and pain.
NURSE KOSLOVA
At first, the blood, the smell, and the moaning of the wounded will make you sick and dizzy, and cause you to faint.
NURSE KARKOVA
You will assist the trained nurses and doctors when they take out shrapnel, stitch wounds, and amputate limbs.
NURSE KOSLOVA
You may be called upon to donate your own blood as often as twice a day every day.
NURSE KARKOVA
Sometimes, you will not leave a surgery room for days.
NURSE KOSLOVA
You will get used to all this. But you will never get used to death. You’ll find yourself crying over the dead with tears that rise unbidden from your grieving heart.
NURSE KARKOVA
But you must persevere. Sometimes you will be called upon to assist with the heavy work of unloading the wounded from the ambulances.
NURSE KOSLOVA
At other times, you will be sent into the front lines, where you will search for the wounded under enemy fire.
NURSE KARKOVA
When you find them, and you will find them…hundreds of them, you will try to rescue them by carrying them back to your medical units.
NURSE KOSLOVA
Sometimes, you will be expected to fight alongside the troops, with rifles and grenades.
NURSE KARKOVA
Always, you will be exhausted. Always, you will be pushed beyond the limits of human endurance.
NURSE KOSLOVA
We know this is the truth, because this what we experienced in the siege of Odessa.
NURSE KARKOVA
Though you may not know it, there is within you a deep pool of courage from which your heart can drink. This will sustain you through the horrors you face.
NURSE KOSLOVA
The paradox of war is that it can draw from you the noblest kind of bravery and self-sacrifice.
NURSE KARKOVA
We will give you a few moments to discuss what we have said.
NURSE KOSLOVA
Then, you must join us as we train you in the rudiments of front-line nursing.
NURSE KARKOVA
We remind you what Colonel Savransky said: You must brace yourselves for the struggle ahead. You must do your duty.
(KOSLOVA and KARKOVA exit.)
ALISA BERINA
There! You wanted the truth, Tamara Vadimovna, and now you have heard it.
MARISA NEVSKYA
Bravery and self-sacrifice can exist in the midst of the cruel madness of war.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
The line is drawn. We are on one side, and the fascists are on the other. Our duty is clear.
TAMARA GALENA
I do not deny what you say. I only ask you to consider this: why is it that people cannot imagine the truth of war unless they are fighting one?
(They exit. LUDMILA goes center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 14:
“Troops in Trenches Eating”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
Sevastopol was cut off and could only be supplied and reinforced by ships and submarines that ran a gauntlet of Nazi dive-bombers, torpedoes and mines. My unit was in constant action against the Germans, with no rest and dwindling resources.
(The RED ARMY SOLDIERS enter, along with ALYOSHA. LUDMILA joins them. They are resting briefly, eating from bowls.)
PRIVATE DROSKI
Nothing to eat but this damned porridge and a few grams of stale bread.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Why don’t you boil up a bit of human flesh to add to your meal, Pavel Pavlovitch. Lord knows there’s enough of it lying around.
PRIVATE DROSKI
You should respect the dead, Natalia Sergeyovna. You’ll be one of them soon enough.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Private Tarasov got killed this morning. I was a few meters away from him in the trench when a mortar shell exploded and cut him in half. He certainly looked surprised to be dead, let me tell you.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
The dead often have surprised looks on their faces, as if the moment of death revealed something they never expected.
PRIVATE DROSKI
If they’re lucky enough to still have a face.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
When it’s my turn, I’d prefer to be blown to bits. It’s all over in an instant.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Bits and pieces everywhere. I found Corporal Shapkin sitting in the trench looking pale. “I think I got hit in the foot,” he said, “Take my boot off for me.” So I pulled at his boot and the lower part of his leg came off like a piece of roast chicken. He didn’t even cry out. A few moments later he was dead, thank god.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Better to be crippled than dead. You should see some of the men in the hospitals. Both arms gone, both legs, and still smiling and joking as if they’ve suffered nothing more than a lost fingertip.
PRIVATE DROSKI
And in a couple of years? Will they still be smiling and joking then? How long can a man go on being happy when he can’t even pick his own nose?
PRIVAT ZEROVSKYA
One good thing about being dead is you get plenty of rest, and you don’t have to eat bad food. I haven’t had a proper sleep in months, and my stomach feels like a live rabbit being chewed by a wolf.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
You can forget about proper sleep and decent food. We’re going to have less and less of both as this siege goes on.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Be grateful for what you get. They’re doing the best they can to supply us from the sea. And life on one of those supply vessels is no joke, let me tell you.
PRIVATE DROSKI
It can’t be any worse than here in these open graves they call trenches.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Would you prefer to be on a boat transporting fuel when it gets torpedoed? Try swimming in a sea that’s on fire and then tell me that you’d prefer to be on a supply ship.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
You know, there was a time long, long ago when people could sit around eating their lunch without talking about death and wounds and burning in a sea of diesel fuel.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
If only I could sleep for twelve hours straight…that would put the spring back in my step.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Success and rest don’t sleep together, comrades. Let’s get back on duty.
(The four RED ARMY SOLDIERS exit.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 15:
“Ludmila’s Confession”
(LUDMILA and ALYOSHA watch the SOLDIERS exit.)
LUDMILA
They’ve become such tough, resilient soldiers, and their talk is as hard as their bodies.
ALYOSHA
Hard talk pushes madness into a remote part of the mind.
LUDMILA
How many men have I killed, Sergeant Ivanov?
ALYOSHA
(checking his logbook)
Two hundred and thirty-seven, lieutenant.
LUDMILA
At first, I liked the thrill of stalking the fascists and killing them before they could kill us. But now, the days are a dreary repetition of lying still for hours, catching glimpses of the enemy through the rifle’s scope, and squeezing the trigger. Before the war, I would never have imagined that killing men could become so monotonous.
ALYOSHA
Soldiers spend ninety percent of their time bored to death, and the other ten percent scared to death.
LUDMILA
After so many months of motionless watching, I want more than ever to stay alive, because death is an eternity of stillness.
ALYOSHA
Any news of your husband?
LUDMILA
He’s somewhere to the north of this position. That’s all I know.
ALYOSHA
Is he envious of your superior skills as a sniper?
LUDMILA
He jokes that he had the good sense to marry a wife who can protect him from the fascists.
ALYOSHA
You’re becoming famous, you know.
LUDMILA
Being a hero for the propaganda people is part of my job now.
SERGEANT IVANOV
You don’t demand much from the world, do you, Ludmila Mikhailovna?
LUDMILA
What do you mean?
ALYOSHA
I mean that in peacetime, you were a polite, pretty young woman who threatened no one, living a life unnoticed by the authorities.
LUDMILA
I suppose I was.
ALYOSHA
And in wartime, you’re a polite, pretty young woman who is a deadly threat to our enemies, living a life that the authorities wish to glorify.
LUDMILA
I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say, Comrade Sergeant.
ALYOSHA
I’m saying that no matter what happens to you, you maintain a simple humility that could almost be mistaken for innocence.
LUDMILA
Innocence? I will tell you something, Alyosha, about my innocence.
ALYOSHA
You don’t have to tell me anything, Lieutenant Pavlichenko.
LUDMILA
Yes I do, because someone must know and it might as well be you.
ALYOSHA
It might as well be.
LUDMILA
On that day outside the village of Belyayevka, in the instant before I squeezed the trigger and made my first kill, time stopped. Everything was absolutely still. And I knew that death was alive in me, and life itself was dead and would remain dead until I pulled the trigger and sent the bullet on its brief flight into the mind of a man.
ALYOSHA
Now it’s my turn to say I don’t understand.
LUDMILA
Perhaps that’s why I chose to tell you, of all people.
ALYOSHA
You honour me and insult me, comrade. I suppose one cancels out the other, and takes us back to where we began.
LUDMILA
It’s as though time stopped.
ALYOSHA
And you sent the bullet of your thoughts into my mind.
LUDMILA
Yes. I’m low on ammunition. Could you try to scrounge a few rounds?
ALYOSHA
It’s getting scarce, but I’ll try.
(He exits. LUDMILA goes downstage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 16:
“Soldiers Don’t Get Choices”
(LUDMILA addressed the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
The Germans were well-supplied, while we had less and less each day. But we made them pay dearly for every meter of ground they won.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage right. The three GERMAN SOLDIERS enter. They are tired from the long and bitter campaign to take Sevastopol.)
PRIVATE STEINER
We conquered so many countries so quickly, and now a single city defies us for months.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
We’ve taken more casualties in this tiny corner of the world than we did in the entire Polish campaign.
PRIVATE STEINER
I can see no end to this damn siege. Even though they’ve got hardly anything left to fight with, they won’t give up a centimeter of territory without a struggle to the death.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
They’d fight with their bare hands if that’s all they had.
SERGEANT KOHLER
So, you’ve stopped all your over-confident bragging. You might become real soldiers one day after all.
PRIVATE STEINER
It’s hard to be confident when you’re far from home in a hostile land, locked in a stalemate with a determined enemy.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
I admit that this is going to be a long war, but I still believe we’ll win in the end.
SERGEANT KOHLER
A professional soldier doesn’t believe in anything. He follows orders, respects his enemies, fights with courage, and expects nothing but death. If he wins a medal, he celebrates. If he gets wounded, he curses his luck. If he makes it to retirement, he buys a little cottage near a tavern and lives off his pension and his memories.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
If given a choice whether to die in victory or in defeat, I’d take victory anytime.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Soldiers don’t get choices. They get orders from officers. And officers get orders from the High Command. And the High Command gets orders from Hitler.
PRIVATE STEINER
Hitler has led us through victory after victory. The man’s a military genius. There’s no reason to think he’ll fail us now.
SERGEANT KOHLER
You don’t understand, do you? It’s not your job to assess Hitler’s ability as commander-in-chief. It’s your job to follow his orders. That’s all. You swore an oath to do that.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
You’re asking us to be humble, obedient soldiers, Sergeant Kohler.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Yes. Good or bad, right or wrong…none of that is your concern. A soldier does not have to make judgments. He lets others do that. He does not have to have a conscience. And so, because he follows orders, he is free.
PRIVATE STEINER
A paradox.
SERGEANT KOHLER
Yes. Now, you have guard duty. Don’t fall asleep, or you’ll face a firing squad. Dismiss.
(PRIVATE STEINER and CORPORAL KOHLER click their heels and exit.)
SEGEANT KOHLER
They are children, and I must lie to them to give them comfort.
(He exits. LUDMILA crosses to center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 17:
“Demanding Morphine”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
By June, 1942, conditions had become desperate. Our defense of Sevastopol was collapsing. Sergeant Ivanov’s log book was filled with more than three hundred entries. In the final weeks, death closed in on us like a black fog.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage right as COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
The situation’s critical. They’ve ordered an evacuation.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
So that’s that.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Our ships can’t get close enough to take us all.
LIEUTENANT AKLINIA
Who’ll have priority?
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
The most severely wounded and a few senior officers.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
It’s Odessa all over again, but this time there’s no escape.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Don’t give up hope, comrade. The fascists have suffered heavy losses in this fight.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
Hope is a peacetime luxury. In wartime, there is only desperation.
(NURSE KARKOVA and NURSE KOSLOVA enter.)
NURSE KARKOVA
Comrade Colonel, we are here to demand morphine.
NURSE KOSLOVA
You must give us enough morphine to help the most severely injured.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
We are doing what we can. Medical supplies are as scarce as bullets. There just isn’t enough of anything.
NURSE KARKOVA
We’re sending out auxilliary nurses to tend the wounded on the front lines.
NURSE KOSLOVA
Without morphine, they can’t stop the cries of the injured. The fascists hear the cries, and fire mortars at them.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
We sympathize, comrades, but we can do nothing.
(LIEUTENANT AKILINA and COLONEL SAVRANSKY exit as MARISA NEVSKYA, TAMARA GALINA, ALISA BERINA, and YELENA KOMINSKYA enter.)
NURSE KARKOVA
You are to go the front lines and retrieve wounded soldiers.
NURSE KOSLOVA
There are rumours of an evacuation. If you don’t bring in the wounded, they’ll be left behind, and the Germans will kill them.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
We have bandages, but no morphine.
TAMARA GALINA
Give us morphine. They die from shock when the pain is too great.
ALISA BERINA
Bandages aren’t enough.
NURSE KARKOVA
There is no morphine.
MARISA NEVSKY
But there must be.
NURSE KOSLOVA
No morphine! Go and do your duty, comrades!
(The auxiliary nurses exit.)
NURSE KARKOVA
They won’t survive.
NURSE KOSLOVA
How do you know?
NURSE KARKOVA
They’re still full of empathy. They don’t know how to close the door to their hearts.
(They exit. LUDMILA crosses to center stage and faces the AUDIENCE.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 18:
“LIKE SHOOTING SPARROWS IN AN ORCHARD”
(LUDMILA addresses the AUDIENCE.)
LUDMILA
As the Germans closed in, the fighting became more frenzied. The number of deaths increased in proportion to the intensity of the struggle. I was summoned to shoot an enemy sniper.
(LUDMILA crosses to stage left. We hear the sounds of battle. PRIVATE FEDOROVA enters, crouching, as if moving under fire. As she reaches center stage, a shot rings out and she falls and clasps her right leg in pain. MARISA NEVSKYA and ALISA BERINA enter, also crouching, throwing themselves down by PRIVATE FEDOROVA.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
(shaking PRIVATE FEDOROVA)
Comrade! Comrade!
ALISA BERINA
Is she conscious?
PRIVATE FEDEROVA
Yes, I’m conscious. The bastard shot me in the leg…the right one.
MARISA NEVSKYA
We’ll bandage it to stop the bleeding.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Keep down, comrades. There’s a sniper over there somewhere.
(As if in acknowledgment of this, there is another gunshot. The three try to press themselves even closer to the ground.)
ALISA BERINA
We’re trapped. We’ve no chance of getting you clear.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Give me some morphine, for Christ’s sake.
MARISA NEVSKYA
There’s none, comrade. They’ve kept what’s left for the worst cases.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
This is a worst case! It hurts like hell!
ALISA BERINA
(to MARISA)
The bone is shattered.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
What’s that? What’s that?
MARISA NEVSKYA
Your thigh bone, comrade. It’s badly broken.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
A soldier who can’t run is as good as dead.
ALISA BERINA
We’ll get you out of here.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
No. If you try to lift me, you’ll be easy targets. Just leave me. Come back later.
MARISA NEVSKYA
No, comrade. We’ll stay with you until the sniper leaves.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Until the sniper leaves? You stupid fools! Snipers never leave! They’d outwait the devil himself to get a kill.
ALISA BERINA
We’ll come back, we promise.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Sure,sure, get out of here.
ALISA BERINA
Come on, Marisa…we can’t do anything more.
MARISA NEVSKYA
We’ll get help, comrade.
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
Stop talking and go, for the love of god!
(MARISA and ALISA crawl offstage, keeping as low as possible.)
PRIVATE FEDOROVA
(drifting into a semi-conscious state)
Mama, I need you to help me. I’m hurt. Tell me what to do, please; I’m listening but you’ll have to speak loudly because there’s so much noise. I’ll try to get up; I’ll try.
(She raises herself up. We hear a shot, and she falls dead. LUDMILA now goes into a prone position, as if waiting for a shot at the sniperwho killed PRIVATE FEDOROVA. ALYOSHA joins her. ALISA and MARISA enter on the opposite side but remain almost offstage, in a low position.)
MARISA NEVSKYA
Comrade Pavlichenko! The sniper must be on the roof of that warehouse.
ALISA BERINA
I’ll try to show her.
(She crawls out on the stage and points.)
Up there, Lieutenant.
ALYOSHA
Get back! Don’t crawl out into the open!
MARISA NEVSKYA
Come back, Alisa!
ALISA BERINA
Maybe he’s gone. I’ll try to get to the injured soldier.
(She crawls towards Private Federova, there is a shot, and she collapses, dead.)
ALYOSHA
The third window on the second floor!
(LUDMILA fires.)
LUDMILA
Did I hit him?
ALYOSHA
I can’t tell.
MARISA NEVSKYA
I’ve got to get to Alisa!
(She crawls out, and is shot dead by the sniper. LUDMILA fires.)
ALYOSHA
You hit him! I’m sure…I saw him fall back.
LUDMILA
There are three wounded out there.
ALYOSHA
I’ll go check them.
LUDMILA
You’re sure that sniper was hit?
ALYOSHA
Have I ever been wrong?
(He crawls out, but is shot dead by the sniper.)
LUDMILA
Alyosha! Alyosha!
(She rises up slightly. Another shot. LUDMILA slumps as if dead. SERGEANT KOHLER enters.)
SERGEANT KOHLER
Five of them. Like shooting sparrows in an orchard.
(He starts to check the bodies. First MARISA, then ALISA. As he checks PRIVATE FEDOROVA, LUDMILA rolls upright with her rifle and shoots him. He falls dead, and she rises up tentatively, then goes to ALYOSHA. She checks to see if he is alive.)
LUDMILA
Alyosha, time has stopped. Death is alive in me, and life is dead.
(She crosses to stage right. The lights dim, and the actors who played the dead soldiers get up neutrally and leave the stage.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 19:
“The Walking Dead”
(TAMARA GALINA enters. After a moment, YELENA KOMINSKYA joins her.)
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Tamara, have you heard anything about Marisa and Alisa?
TAMARA GALINA
Dead.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
What?
TAMARA GALINA
Dead. Shot by a sniper.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Are you sure?
TAMARA GALINA
Their bodies have been retrieved, along with a sergeant and a private.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
So many people have been killed, but I still can’t grasp it. Marisa and Alisa were such gentle people.
TAMARA GALINA
They died honestly, doing what they truly believed was their duty.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
Yes.
(NURSE KARKOVA and NURSE KOSLOVA enter.)
NURSE KARKOVA
We are under orders to evacuate. You must assist with the loading of the wounded.
NURSE KOSLOVA
There’s no time to waste.
TAMARA GALINA
You two aren’t human anymore.
NURSE KARKOVA
What?
TAMARA GALINA
You’re the walking dead.
NURSE KOSLOVA
We’ll wake up from death when the war’s over. For now, this is best.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
I used to sing every day, but I haven’t sung for months.
TAMARA GALINA
Perhaps you should sing now.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
I can’t. I really can’t. There’s no music left in me. Not a single note.
NURSE KARKOVA
We must load the wounded onto the evacuation boat.
(They exit.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 20:
“Stopping Time Twice More”
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter and approach LUDMILA.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Lieutenant Pavlichenko.
LUDMILA
Yes?
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Lieutenant……comrade……Ludmila……your husband……he was killed this morning.
LUDMILA
My husband?
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
A mortar shell. He died instantly.
LUDMILA
I see.
(She walks away from them.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
He was a brave……
LUDMILA
Leave me alone, please…
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
As you wish.
(LIEUTENANT AKILINA and the COLONEL SAVRANSKY exit.)
LUDMILA
Soon, they will take me away from here. And so, I will stop time twice more, for Alyosha and for my husband.
(She lies down in the prone position. CORPORAL ALTMANN and PRIVATE STEINER enter.)
CORPORAL ALTMANN
Sergeant Kohler was a good soldier.
PRIVATE STEINER
He did his best to keep us alive.
CORPORAL ALTMANN
That was his gift to us. He kept us alive.
(LUDMILA fires, killing CORPORAL ALTMANN, reloads, and fires again, killing PRIVATE STEINER. She goes to them and takes out ALYOSHA’S log book.)
LUDMILA
Numbers 308 and 309.
(There is an explosion. LUDMILA falls. The stage lights dim, and PRIVATE STEINER and CORPORAL ALTMANN exit.)
END OF SCENE
Ludmila Pavlichenko by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 21:
“I ONLY KNOW I AM A SNIPER”
(NURSE KARKOVA and NURSE KOSLOVA enter. They go to LUDMILA and kneel beside her, lifting her up so that her head rests against one of them. TAMARA GALINA and YELENA KOMINSKYA enter and stand near LUDMILA.)
NURSE KARKOVA
Comrade Pavlichenko.
LUDMILA
Yes?
NURSE KOSLOVA
You have been wounded, comrade, by a mortar shell.
LUDMILA
Yes. Once long ago you told me that one day you might meet me again.
NURSE KARKOVA
And we said you would be wounded, and perhaps dying.
NURSE KOSLOVA
And you have been wounded, though you are not dying.
NURSE KARKOVA
Like we said, so long ago, we worked to save your life.
LUDMILA
I’m grateful.
NURSE KOSLOVA
Sometimes, time goes in a circle.
TAMARA GALENA
I and Yelena Ruslanovna Kominskya are here to assist Nurse Karkova and Nurse Koslova.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
We are honoured to serve you, Comrade Pavlichenko.
TAMARA GALINA
No matter what the world does to you, I am certain you will always be honest.
YELENA KOMINSKYA
I wanted to meet you, Lieutenant, in the hope that being near you would help me sing again.
(SERGEANT KAMAROV enters with PRIVATE DROSKI and PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA.)
SERGEANT KAMAROV
Lieutenant Pavlichenko, we have come to pay our respects.
PRIVATE DROSKI
It was an honour to work with you, Lieutenant.
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Are you feeling well, Lieutenant?
LUDMILA
Feeling?
PRIVATE ZEROVSKYA
Yes. Are you feeling well?
LUDMILA
I feel nothing, Anna Constantinovna.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
They are trying to evacuate us. Perhaps we’ll all live to fight together another day.
LUDMILA
I have killed three hundred and nine men, Sergeant Kamarov.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
You are a hero, Lieutenant Pavlichenko.
LUDMILA
Am I? Alyosha is dead. Private Federova too.
PRIVATE DROSKI
You did your best, Ludmila Mikhailovna. And you are one of the world’s greatest snipers.
LUDMILA
What does that mean?
PRIVATE DROSKI
It means that you are famous, and we are the lucky ones who knew you during this war.
LUDMILA
You think you know me?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
You are weak and tired, Lieutenant. When you are strong again, everything will become clear and you will know what to do.
LUDMILA
Everything is very clear, Sergeant. I swear to you, everything is clear.
SERGEANT KAMAROV
You have something in you, Ludmila Mikhailovna, that sets you apart from us.
LUDMILA
What is it?
SERGEANT KAMAROV
You are always calm. Always. It’s as if you know something that the rest of us don’t understand.
LUDMILA
I only know that I am alive. And knowing I am alive makes me calm. And when I am calm, I am absolutely still. Perhaps that’s why death has chosen me to be his companion in the taking of three hundred and nine lives. My stillness makes me a good sniper.
(COLONEL SAVRANSKY and LIEUTENANT AKILINA enter.)
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
Lieutenant Pavlichenko, you are to be evacuated immediately.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
There is a submarine waiting offshore to take you to sea.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
You are a hero, Lieutenant Pavlichenko. The government wants to reward you.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
They want to send you on a goodwill trip to North America.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
President Roosevelt of the United States would like to meet you.
LIEUTENANT AKILINA
The people of the Soviet Union salute you.
COLONEL SAVRANSKY
You are a hero to us all.
LUDMILA
I only know that I am alive. I only know that I am absolutely still. I only know that I am a sniper.
END OF THE PLAY.