Act three
Early spring. The backyard of the shelter, called the "Wasteland". Natasha, Nastya, Luka, Baron and Kleshch are located here. Bubnov looks out the window of the shelter. Everyone listens to Nastya talking about the fatal love of a handsome student for her. The Baron notes with a laugh that last time the student’s name was different. Luka stands up for the girl.
It’s not the word that matters, but why the word is said? - that's the problem!
Nastya continues to talk with tears in her eyes. The Baron laughs at her again and says that the story is from the book “Fatal Love.” Luka takes Nastya away, tenderly comforting her.
Bubnov wonders why people love to lie so much. Natasha admits that she sometimes imagines that someone special will come soon and something unprecedented will happen to her. The Baron sympathizes with Natasha - it’s hard for her to live with her sister and Kostylev, who brutally beat her.
The Baron leaves to make peace with Nastya. Returning Luka tells how he served as a watchman at a dacha near Tomsk. One day two thieves broke into the dacha. Luke took pity on them and did not kill them. The thieves turned out to be escaped convict settlers who climbed into the house to look for food. This is how they lived all winter - the three of them guarded the dacha. “A person can teach goodness,” Luke concludes.
Bubnov says that he doesn’t know how to lie and prefers to tell the truth. Then Kleshch jumps up, shouts that he hates Luka, his consolations and Bubnov’s truth, and runs away.
Ash appears from around the corner and approaches Natasha. She is free today - her sister and Kostylev went to the cemetery, and then to church, for the all-night vigil. Luka thoughtfully tells Bubnov that “you can’t always heal the soul with truth,” and talks about a man who lived in Siberia, who believed that there was a righteous land in the world, where everyone helps and respects each other. This faith helped him endure poverty and hardship. One day a man met an exiled scientist who proved to him that the righteous land does not exist. Then the man punched the scientist in the ear, and then went home and hanged himself.
Bubnov doesn’t believe it, laughs and disappears from the window. Luka declares that he will soon go “to the crests,” where, according to rumors, they have discovered a new faith - “people are looking for everything, they want everything - the best.” Luka believes: “those who really want it will find it,” but you need to help people and respect them.
Ash again invites Natasha to leave with him and promises to give up stealing.
You have to live like this... so that you can ‹…› respect yourself...
Vaska asks Natasha to help him change, to call him not a thief like the others, but “by another name.” Luka supports Ash, but the girl does not believe Vaska and does not love him. Ash continues to persuade the girl, and Vasilisa stands in the window and listens. Finally, Natasha agrees, but promises to hang herself if Ash hits her. Luka encourages the girl - “he needs you more than you need him.”
Vasilisa mocks her sister, hinting at the male impotence of her former lover. Kostylev arrives and drives Natasha to put on the samovar. Ash does not want to let the girl go, but she obediently leaves. A quarrel begins between Vaska and Vasilisa, which is stopped by Luka.
Kostylev already knows that Luka is about to leave. He believes that it is not right for a person to wander.
A person must determine himself to the place... and not get confused in vain on earth...
A person is obliged to work and bring benefits. And the wanderer must remain silent, even if he has learned some of his truth, not interfere in people’s affairs, hide in the forests and pray “for all worldly sins.” Luke is not a wanderer, since he does not have a passport.
Luke objects: there are people different from others, like fertile land - “whatever you don’t sow on it, it will give birth,” but Kostylev and God himself will not correct such people. An angry Kostylev kicks Luka out of the shelter.
Kostylev leaves, and Bubnov supports the old man - “it’s always better to leave on time.” He himself “saved himself from hard labor by leaving on time.” Bubnov's wife and lover wanted to kill him. Bubnov decided to kill his wife, but changed his mind and left, leaving all his property and leather workshop.
Satin and Actor appear, who had not drunk all day and was seriously planning to look for a hospital. Satin tells Luka that in his youth he danced, played on stage, made people laugh, and then “killed the scoundrel in passion and irritation,” defending his sister. Served four years in prison, my sister died. Now Satin is no longer in a normal life - he has become a player.
The Tick arrives. He sold all his tools to bury his wife, and now he has nothing to work with. Satin advises him not to do anything, just burden the earth, but Klesh is ashamed to live like this.
Then a noise is heard from the Kostylevs’ window - Vasilisa is beating her sister again. The actor brings Ash, the beaten Natasha with scalded legs is taken out of the house - a boiling samovar was thrown over her. Vasilisa follows, still trying to hit her sister. Alyosha interferes with her.
Ash hits Kostylev, he falls and dies. Vasilisa accuses Vaska of murder. He does not remain in debt - he shouts that it was Vasilisa who persuaded him to kill her husband. Natasha decides that at the same time they mutilated her on purpose so that she would not interfere. While semi-conscious, she curses Ash.
Act two
Evening, same room. Luka is sitting by Anna's bedside. A large company is playing cards, Mite and Actor are watching the game. Bubnov and Medvedev are playing checkers, excited exclamations can be heard from both groups.
Anna complains to Luka that she saw nothing from her husband except beatings and insults. Because of Mite's greed, the woman starved all her life and walked around in rags. Now she is afraid that torment awaits her in the next world. Luka consoles the unfortunate woman, convinces her that after death nothing will happen, and she will rest.
At this time, the Tatar accuses the Baron of cheating - he hid the card in his sleeve. The Tatar, spitting out of annoyance, leaves, and the Baron and the Actor are going to drink their winnings and invite Luka, but the old man refuses.
The actor tries to recite his favorite poems to Luka, but it turns out that he no longer remembers them. Luka says that forgetting a loved one is bad, “the whole soul is in a loved one,” and suggests that the Actor be treated for drunkenness. According to the old man, in a certain city there is a free hospital for drunkards. The actor needs to abstain from drinking for several days, and Luka will definitely remember the name of the city.
A person can do anything... if only he wants...
At first, the Actor likes the idea of starting life over, but then he seems to wake up, calls Luka an eccentric and leaves.
Anna asks Luka to talk to her. Mite is trying to say something to his wife, but she is no longer interested in him. She tells the old man that she wasted away because of her husband's beatings. Luka consoles her: “Death - it calms everything down... it is gentle for us... If you die, you will rest.”
A disheveled, gloomy and drunk Ash enters. A man is dying in the room, but no one cares, only Bubnov is happy that Anna will no longer cough at night.
Ash asks Medvedev how Natasha is, whether her sister beat her badly. Medvedev replies that the thief’s family affairs do not concern him and threatens to catch Ash. Vaska, in response, promises to drag Vasilisa and Kostylev, who were buying stolen goods from him, along with him, and to involve Medvedev himself in this. The policeman becomes confused, retreats and leaves.
Bubnov advises Ash to be careful, Luka supports him. He believes that Ash should go to Siberia. Vaska replies that he cannot escape Siberia - since childhood he was called “thief, son of a thief” - but he does not want to get there ahead of time. Luke convinces Ash that Siberia is “the golden side... whoever has strength and intelligence will be there like a cucumber in a greenhouse.” Vaska is sure that the old man is lying, but Luka says that not everyone needs the truth, for many it is fatal.
Ash asks Luke if there is a God. The old man, smiling, replies: “If you believe, it is; If you don’t believe it, no... What you believe in is what it is.” Vaska looks at the old man in surprise and intently. He almost guessed who Luka was, but then Vasilisa came in and called Ash into his room.
Luka pretends to go out, hides on the stove and hears their conversation. Ash admits that he never loved Vasilisa.
A woman must have a soul...
Vasilisa offers Ash money and Natasha as a wife if he kills her bloodsucker husband.
Kostylev quietly enters, sees his wife with Vaska and raises a scandal. Ash grabs Kostylev by the collar, but then Luka yawns and pretends as if he had just woken up. The old man advises the thief not to listen to the devil Vasilisa, who will kill her husband even without the help of Ash, but to take Natasha and leave.
Then Luke notices that Anna has died. She and Ash go to the tavern to inform Tick about the death of his wife, and a drunken Actor and Natasha enter the room. The actor finally remembered his favorite poems. He says goodbye to Natasha and declares that he is leaving for a hospital for drunkards, and after recovery he will return to the stage under his old pseudonym Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky.
Without a name there is no person...
Kleshch and other residents enter. Kleshch has no money to bury his wife - he drank it all away. The inhabitants of the shelter promise to collect as much as they can. Natasha is afraid of the deceased and asks Luka to accompany her. When the old man returns, the others calmly go to bed - the corpse does not bother them.
