This play has been translated into English from the Russian original.

Are there any expressions or ways of speaking that strike you as more Russian than English? For example, would an adult man be addressed by an older man as my darling or my treasure in an English play?

Read through the play carefully, and find expressions that you think are not used in contemporary English, and contrast these with idiomatic modem English expressions that also occur in the play.

Many expressions or ways of speaking are in the play that strike as more Russian than English-

• You must excuse my apron and negligee.

• Double-faced intriguer.

• The stuffed sausage.

• What a weight off my shoulder, ouf.

• We are shelling peas for drying.

• Ouf, frump, sausage, egad.

• Spit it out, she's like a lovesick cat, malicious.

• Rascal, the villain, the scare crow, house-keeper.

In an English play an adult man is highly unlikely to be addressed by an older man as ‘my darling’ or ‘my treasure’. [Hints: ouf, frump, sausage, egad etc. are the words not used in Modern English.]