YALTA,
October 30, 1903.
... Many thanks for your letter and telegram. Letters are very precious to
me now--in the first place, because I am utterly alone here; and in the
second, because I sent the play three weeks ago and only got your letter
yesterday, and if it were not for my wife, I should know nothing at all and
might imagine any mortal thing. When I was writing Lopahin, I thought of it
as a part for you. If for any reason you don’t care for it, take the part
of Gaev. Lopahin is a merchant, of course, but he is a very decent person
in every sense. He must behave with perfect decorum, like an educated man,
with no petty ways or tricks of any sort, and it seemed to me this part,
the central one of the play, would come out brilliantly in your hands....
In choosing an actor for the part you must remember that Varya, a serious
and religious girl, is in love with Lopahin; she wouldn’t be in love with a
mere money-grubber....