[Deemer]
(Treplev speaks to the audience.)
TREPLEV: I'd rather have a cabin in the woods, away from all this. A writer needs privacy! What kind of privacy is here, with mother always showing up and strutting about like she's still on stage. Mother is always on stage.
(Trigorin enters.)
TRIGORIN: Here you are. Will this become your study?
TREPLEV: In time, I expect it will.
TRIGORIN: Very nice. Reminds me of my own writing room early in my career. Like here, I was able to look out onto a garden. It's a good view for a writer.
TREPLEV: I'd rather have an isolated cabin in the woods.
TRIGORIN: I've had that, too. There are advantages and disadvantages to
both.
TREPLEV: It's hard to get any work done when mother is here.
TRIGORIN: You need to put your foot down and demand silence and privacy.
TREPLEV: Easier said than done.
TRIGORIN: Who said a writer's life is easy? You need to take control of your career.
TREPLEV: I don't have a career.
TRIGORIN: And you never will until you take charge! Your audience won't find you. You have to fine them.
TREPLEV: Maybe I'm my only audience.
TRIGORIN: That's the voice of youth and despair. Believe me, I know it well.
I once thought the same thing myself.
TREPLEV: You didn't expect to have an audience when you started?
TRIGORIN: Oh, I wanted one, a huge one! I wanted to become the new Tolstoy! I've always been ambitious. But wanting an audience and actually having one are two different things.
TREPLEV: How did you get one?
TRIGORIN: I wrote every day. And everything I wrote I sent out. I suffered rejection after rejection, so much rejection that many a less dedicated writer would have quit. Many a more talented writer has quit, believe me! Endurance is much more important than talent for a young writer. You can always improve your craft. But if you give up, if you stop sending out your work before you find that audience that is just waiting for you out there, then your career never gets off the ground. So I wish you endurance above all else.
TREPLEV: I wonder if I have it.
TRIGORIN: Of course you do! Dig in! And never give up!
TREPLEV: You're inspiring. I didn't think you liked me.
TRIGORIN: Of course I like you. Now come on, you're coming with me.
TREPLEV: Where?
TRIGORIN: You're going to show me the best fishing holes in this lake of yours.
TREPLEV: I didn't know you were a fisherman.
TRIGORIN: That remains to be seen. Will you be my guide?
TREPLEV: Of course.
{They leave for the boat house.)