Act 1 Summary

On the veranda of a country home in Russia on a warm summer afternoon, Marina sits by a table set for tea and knits a stocking. Astrov paces nearby. Marina offers him a glass of tea. When he refuses, she offers him vodka instead. He tells her he doesn't drink every day and changes the subject, asking her how long they've known each other. Marina struggles to remember, and says he's changed a lot: he's older, he's less good looking, and he likes his vodka. Astrov explains that he drinks because he's tired from working all the time, and because "life is a dull, stupid dirty business." He jokes about having an oversized moustache, about having gone a bit strange, and about how he wants nothing, needs nothing and loves no one except possibly her. He becomes lost in a memory of a...