# The Power of Darkness: every role by lines, words, and stage time

> Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude. 27 speaking roles, 23,433 words, about 167 minutes of speech.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/plays/the-power-of-darkness
- Last updated: 2026-10-08

**Matryóna** has the most to say in The Power of Darkness: about 603 lines and 5,337 words, 22.8% of the play. Tolstoy’s peasant tragedy follows Nikíta, a farm laborer drawn into adultery, poisoning, and worse by his lover Anísya and his own mother, Matryóna. Matryóna, the schemer behind it all, is the largest part, with about 23% of the words, ahead of Nikíta and Anísya at about 18% and 17%. Mítritch, the old drunken laborer, has the longest single speech, in Act 5.

- Speaking roles: 27
- Scenes: 7
- Words: 23,433
- Speech time: 167 min

## Every role, largest first

| Role | Lines | Words | Share | Minutes | Scenes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Matryóna | 603 | 5,337 | 22.8% | 38.1 | 6 |
| Nikíta | 533 | 4,205 | 17.9% | 30.0 | 7 |
| Anísya | 519 | 4,075 | 17.4% | 29.1 | 7 |
| Mítritch | 310 | 2,746 | 11.7% | 19.6 | 4 |
| Akím | 278 | 2,380 | 10.2% | 17.0 | 3 |
| Nan | 146 | 1,098 | 4.7% | 7.8 | 6 |
| Peter | 123 | 951 | 4.1% | 6.8 | 2 |
| Marína | 96 | 807 | 3.4% | 5.8 | 2 |
| Akoulína | 85 | 596 | 2.5% | 4.3 | 4 |
| Neighbour | 66 | 509 | 2.2% | 3.6 | 2 |
| First Girl | 16 | 126 | 0.5% | 0.9 | 1 |
| First Neighbour | 14 | 118 | 0.5% | 0.8 | 1 |
| The Father | 14 | 107 | 0.5% | 0.8 | 1 |
| Husband | 8 | 67 | 0.3% | 0.5 | 1 |
| Police Officer | 9 | 57 | 0.2% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Second Girl | 8 | 55 | 0.2% | 0.4 | 1 |
| Second Neighbour | 7 | 46 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Matchmaker | 7 | 44 | 0.2% | 0.3 | 1 |
| Martha | 3 | 21 | 0.1% | 0.2 | 1 |
| The Driver | 3 | 19 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| The Best Man | 2 | 17 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Peasant’s Voice | 2 | 14 | 0.1% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Voice | 2 | 11 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| A Voice in the Crowd | 1 | 10 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Marína’s Husband | 1 | 9 | 0% | 0.1 | 1 |
| Elder | 1 | 5 | 0% | 0.0 | 1 |
| Girls | 1 | 3 | 0% | 0.0 | 1 |

## Who speaks in which scene

Words each role speaks in each scene (scene: words). Scenes: Act 1 = Act 1; Act 2 = Act 2; Act 3 = Act 3; 4.1 = Act 4, Scene 1; 4.2 = Act 4, Scene 2; 5.1 = Act 5, Scene 1; 5.2 = Act 5, Scene 2.

- **Matryóna**: Act 1 (1,767), Act 2 (1,845), 4.1 (1,152), 4.2 (156), 5.1 (358), 5.2 (59)
- **Nikíta**: Act 1 (1,053), Act 2 (286), Act 3 (961), 4.1 (623), 4.2 (151), 5.1 (809), 5.2 (322)
- **Anísya**: Act 1 (782), Act 2 (1,248), Act 3 (1,150), 4.1 (487), 4.2 (47), 5.1 (240), 5.2 (121)
- **Mítritch**: Act 3 (818), 4.1 (208), 4.2 (1,294), 5.1 (426)
- **Akím**: Act 1 (983), Act 3 (1,254), 5.2 (143)
- **Nan**: Act 1 (229), Act 2 (20), Act 3 (159), 4.1 (97), 4.2 (537), 5.1 (56)
- **Peter**: Act 1 (597), Act 2 (354)
- **Marína**: Act 1 (268), 5.1 (539)
- **Akoulína**: Act 1 (188), Act 2 (65), Act 3 (304), 5.2 (39)
- **Neighbour**: Act 2 (194), Act 3 (315)

## The longest speeches

| Speech | Scene | Words | Lines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mítritch: “Didn’t I say I won’t! Oh, Nikíta, you’re as stupid as a hog! I love you, but you’re a fool! You see that I’m drunk … devil take you! You think I need you? … You just look at me; I’m a Non … fool, can’t say it—Noncommissioned Officer of Her Majesty’s very First Regiment of Grenadier Guards! I’ve served Tsar and country, loyal and true! But who am I? You think I’m a warrior? No, I’m not a warrior; I’m the very least of men, a poor lost orphan! I swore not to drink, and now I had a smoke, and … Well then, do you think I’m afraid of you? No fear; I’m afraid of no man! I’ve taken to drink, and I’ll drink! Now I’ll go it for a fortnight; I’ll go it hard! I’ll drink my last shirt; I’ll drink my cap; I’ll pawn my passport; and I’m afraid of no one! They flogged me in the army to stop me drinking! They switched and switched! “Well,” they say, “will you leave off?” “No,” says I! Why should I be afraid of them? Here I am! Such as I am, God made me! I swore off drinking, and didn’t drink. Now I’ve took to drink, and I’ll drink! And I fear no man! ’Cos I don’t lie; but just as … Why should one mind them—such muck as they are! “Here you are,” I say; that’s me. A priest told me, the devil’s the biggest bragger! “As soon,” says he, “as you begin to brag, you get frightened; and as soon as you fear men, then the hoofed one just collars you and pushes you where he likes!” But as I don’t fear men, I’m easy! I can spit in the devil’s beard, and at the sow his mother! He can’t do me no harm! There, put that in your pipe!” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 313 | 32 |
| Nikíta: “Here’s a go! Oh these women! What a fix! Says you should have thought of it a year ago. When’s one to think beforehand? When’s one to think? Why, last year this Anísya dangled after me. What was I to do? Am I a monk? The master died; and I covered my sin as was proper, so I was not to blame there. Aren’t there lots of such cases? And then those powders. Did I put her up to that? Why, had I known what the bitch was up to, I’d have killed her! I’m sure I should have killed her! She’s made me her partner in these horrors—that jade! And she became loathsome to me from that day! She became loathsome, loathsome to me as soon as mother told me about it. I can’t bear the sight of her! Well then, how could I live with her? And then it begun. … That wench began hanging round. Well, what was I to do! If I had not done it, someone else would. And this is what comes of it! Still I’m not to blame in this either. Oh, what a go! They are bold, these women! What a plan to think of! But I won’t have a hand in it!” | Act 4, Scene 1 | 212 | 22 |
| Matryóna: “Dear me, here’s news! D’you think Mother Matryóna didn’t know? Eh, lassie—Mother Matryóna’s been ground, and ground again, ground fine! This much I can tell you, my jewel: Mother Matryóna can see through a brick wall three feet thick. I know it all, my jewel! I know what young wives need sleeping draughts for, so I’ve brought some along. As much as is wanted, I see, and what’s not wanted I neither see nor perceive! There! Mother Matryóna has also been young. I had to know a thing or two to live with my old fool. I know seventy-and-seven dodges. But I see your old man’s quite seedy, quite seedy! How’s one to live with such as him? Why, if you pricked him with a hayfork it wouldn’t fetch blood. See if you don’t bury him before the spring. Then you’ll need someone in the house. Well, what’s wrong with my son? He’ll do as well as another. Then where’s the advantage of my taking him away from a good place? Am I my child’s enemy?” | Act 1 | 181 | 19 |
| Mítritch: “Why, in their own house; that’s where! We came to a village, the soldiers began hunting about in the house, when suddenly there’s that same little girl lying on the floor, flat on her stomach. We were going to give her a knock on the head, but all at once I felt that sorry, that I took her up in my arms; but no, she wouldn’t let me! Made herself so heavy, quite a hundredweight, and caught hold where she could with her hands, so that one couldn’t get them off! Well, so I began stroking her head. It was so bristly—just like a hedgehog! So I stroked and stroked, and she quieted down at last. I soaked a bit of rusk and gave it her. She understood that, and began nibbling. What were we to do with her? We took her; took her, and began feeding and feeding her, and she got so used to us that we took her with us on the march, and so she went about with us. Ah, she was a fine girl!” | Act 4, Scene 2 | 180 | 18 |
| Matryóna: “About your affairs, about your future. If you don’t take trouble in good time you’ll get nothing. You know Iván Moséitch? Well, I’ve been to him too. I went there the other day. I had something else to settle, you know. Well, so I sat and chatted awhile and then came to the point. “Tell me, Iván Moséitch,” says I, “how’s one to manage an affair of this kind? Supposing,” says I, “a peasant as is a widower married a second wife, and supposing all the children he has is a daughter by the first wife, and a daughter by the second. Then,” says I, “when that peasant dies, could an outsider get hold of the homestead by marrying the widow? Could he,” says I, “give both the daughters in marriage and remain master of the house himself?” “Yes, he could,” says he, “but,” says he, “it would mean a deal of trouble; still the thing could be managed by means of money, but if there’s no money it’s no good trying.”” | Act 2 | 176 | 18 |
| Mítritch: “You wait. You’ll see it comes just to the same thing. Now don’t forget how you’ve skinned me. And Anísya, say, has got some money lying idle. She does not know what to do with it, besides, she’s a woman, and does not know how to use it. She comes to you. “Couldn’t you make some profit with my money too?” she says. “Why not?” say you, and you wait. Before the summer I come again and say, “Give me another tenner, and I’ll be obliged.” Then you find out if my hide isn’t all gone, and if I can be skinned again you give me Anísya’s money. But supposing I’m clean shorn—have nothing to eat—then you see I can’t be fleeced any more, and you say, “Go your way, friend,” and you look out for another, and lend him your own and Anísya’s money and skin him. That’s what the bank is. So it goes round and round. It’s a cute thing, old fellow!” | Act 3 | 170 | 17 |
| Matryóna: “So my old man—the old blockhead—off he goes: “Marry, marry,” he says, “he must marry her and cover the sin,” he says. “We must take the lad home,” he says, “and he shall marry,” he says. Well, I did my best to make him change his mind, but, dear me, no. So, all right, thinks I—I’ll try another dodge. One always has to entice them fools in this way, just pretend to be of their mind, and when it comes to the point one goes and turns it all one’s own way. You know, a woman has time to think seventy-and-seven thoughts while falling off the oven, so how’s such as he to see through it? “Well, yes,” says I, “it would be a good job—only we must consider well beforehand. Why not go and see our son, and talk it over with Peter Ignátitch and hear what he has to say?” So here we are.” | Act 1 | 161 | 17 |
| Mítritch: “Get along! ’Tain’t a thing a woman can understand! You look here, I’ll make it all clear to you. Mind and remember. You see, suppose you’ve got some money, and I, for instance, have spring coming on, my land’s idle, I’ve got no seeds, or I have to pay taxes. So, you see, I go to you. “Akím,” I say, “give us a ten-rouble note, and when I’ve harvested in autumn I’ll return it, and till two acres for you besides, for having obliged me!” And you, seeing I’ve something to fall back on—a horse say, or a cow—you say, “No, give two or three roubles for the obligation,” and there’s an end of it. I’m stuck in the mud, and can’t do without. So I say, “All right!” and take a tenner. In the autumn, when I’ve made my turnover, I bring it back, and you squeeze the extra three roubles out of me.” | Act 3 | 158 | 16 |
| Mítritch: “What an idea! Germans! Not Germans, but Asiatics. They are just the same as Jews, but still not Jews. Polish, yet Asiatics. Curls … or, Curdlys is their name. … I’ve forgotten what it is! We called the girl Sáshka. She was a fine girl, Sáshka was! There now, I’ve forgotten everything I used to know! But that girl—the deuce take her—seems to be before my eyes now! Out of all my time of service, I remember how they flogged me, and I remember that girl. That’s all I remember! She’d hang round one’s neck, and one ’ud carry her so. That was a girl—if you wanted a better you’d not find one! We gave her away afterwards. The captain’s wife took her to bring up as her daughter. So—she was all right! How sorry the soldiers were to let her go!” | Act 4, Scene 2 | 146 | 15 |
| Marína: “I might go in, but I don’t like to, because I have not met him since that day he threw me over. It’s more than a year now. But I’d have liked to have a peep and see how he lives with his Anísya. People say they don’t get on. She’s a coarse woman, and with a character of her own. I should think he’s remembered me more than once. He’s been caught by the idea of a comfortable life and has changed me for it. But, God help him, I don’t cherish ill-will! Then it hurt! Oh dear, it was pain! But now it’s worn away and been forgotten. But I’d like to have seen him. Look there! Why, he is coming here! Have the girls told him? How’s it he has left his guests? I’ll go away! And how sullen he looks!” | Act 5, Scene 1 | 145 | 15 |

## Small roles that can be doubled

These pairs of small roles never speak in the same scene, so one actor could play both. Check entrances and silent appearances in your script before you cast it this way.

- Nan and Police Officer
- Nan and Matchmaker
- Nan and The Driver
- Nan and The Best Man
- Nan and Elder
- Peter and First Girl
- Peter and First Neighbour
- Peter and The Father
- Peter and Husband
- Peter and Police Officer
- Peter and Second Girl
- Peter and Second Neighbour

## Questions actors ask

### Who has the most lines in The Power of Darkness?

Matryóna, with about 603 lines and 5,337 words, 22.8% of everything spoken in the play. Nikíta is next, with about 533 lines (17.9%).

### How long is The Power of Darkness?

The full text has 23,433 spoken words, about 167 minutes at 140 words a minute before pauses, scene changes, and cuts. Most productions cut the text, so running times vary.

### How many speaking roles are in The Power of Darkness?

27 named roles speak in this edition, across 7 scenes. 17 of them have less than 2% of the words, which is why small parts are often doubled.

## How we count

Counts are computed from the full text of the [Standard Ebooks edition](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leo-tolstoy/the-power-of-darkness/louise-maude_aylmer-maude) (public domain; retrieved 2026-11-11). Words are every spoken word, with stage directions removed. Lines are verse lines as printed, plus prose at 10 words a line, because prose has no fixed line breaks; editions differ, so other sources give slightly different line counts. Time is words at 140 words a minute, before pauses and stage business. A role is counted in a scene when it speaks there. To count a script that is not in the library, paste it into the [script line counter](https://www.offbook.com/tools/script-line-counter).