I read this play in a read-aloud group where I "played" the part of Vassilisa. She's basically evil incarnate, so it was great fun! ;)
But the most interesting character here is definitely the pilgrim Luka, who seems (to me) to proselytize in slightly bad faith. Luka spends a few nights at a shelter, where the entire play is set, and catalyzes the action of our characters, mostly poor and downtrodden, people utterly failed by the Russian state.
I think people in bad faith are fascinating: they believe, yet they know it's only their belief that makes it so. Luka is a kind of Pascal, whose wagers are based on values other than truth-value, though he's not necessarily aiming at the afterlife. He thinks that life, even in the depths, could be improved by donning a pair of rose-colored glasses. God, human goodness, cures to all our ills and evils, paradise on earth, all exist if we believe in them. He spreads hope where it could be dangerous.
"why is truth so important to you? Just think! Truth may spell death to you!" he says. "Truth doesn’t always heal a wounded soul."
A character asks him if there is a God. "If you have faith, there is; if you haven’t, there isn’t . . . whatever you believe in, exists . . ."
Of Vasya, a thief Luka is urging to reform: "Only tell him every now and then that he’s a good lad so that he won’t forget it—and he’ll believe you. Just you keep on telling him “Vasya, you’re a good man—don’t you forget it!”
The prostitute Nastya is speaking of a lover who didn't exist, insisting she was loved once. The other characters try to put an end to her speeches, but Luka says, "Now, now! Wait, people! Don’t interfere! Show a little respect to your neighbors . . . it isn’t the word that matters, but what’s in back of the word. That’s what matters!" "If you believe you had a real love affair, then you did—yes!" He implores the others to "be nice to her. Being nice to people never does them any harm . . ."
But in the end, it does do harm. Real harm. In some cases, the crash after the death of a false hope is too much to handle. Hope, after all, is something we have to keep creating, day by day, especially when reality gives us little to shore it up. Is it a lie? It's an art, it requires imagination. Hope, like Luka, is a fleeting thing; it passes and then you must find the reserves to create it all over again, sometimes in the face of overwhelming fact.