Chekhov's penultimate play has inspired a bewildering variety of
interpretations - both in criticism and in performance - since its
premiere at the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1901. Tri sestry has
been viewed both as tragedy and comedy, as a testimony for the eternal
yearnings for love, happiness and meaning, and as a devastating
indictment of the folly of inert gentility. Its characters have been
seen as worthy embodiments of the universal 'human condition', or as
passive products of pre-revolutionary Russian privilege. Either way,
the sisters are poignant...