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 reminders of human disappointment,
frustration, loneliness and the passage of time. The play remains a firm favourite with audiences, both in Russia and in the
English-speaking world, and must be considered a fundamental work of twentieth-century European drama.