Since the collapse of the Soviet regime, the Rusakov family has suffered from the general displacement and uncertainty (though not quite the battle for survival) that most living in the lands now dubbed ‘the former Soviet Union’ know well. Only several years ago, before the fall, the Rusakovs, consisting of three archetypal sisters and a father who died a year before the setting of the play, split their time between a town house in the capital of Tallinn and a house by the sea, where the play takes place. Now, with Estonian independence, the already tenuous position of this family of second-generation emigres from Russia, whose patriarch was a Party official, seems even more questionable.
The lounging sisters of an early scene exude more pathos and nostalgia than immediate concern for the preservation of their social position, creature comforts, and idealistic philosophies. When they hear that their brother will soon visit with their businessman cousin from Moscow, they do not realize that this reunion will not be like the innocent childhood days of running on the beach and wandering the garden. They are forced to realize their mistake when their cousin, Vassily, shows up with a voluptuous, leather-clad prostitute on his arm.
Lauren DeMille, The Columbia Spectator, Columbia University, October 1997
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