Brian Friel s translation of Three Sisters was undertaken primarily as an act of love and, since the only Chekhov translations available to the Irish Theatre at the time (1981) were American and English, in the hope that it might make the unique experience of Chekhov more accessible to Irish audiences. This act of love and homage is natural and fitting for the spirit of the Russian master has informed much of Friel s writing, in stories and plays. Here he presents brilliantly the social atmosphere, its characters resolution to return to Moscow, their great passions and epiphanies, and their gradual self-realization.