Stoppard’s "The Coast of Utopia" is a stage trilogy on the daunting topic of Russian intelligentsia in the age of Socialism. It is confusing and exhilarating and painful and so very well written (and almost compulsively readable). Though each play is said to be self-contained, they also feed upon each other and together form a complete picture. The story begins in the "Voyage" and narrows its focus to the character of Herzen in "Shipwreck." "Salvage" offers a glimpse of what life must have been like for these men and women who spent so much of their time moving toward the future only to come to the end and wonder at what they also left behind. ( )

breathtaking ( )