Scholar Anne Wilson interprets the play as an exploration of recent debate in Canada about non-traditional marriages and relationships, writing that 'the play's politics and key adaptive gestures coincide with transformations in Canada around orthodoxies associated with gender roles and families'. Wilson also notes Thiessen's exploration of the relationship between sexual freedom and patriarchal norms of male succession. She draws attention to the repeated emphasis on imagery of the sea, flow, and voyages to express the fluid nature of desire and human intimacies.