At this time of families coming together for holiday cheer and recrimination, “The Memory of Water” offers a cautionary tale.
Mother Road Theatre Company works its magic with this carefully constructed script. I loved the production I saw at The Filling Station. The cast is excellent, the direction crisp and thoughtful, and the impact strong.
English playwright Shelagh Stephenson sets “The Memory of Water” in the bedroom of recently deceased Vi, the mother of three estranged daughters who have returned for her funeral.
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If you go WHAT: “The Memory of Water” by Shelagh Stephenson. WHEN: Thursday & Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. through Dec. 24. WHERE: The Filling Station, 1024 4th St. SW. HOW MUCH: $10 (Thursday), $18 general, $12 seniors & students. Call 243-0596 for reservations. |
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It is the dead of winter. The three sisters are very different individuals who, nonetheless, embody aspects of their mother whether they like it or not. The eldest sister Teresa sees herself as the default family caretaker and the only one capable of action. “If it wasn’t for me, nothing would ever get done.” She seems the most “normal” with a husband, Frank, with whom she works dispensing “natural supplements.”
After getting drunk she is ready to display her resentment and bitterness and to divulge family secrets. Mary, the play’s central character, is next. Her mother appears to her like the Ghost of Christmas Past. With more education than her sisters, Mary is a successful neurologist. For five years she has been involved with David, a TV doctor. He is married and unlikely to change the status quo.
Catherine, the youngest, is still a wild child at age 33. Fueled by drugs and drink, she seeks love and companionship from men but settles for sex. Directors Mark Hisler and Vic Browder have chosen and guided their cast well.
Each speaks rapidly with a British accent, and they play off each other in the various permutations of characters. Pip Lustgarten portrays a wonderfully over-the-top Catherine. She flits about with the metabolism (and attraction) of a hummingbird.
Wendy Scott plays a solid Teresa with a mean streak accentuated by alcohol. Her voice has an edge “like a blunt saw.” Julia Thudium is brilliant as Mary. Her character is sardonic, funny and finally heartbreaking. Vivian Nesbitt offers fine support as the departed Vi.
When asked by Mary what Alzheimer’s was like, she answers: “Like I had holes in my brain. … And then you don’t know what you mean when you say ‘I’.” Nesbitt projects Vi’s disappointment and pain that complements her daughters’. Surrounded by this family, Tom Schuch as Mike and Morse Bicknell as Frank seem healthy.
The play is about memory – the refracted glimpse that is all that remains of the past – differing with each individual. And it is about death. “The Memory of Water” is seriously funny.
