The Memory of Water

The Memory of Water is a play written by Shelagh Stephenson. It tells the story of three estranged sisters returning to the family home for their mother's funeral. As they revisit their past it becomes clear that their memories are both subjective and unreliable exposing hidden lies, self betrayal aand personal unresolved crises. The death of their mother impacts on the sisters in different ways but each is forced to face unsettling and often poignant home truths that challenge their current lifestyles and ambitions.

When I entered the Village Hall the floor was set out with round tables and chairs. The stage was open and on it were six chairs, a table with various objects on it and a solitary microphone in the middle - very strange I thought! Then it all became clear when, following 'domestic announcements' we were told to imagine we were at home, having a drink and listening to a radio play. I later found out that the group were originally to perform the play during the pandemic but certain actors had to pull out. During a later meeting the group decided to perform it as a radio staged version then, if anyone had to withdraw for whatever reason, someone else could more easily be slotted into the role.

When the performance started six actors entered and sat on the chairs only coming forward to stand stage front for their particular scene involvement. The three sisters were Teresa, the eldest, Mary and the youngest sibling, Catherine. Susan Devaney, as Teresa, perfectly captured the assertiveness, the sadness, the unhappiness, the anger and together with the over protectiveness towards her sisters she delivered a top-notch performance. Suzanne Alford was superb as Mary who is a doctor and has been having an affair with Mike, who is married, and is also a doctor. She is somewhat resented by her sisters and outwardly appears to be forthright, impassioned and strong but underneath this lies a very sensitive and deeply troubled person who is desperate to find out what happened to the son she had when she was fourteen after her mother arranged for him to be adopted. Suzanne conveyed all these characteristics brilliantly. Mary is the only sister who has 'contact' with their mother, Vi, sensitively and appropriately disconnectedly played by Liz McKenzie. Kathy Padley, as Catherine, wonderfully delivered the deep rooted feelings of childhood rejection, the insecurity and neurotic nature of the character, the loneliness and unhappiness she still felt, in an engaging, expressive and at times heart-rending manner. Simon Brister gave a splendid interpretation of Frank, Teresa's harassed and unhappy husband as did Chris Gale as Mike who sadly seemed to be somewhat unsatisfied with his job as well as life in general. All the actors had at their disposal was their voices in which to convey to us, the audience, the different personalities, the various emotions, even the underlying humour, for us to have belief in the characters and I must say, that they all achieved this magnificently.

The whole performance, while at first a little different, really worked and it offered an unusual perspective on the play because you concentrated more on the words being spoken and were not distracted by anything else. The only 'prop' was the table which contained all the necessary equipment that was used for sound effects, when applicable, and these were timely accomplished by Georgina Harris, This was definitely a sad, funny, thought provoking and an impressively unique performance which I most thoroughly enjoyed. Many congratulations to the Director, Alicia Bloundele, to the amazing cast and to everyone else involved also, many thanks for the very warm welcome I received.

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