Guest Review - The Memory of Water

After an intimate viewing on Wednesday, the final night of The Memory of Water played to a sold out audience with standing room only! Thanks to Vicky Edgerton for providing us with a review:

"The constant childlike bickering and sarcastic comments much reminded me of my own family. The relationship between the three sisters is strained and this was made apparent by the way they treated each other. Sending each other to the brink of madness and drinking (of course the grief of the loss of their mother didn’t help).  Even though it is a performance about a very difficult time for most it kept the audience laughing and on the edge of their seats. It was clear to see how this play had won the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

The characters were played by GCSE students and they certainly lived up to the standards. They got involved in their characters very well and delivered lines just as well. The mother, at first, was quite confusing. It was clear it was separate from the main part of the play (between the three sisters), it did eventually become clear the she was the mother, just at a younger age. But, this wasn’t the actors fault, they were following the script (brilliantly, I might add). The mother was played well as she seemed quite dreamy and rather closed minded and focused. She wasn’t as emotional as the sisters and she preferred to see things her way rather than how her daughters saw things. She certainly made the play memorable as it was a different perspective. The character of Catherine was played very impressively, you could really understand her wistfulness for love and to be cared for. Theresa was a very overpowering character, liking to be in control and for things to go her way and go correctly, this was portrayed superbly in her emotions and actions. Mary was clearly dreaming of a normal family with a husband and children (but her boyfriends wife always seemed to make things difficult), wishing to find her son and have another. The audience could feel for her and wish for her dreams to come true too. Mike, her boyfriend, was also played well as you could see his indecision between Mary and his wife. The last (but by no means least) character was Frank. His dry sense of humour and inappropriate comments and awkwardness was very entertaining.

Overall this play was acted very well and I enjoyed it, a lot. I was very glad that I went and would happily go and see it again. The only nit pick I have is that occasionally a couple of the actors slipped out of character and just seemed to be a bit wooden, awkward and uneasy. This could easily be resolved by a couple more performances as things get easier as they go on. Also that maybe the audience should be aware of the bad language and sexual innuendos in the play so they can prepare any children they wish to bring."

Vicky Edgerton