Whats On Production The Memory of Water (2002)
6th September


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The Memory of Water (2002)

Directed By
Marina Norris

Producer
Helena Johnston
Production Type
Nomads Production

Production Location
Main Theatre


Genre: Comedy Turnout: 76%

User Rating: (4.2/5 with 4 votes)

Flier Summary:
The Memory of Water a comedy by Shelagh Stephenson, is a beautifully written comedy soon to be released as a major film. Comic and touching story of three sisters coming to terms with the arrangements for their mother’s funeral. This play is wonderful and will touch the hearts of everyone. Catch it at The Nomads first.

’You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to bring your friends!’
Olivier Award for Best Comedy - 2000

Description:

Award-winning playwright Shelagh Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. The Memory of Water was her first stage play. It opened at the Hampstead Theatre in 1996 and transferred to the West End, where it won ... [more]



Production Dates & Prices:
(Please note Booking Information)

 Date
Time
Price
 
 Tuesday 30th April 2002
8:00pm
£6.00
 Wednesday 1st May 2002
8:00pm
£6.00
 Thursday 2nd May 2002
8:00pm
£7.50
 Friday 3rd May 2002
8:00pm
£7.50
 Saturday 4th May 2002
8:00pm
£7.50


Cast: (in programme order)
Amanda Armishaw ... Vi
Jennifer Rainbird ... Mary
Sarah Phillpot ... Teresa
Bernadette O'Sullivan ... Catherine
Paul Evans ... Mike
Brandon McGuire ... Frank

Crew: (in programme order)
Marina Norris ... Director
Helena Johnston ... Producer
Brandon McGuire ... Set Design
Brandon McGuire ... Lighting Designer
Jonathan Bleasby ... Set Construction
Roger Brandon-Jones ... Set Construction
Rob Fee ... Set Construction
Gordon Hilliker ... Set Construction
Brandon McGuire ... Set Construction
Josh McGuire ... Set Construction
David Payne ... Set Construction
Sarah Thomas ... Set Construction
Tom Thomas ... Set Construction
Stephen Williams ... Set Construction
Matthew Jenner ... ASM
Rob Fee ... ASM
Robin Williams ... Lighting Operator
Tim Williams ... Sound Operator
Jill Evans ... Wardrobe
Elizabeth Grimstone ... Wardrobe
Helena Johnston ... Prompt
Clive Mott ... Front of House Manager
Mary Thomas ... Box Office
Phillip Griffith ... Poster Design
Phillip Griffith ... Programme Design
Peter Forbes ... Programme Design


Act1:
Scene 1 Morning
Act2:
Scene 1 The same day
Scene 2 The same day
Scene 3 Early the next morning


Official Review:
The Memory of Water: theReview
Sisters don't argue. They bicker. But in 'The Memory of Water' they couldn't even agree on that. Shelagh Stephenson's comedy was wonderfully directed by Marina Norris, conveying superbyly three sisters' pain as their lives come undone folloing the death of their mother. Mary (Jenny Freeman) resents her mother (Amanda Armishaw) and tells her so, as though she were still alive. How appalling that everyone thinksshe is like her. Teresa (Sarah Phillpot) copes by practising yoga while repeating recipes then resorts to drink, spitting venom on all she sees. An uptight suburbanite who suddenly loses it in a bottle of whisky. Catherine (Bernadette O'Sullivan) is the young flighty piece who survives life by bedding men (seventy eight at the last count) and buying twenty pairs of knickers and tasteless clothes when she's depressed.

We discover that Mary had a child when she was fourteen and she discovers he is dead. Mike, her married lover (Paul Evans), is unable to leave his wife and Mary, now thirty nine, is destined to be childless. Teresa and Frank, her partner (Brandon McGuire), run a business but he hates selling 'crap' and wants out. Catherine's 'friend' won't even turn up for the funeral because he doesn't want to see her again. The sisters' emotions swing from desperation to hilarity and back trying to cope with their losses. They try their mothers clothes on. "You look dead like Mum," Mary is told.

The players are convincingly good and the set, a representation of the mother's bedroom now dangerously close to the sea, including the sound of surf and seagulls, is extremely well done. The play's title forms round the notion that, if curative agents are mixed with water then removed, the water still carries the cure as though it remembers. The house is gradually being broken by the advancing waves but still retains, and now exposes, the memory of the sisters' young lives, their mother, both loved and despised, and all their mistakes and misunderstandings. When your mother dies, how much more than her do you lose?


Related News:
Apr 2002 Next Production: The Memory of Water
Mar 2002 Next Production - The Memory of Water
Feb 2002 Memory of Water Auditions


Recommendations:
The Memory of Water
The Memory of Water & Five Kinds of Silence Script


User Reviews:

No Online Reviews Found


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