REVIEW: Highly Amusing And Deeply Poignant, THE MEMORY OF WATER Contemplates The Enduring Effect A Person Can Have On Their Loved Ones After Death.

Friday 3rd November 2023, 8pm, Ensemble Theatre

Brilliantly funny with relatable moments, THE MEMORY OF WATER combines comedy with scientific theory to challenge how memories are retained and altered over time.  Under Rachel Chant’s direction, Shelagh Stepenson’s Laurence Olivier Award winning comedy contemplates the aftermath of death on three sisters. 

In 1988, Jacques Benveniste was the first scientist to propose the idea that water retains a ‘memory’ of the particles that had once been dissolved in it long after the ratio of the particles has been diluted to a negligible existence.  It is this unproven claim that Mary’s (Michala Banas) boyfriend Mike (Johnny Nasser) proposes as being similar to the lingering influence Mary’s recently deceased mother Vi (Nicole Da Silva) has on Mary and her sisters Teresa (Jo Downing) and Catherine (Madeleine Jones) as the siblings reunite in Vi’s home to prepare for her funeral.  The trio are wildly different women though each have the common trait of having somewhat distorted views of their childhood being raised by a woman that was more about looking pretty than preparing her daughters for the world ahead.

Taking place purely in Vi’s bedroom, a 1980’s confection of pinks, designed by Veronique Benett, this work pairs Stephenson’s clever script with Chant’s direction that ensures that the physicality of the work is balanced to highlight the humor without turning it into farce.  Benett’s costuming further anchors the work in the 90’s with older sister Teresa and youngest sister Catherine sporting the trend of column dresses and skirts layered over shirts or paired with cropped cardigans while medical doctor Mary wears the pleated trousers of the tail end of the power suit era.  The men in their life, Mary’s married lover Mike and Teresa’s husband and business partner Frank (Thomas Campbell) are by contrast much plainer, in keeping with their roles as supporting characters meant to provide a sense of reason and balance to the women. 

Banas, Downing and Jones are a strong trio who understand the comic timing and physicality required to ensure the underlying message lands well.  Their reactions are nuanced and ensure that there is a subtlety when necessary as they understand the intimate space of the Ensemble Theatre that has the audience feeling like they are in Vi’s bedroom with the sisters.  Campbell and Nasser provide a solid balance while ensuring that it is clear that Mike and Frank are vastly different men, from the doctor in a long term affair who keeps using his wife’s chronic fatigue related illness as an excuse for not committing to Mary, to the quieter man that built a relationship on a newspaper singles advertisement who has been helping his wife run a company for a product he doesn’t like and doesn’t believe in to keep her happy.  The weakest link in the otherwise strong ensemble is Da Silva’s portrayal of Vi, a woman presented through visitations where her form recollects her hey-day of cocktail dresses and clouds of perfume, never quite conveying that the Vi presented was as confident as the stories would have the audience believe.

Regardless of your family situation, whether it be an only child or one of many, still have your parents or they’ve passed, THE MEMORY OF WATER is an amusing evening of theatre that holds many relatable moments in a work that has moments of truth beneath the plethora of pink. 

https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/the-memory-of-water/

Photos: Prudence Upton

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