Superb acting in this tense family dilemma
- Charles Essex
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
The Memory of Water written by Shelagh Stephenson. Performed at The Attic Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, from 22 May until 8 June 2025. Director John Robert Partridge.
Review by Charles Essex.
Following the death of their mother, three sisters meet to clear her house. Teresa, Mary and Catherine are three very different characters whose lives have gone in different directions since leaving home. Inevitably previously unspoken resentments and jealousies surface.
Katherine de Halpert gave eldest sister Teresa a practical streak as they sort through their mother’s clothes to go to charity or be discarded, a task made harder by her sisters’ lack of help. Abigail Drennan wonderfully conveyed youngest sister Catherine’s combination of ADHD and narcissism. Mary (Shannon Anthony) was a successful doctor. Shannon effectively portrayed Mary’s irritation at her sisters’ less productive lives. It was Mary who was plagued more than the others by memories of her late mother Violet (Emma Wilkes).
The actors gave the three sisters great chemistry in their interactions. They ideally conveyed the truth in many families that recollections may vary as they realistically bicker and argue about who did or said what years earlier. The witty dialogue garnered many laughs with its dry humour whilst convincingly building the sisters’ relationship.
Director John-Robert Partridge made the very sensible decision to cast Violet as an attractive woman, as she was when the sisters were children, rather than the elderly woman suffering from dementia that she was when she died. He set the whole scene in their late mother’s bedroom, which itself brought tensions when Mike (Ben Powell), Mary’s married lover, arrived. Ben gave Mike a smoothness but the subplot of Mary and Mike gave additional nuance to her aloofness as the she gradually recognised his disingenuousness. Lies were exposed, unpredictable truths revealed and hopes dashed. Mary’s and Mike’s reactions to these were entirely believable.
Teresa’s husband Frank (Rob Keeves) arrived to find her getting increasingly drunk, which was depicted extremely well. Rob gave a wonderful performance as the weak husband, browbeaten by Teresa as an unwilling salesman for their alternative medicine and health food products. Teresa and Frank expressed their frustrations with each other in a painfully honest scene. There was a clever allusion to Woody Allen’s film Hannah and Her Sisters paralleling this domestic situation.
Throughout, Catherine was crass, insensitive and short-tempered. However, the breakdown of her long-distance relationship meant that she had to admit her loneliness and low self-esteem, were what kept leading her into these ill-fated relationships. Abigail’s portrayal of Catherine being finally honest with herself was very moving.
This was a superb production. The casting was ideal and once again Tread the Boards used the intimate Attic theatre floor space to maximum effect with double bed and wardrobes and other bedroom furniture taking us into the heart of this family dilemma.
Tickets from: www.theattictheatre.co.uk
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