A bittersweet comedy about grief, family and memory, Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water captures the devastation and absurdity of grief.

Mary, Catherine and Teresa are sisters with wildly different lives, reunited in their childhood home after their mother’s Vi’s death. They plan a funeral, get on each other’s nerves as only siblings can, reminisce and grieve in wildly different ways. The presence of their mother lingering in the clothes still in the wardrobe, the perfume on the powder table and in daughter Mary’s dreams, the reality of mortality forcing each to consider their own lives and how they want to live.

Sad topics counterintuitively make such strong material for comedy. It’s only human, after all, to seek light in the dark and to react in weird and wacky ways to things that are outside of our control, and death is something most certainly outside of our control. The ennui of grief that we get a peek of in Mary, Catherine and Teresa’s story reassures us that even in the worst times there will be joy.

Director Rachel Chant masterfully balances and contrasts the various behaviours brought on by the emotional rollercoaster one rides in the aftermath of losing a loved one. Happy memories prompt tears, the discovery of an ugly dress or muumuu in the closet brings on laughter, boredom and emotional immaturity see whininess and self-centredness have a field day, and trying to keep it all together leads to sleeping and drinking to numb, or explosions of rage. The set, Mother Vi’s bedroom, is from another era with quilt, walls and carpet the monochromatic salmon pink of the 1960s. The sisters’ wardrobes by comparison are unique to each other but all unquestionably modern compared to their surroundings, immersing us in the nostalgia every adult child feels at their parents’ or grandparents’ homes.

Michala Banas as Mary, the daughter returned home after many years away, is haunted by her mother while sleeping in her room. Banas’ performance of Mary’s oscillation between the hard exterior she presents to her sisters and soft centre that comes out while she’s alone, and increasingly over the course of the story, is gripping. Jo Downing as Teresa the daughter who took care of Vi in her final years is trying to push through the pain to get what needs doing done, until she can’t anymore, Downing’s shift from long-suffering carer to resentful drunken ranting startling and saddening. Husband Frank, played by Thomas Campbell, suffers right alongside her. Madeline Jones as Catherine is the baby of the family, unsure of where she fits but sure the older sisters had it better than she did. Jones is convincingly whiny and delivers bone-dry one liners that had the audience in a fit. Similarly, in her occasional moments of vulnerability, she does it with a simplicity and authenticity that resonates deeply. The chemistry between the sisters is almost too convincing, the mixture of bickering, constant encroaching on each other’s space and fits of uncontrollable laughter sending me straight back to my own childhood.

The Memory of Water is one of those stories that is universally enjoyable and yet feels like it was written just for you; those who have experienced the loss of a parent may feel a sense of catharsis, those who haven’t will see themselves in the familial relationships, the interaction of Mary with her mother Vi as she works through her mixed feelings towards her mother, and the desire to remember and be remembered that underpins it all.

Purchase your ticket to The Memory of Water here.

Pinot Grigio | Wine Pairing

My sister Holly and I rarely align in our taste in wine – she’s more of a Moscato girl and I’m an anything but. Until we shared a Pinot Grigio and found some common ground. Mary, Theresa and Catherine should all be able to enjoy a bottle together.

The Memory of Water, Ensemble Theatre Co | Tasting Notes

Aussie Season	20 Oct to 25 Nov 2023, Ensemble Theatre
Ticket $	$43-80
Writer	Shelagh Stephenson
Director	Rachel Chant
Theatre Type & Genre	Play, comedy
See it if you like	This is Where I Leave You, Death at a Funeral
Wine Pairing	Pinot Grigio
Criteria for Wine Pairing	Light and refreshing