Theater Review
By Virginia Thomas
Assistant A&E Editor
“Nothing disappears without a trace,” the director said in her note to the audience.
“The Memory of Water,” spent about two and a half hours proving those words to be true.
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the student-directed production had the audience laughing one minute and pondering death and family dynamics the next, while also fulfilling the thesis requirement for theater directing major Rebecca Chiyoko Itow.
Written by Shelagh Stephenson, the show oscillates between dark humor and intense drama as three sisters mourn the death of their mother. As they plan the funeral they bicker, laugh, cry, drink, smoke and reflect. It’s in these reflections that an underlying theme is brought to light: memory. The sisters, Mary, Teresa and Catherine, often quarrel over which anecdote happened to whom. Their memories have become blurred so they adopt one another’s stories as their own, as people do often in real life.
In homeopathic medicine, scientists have observed that water has memory. When a curative element is added to water, it forever alters it so even when the element is completely removed, the water still shows its effects. In the production, the sisters are like the water, and their dead mother is the element. Even when she is gone, her presence can be seen through each one of the daughters.
The plotline was satisfactory, but it was the solid cast of Seaver students that brought the work to life, each actor connecting with his or her character. However, it was the ghostly appearances by the mother, Vi, (freshman Paoletta Borgomanero), that stole the show. Sweeping elegantly across the stage in a sleek green dress, only her delightfully thick accent reminded audience members she was an exchange student from Italy and not really the spirit of an underappreciated mother.
Other strong performances included senior Nicola Hunte as the party girl and youngest daughter, Catherine, and junior Mason McCulley who played Frank, a disgruntled husband of one of the sisters. One of the night’s highlights was senior Lauren Robinson’s complicated performance of the eldest daughter, Mary.
Though the acting was excellent, some elements of the storyline were frustrating and even boring. The fits of arguing grew old after the 18 millionth fight, and the one-room set for the entire play couldn’t help but create a sense of claustrophobia. Especially when they brought in the casket, the walls were just a little too close. Also, the combination of jealousy, affairs and drug use made it seem more like an episode of “The O.C.” than a grieving family.
Despite this, the show was still worth seeing. A free show on campus with superb acting certainly beat out studying or attending the “Babies of the ‘80s” party concurrently being held in Towers.
Submitted March 25, 2004