The Memory of Water

The Memory of WaterThe Memory of WaterPhoto by Antti Vainio
by Shelagh Stephenson

5, 6, 7, 8, 10 May at 7 pm
11 May at 5 pm ~ Mother's Day Special: half price for Mothers!
at Kino (Andorra Culture and Entertainment Center), Eerikinkatu 11, 00100 Helsinki (map)

Should there be a Sudden Death Etiquette to help the recently-bereaved talk and behave "like people usually do"?

Perhaps there should, but perhaps people usually do behave like Teresa, Mary and Catherine. When they get together to arrange their mother's funeral, agreement on anything is near-impossible to reach, old lies and secrets are revealed, too much whisky is consumed, too many joints smoked... There is laughter, there is anger, there are tears, but in the end, "Forgiving someone's just like throwing a switch... It's just a decision. And afterwards, you are free."

The play won an Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2000. Please note we do not recommend the play to children under 16.

Co-directed by Pauliina Munukka & Anna Rawlings, produced by Joan Nordlund.

Featuring Zoë Chandler, Giorgia Ghizzoni, Stina Halmetoja, Laura N, David Rogers and Christopher Sloan.

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An amateur English-language production by arrangement with Samuel French Ltd.

Why theatre, Tyler?

Sometime in the end of last century between scenes, tea and biscuits I had a conversation with Reverend Tyler Strand, who played the role of my husband in a Neil Simon production. "Why theatre, Tyler?" I asked, "why not bowling or hang gliding or chess?". "Because theatre gives you a chance for personal growth", he answered, and I think he nailed it beautifully.

Some of my lines in this play have made me tearful again and again and in order to deliver them I have been forced to do some serious soul searching. What is it in these sentences that make me cry? I have not found the answer yet.

As my character Vi tries to make peace with her daughter and herself, I have been asking myself: am I ok with my near and dear ones if I had to dance the last dance?

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About to leave

God knows why I’ve accepted to go to Mary’s mother’s funeral. Funerals aren’t a fun thing to start off with but I know she’s going to be in a bad mood all weekend as well. Not least because we’re all going to be under the same roof for 48 hours with her two sisters that she doesn’t get along with.

Despite my tight schedule, I have managed to get a bit of time off work. I’ve been busier than ever for the last few months with a new season of the medical series. In fact, when I think of all the responsibilities I have with Chrissie being ill, the three kids and of course the hospital work to top it all up, I’m amazed I manage to keep it together. We actually had a sequence to shoot this weekend but Mary has been there for me during some rough patches and I just decided I’d have to call it off. I sort of owe it to her to come to this. I just hope it’s not a pretext for another argument about me not spending enough time with her or spending too much time with Chrissie and the kids. People think that having a double relationship is all fun and games but it’s bloody work. More than it’s worth I sometimes think. 

I’ve never met her sisters but I’ve heard about them. One of them supposedly spends her life in Andalusian nightclubs, usually while high on Ecstasy and the other is so obsessed with her health that she pops supplement pills like M&M's. I think that at least one of their partners is supposed to come but I can’t remember which one . It's getting late, I’d better get going or I’ll miss the train.

Mike

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Blocking

A lot  goes on behind the scenes when preparing for a theatrical production, even an amateur one.  Once decisions have been made about casting one of the first priorities is for directors and actors to agree on where actors should be on the stage during each scene and how they should move while delivering their lines. The theatrical name given to this process is ”blocking”. 

It may surprise you to know that this doesn’t just happen on its own, it must be planned; otherwise, people could be standing in front of one another or there might be too many actors on one side of the stage or there could be people standing in a line- which would look more like a choir recital than a play.

I suppose that movements on stage come almost naturally to experienced performers but to relative novices, like me, some gentle prodding from the director is usually needed.  In ”The Memory of Water”, we have two directors who are affectionately called the good cop and the bad cop and they don’t hesitate to blow their directorial whistles when an actor is in the wrong place on the stage.  Now, I must get back to the next priority for any actor – learning lines and cues and imagining myself as Frank, my character in ”The Memory of Water”. 

 

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Saint Teresa, the Patron Saint of Big Sisters

IMG 2578As one half of our fabulous directing duo pointed out, this play we’re doing is like an onion. It is made up of layer upon layer. And so are the leading female characters, Teresa, Mary and Catherine.

As an actor, I always start with what’s on the page. And Teresa comes across as a particular type: middle-aged vegetarian woman, who runs a healthfood business with her second husband. She is a catholic at heart who plays the family martyr well, but who is also the keeper of many family secrets. See her yet? Meet Teresa. She is the eldest of the three sisters, the one who took care of their dying mother as she slipped into dementia. The responsible one, in a way. But there are other layers. The text contains so many little clues as to her past, the life outside the time and place of the play. It’s almost as if this point in time, where the play is set, is an anomaly in Teresa’s life. She has suffered a bereavement, is now brought together with her two sisters to bury their mother, and suddenly old issues resurface and secrets spill out. She is, in fact, out of character. But perhaps more herself than she has been for a long time.

Putting together a character’s clothes is a big part of the process of bringing them to life. With Teresa it was always going to be comfy clothes, knits, textures, ethnic details… A rummage through my own wardrobe (thanks mum for the knitting) and a couple of trips to UFF produced the right mix. Frumpy, but colourful, well-meaning but a bit off – you get the picture.

I like Teresa. I’ve grown to like her. She is honest and earnest, if a little blind to herself sometimes. But she is done with pleasing people. The greatest strength of the play, and maybe the greatest strength of Teresa as well, is the desire to face the truth. Lay it out like a corpse for a final viewing! And the beautiful thing about truth – and this play – is that it’s both sad and funny. Usually at the same time. I’m just not sure Teresa gets the joke…

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