[NEohioPAL]Actors' Summit Rave Review of Memory of Water

Mon Feb 18 10:37:01 PST 2002

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Posted on Mon, Feb. 18, 2002

`The Memory of Water' saturated with emotion

Potent female roles make Actors' Summit play one to remember

The play The Memory of Water is not only funny, it also seriously delves into 
a range of complicated emotions among three sisters and their late mother.

A wonderfully strong female cast at Actors' Summit hits us hard with 
universal human experiences of grief, guilt, resentment and sibling rivalry, 
as penned by British playwright Shelagh Stephenson. It's refreshing to see a 
play that offers four equally meaty roles for women, with two male characters 
playing secondary parts.

The contemporary play opened in London's West End in 1998 and won the 
Laurence Olivier Award for best new comedy in 2000. Its American premiere was 
at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in 1998.

Life, with all its struggles, is both funny and painful. These three sisters, 
as different as they are, are all needy. They're also more like their mother 
than they'd like to admit.

The setting is the present, after the death of the sisters' mother, Vi, and 
takes place in the late Vi's prettily feminine bedroom.

The most melancholy sister is Mary, played with soulful intensity by Actors' 
Summit regular Sally Groth. She's looking for fulfillment through a 
relationship with a married man, and harbors a secret of great pain and loss.

The stuffy Teresa, portrayed by Lisa Ortenzi, has the martyr syndrome and 
knows how to lay on the guilt. She's also looking for emotional fulfillment 
but realizes her husband is as emotionally inaccessible as her late father.

The youngest sister, Catherine, is the most extreme, mainly because she's 
always fighting for attention.

``Why does everyone in this house have to be oblique and sneery?'' Catherine 
asks.

Susanna Hobrath delights us in this role as the vivacious and outrageous 
sister. Whether she's doing head stands or throwing a fit about being dumped 
by her boyfriend, we like her.

Hobrath has totally switched gears for this show. She rehearsed for the wild, 
pot-smoking Catherine at the same time she played the sunny ingenue Caitlin 
in Over the River and Through the Woods, Actors' Summit's last production.

Swept into each sister's personal drama are Teresa's husband Frank, played by 
Frank Jackman, and Mary's boyfriend Mike, played by Alex Cikra. Both are 
solid in their roles.

Each sister's idiosyncrasies add to the play's humor. Teresa chants recipes 
to help relieve stress. Catherine talks to the phone as if it were alive, 
willing it to ring. And as vitriolic as Mary can be, her putdowns are funny. 
When Catherine asks her how her very short minidress looks, Mary says, 
``Apart from the fact you can see your ovaries, it's fine.''

Stephenson draws us in with her down-to-earth language and recognizable 
situations of bickering among sisters. The first act of this play is quite 
comical, while the second takes a darker tone.

The second act drags a little, leaving us wondering more than once how and 
when the sisters will resolve their conflicts.

Although actress Deb Holthus speaks at length only twice as Vi, her presence 
is elegantly powerful. Vi bares her soul to Mary, and we learn of her pain at 
being shut out of her daughter's life.

We realize nothing is black and white. The sisters disagree even about 
memories of their mother and their childhood.

The play's title carries a beautiful symbolism: As diluted as the sisters' 
memories of their mother are, the fact remains her inescapable influence will 
always be real in their lives.

Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or by e-mail at 
kclawsonthebeaconjournal.com. 

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<HTML>Posted on Mon, Feb. 18, 2002
 
 `The Memory of Water' saturated with emotion
 
 Potent female roles make Actors' Summit play one to remember
 
 The play The Memory of Water is not only funny, it also seriously delves into a range of complicated emotions among three sisters and their late mother.
 
 A wonderfully strong female cast at Actors' Summit hits us hard with universal human experiences of grief, guilt, resentment and sibling rivalry, as penned by British playwright Shelagh Stephenson. It's refreshing to see a play that offers four equally meaty roles for women, with two male characters playing secondary parts.
 
 The contemporary play opened in London's West End in 1998 and won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new comedy in 2000. Its American premiere was at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in 1998.
 
 Life, with all its struggles, is both funny and painful. These three sisters, as different as they are, are all needy. They're also more like their mother than they'd like to admit.
 
 The setting is the present, after the death of the sisters' mother, Vi, and takes place in the late Vi's prettily feminine bedroom.
 
 The most melancholy sister is Mary, played with soulful intensity by Actors' Summit regular Sally Groth. She's looking for fulfillment through a relationship with a married man, and harbors a secret of great pain and loss.
 
 The stuffy Teresa, portrayed by Lisa Ortenzi, has the martyr syndrome and knows how to lay on the guilt. She's also looking for emotional fulfillment but realizes her husband is as emotionally inaccessible as her late father.
 
 The youngest sister, Catherine, is the most extreme, mainly because she's always fighting for attention.
 
 ``Why does everyone in this house have to be oblique and sneery?'' Catherine asks.
 
 Susanna Hobrath delights us in this role as the vivacious and outrageous sister. Whether she's doing head stands or throwing a fit about being dumped by her boyfriend, we like her.
 
 Hobrath has totally switched gears for this show. She rehearsed for the wild, pot-smoking Catherine at the same time she played the sunny ingenue Caitlin in Over the River and Through the Woods, Actors' Summit's last production.
 
 Swept into each sister's personal drama are Teresa's husband Frank, played by Frank Jackman, and Mary's boyfriend Mike, played by Alex Cikra. Both are solid in their roles.
 
 Each sister's idiosyncrasies add to the play's humor. Teresa chants recipes to help relieve stress. Catherine talks to the phone as if it were alive, willing it to ring. And as vitriolic as Mary can be, her putdowns are funny. When Catherine asks her how her very short minidress looks, Mary says, ``Apart from the fact you can see your ovaries, it's fine.''
 
 Stephenson draws us in with her down-to-earth language and recognizable situations of bickering among sisters. The first act of this play is quite comical, while the second takes a darker tone.
 
 The second act drags a little, leaving us wondering more than once how and when the sisters will resolve their conflicts.
 
 Although actress Deb Holthus speaks at length only twice as Vi, her presence is elegantly powerful. Vi bares her soul to Mary, and we learn of her pain at being shut out of her daughter's life.
 
 We realize nothing is black and white. The sisters disagree even about memories of their mother and their childhood.
 
 The play's title carries a beautiful symbolism: As diluted as the sisters' memories of their mother are, the fact remains her inescapable influence will always be real in their lives.
 
 Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or by e-mail at kclawsonthebeaconjournal.com. 
 
 
 
 
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