THE MEMORY OF WATER. To 13 April.
Manchester
THE MEMORY OF WATER
by Shelagh Stephenson
Library Theatre To 13 April 2002
Mon-Thur 7.30 Fri/Sat 8pm Mats 27, 30 March, 6,13 April 3pm
Runs 2hr 35min One interval
TICKETS 0161 236 7110
Review Timothy Ramsden 22 March
Plenty to celebrate down at the Library: fifty years on and a fine production.It's half a century since the Library Theatre Company began its basement life under St Peter's Square. And another half century back from 1952 throws us into the era when tea heiress Annie Horniman was promoting the first stirrings of repertory in Manchester's Gaiety Theatre, long demolished for a faceless commercial block, but near enough the Library for the two to have swapped spoonfuls of sugar if they'd been around together.
So much for memories of theatre, but both Annie H. and the Library's founders would surely have been very pleased that theatre in dead-centre Manchester was coming up with such fine productions of good modern plays as Roger Haines and his strong cast provide here.
I've had Library artistic director Chris Honer down as the text man and his associate Haines as the song, dance and comedy merchant. His cast do find a lot of humour in the script, but it's all justified – there's no exploiting Stephenson's work for instant gags. And the revival doesn't avoid the pain in the lives of these three re-assembled sisters.
The playing's not always the most refined. Is Meriel Scholfield's Teresa, the older one whose apparent professional stability in her health food business doesn't preclude a sense of grievance, too relentlessly complaining? And young Catherine, a self-obsessed emotional disaster, might vary her woeful catalogues a bit more than she does in Jessica Lloyd's performance.
Again, Paul Raffield's Frank is convincing in his 36 hours without sleep disillusion with his and Teresa's health concoctions. But is his weariness with the life too monochrome?
It's only because the performances are at root so sympathetic that the questions arise. And there's a gain. Fill the stage with twinkling West End stars and you might get more subtle complexities. But these can obscure the essential outlines, which Haines and his cast make clear.
Similarly, if he underplays the magic Stephenson pours on her realism, Haines lets the real-life relationships flourish. With one startling exception, when mother suddenly appears amid her daughters in a flash photo, this production makes less play than some with her continued presence in the young women's lives - which parallels some scientists' belief that water retains memories of particles once they have been distilled out.
And there's one outstanding performance. Like Chekhov, Stephenson gives central force to the middle sister, Mary. Lucy Tregear's voice moves freely between lower tones of certainty, matching her intelligent authority, and soprano notes reflecting the exasperation sudden family melees are always likely to unleash. Such deeply felt, restrained yet full-force characterisation is to be cherished.
Mary: Lucy Tregear
Vi: Deirdra Morris
Teresa: Meriel Scolfield
Catherine: Jessica Lloyd
Mike: Matthew Vaughan
Frank: Paul Raffield
Director: Roger Haines
Designer: Judith Croft
Lighting: Nick Richings
Sound: Paul Gregory
2002-03-26 10:39:25