THE STORIES: The Globe and Mail describes THE MEMORY OF WATER as “both gloriously funny and deeply felt…Indeed, THE MEMORY OF WATER is so funny that it appears at first to be pure black comedy, with the newly bereaved sisters indulging wildly in witty bickering and dope-induced dress-ups…Their quarrels over the fu-neral arrangements, their well-worn family roles, their unsatisfactory men and their mixed memories of a highly feminine working-class mother are hilarious…In THE MEMORY OF WATER, [Shelagh Stephenson] skillfully charts the joyous and painful territory of family relationships with insight and compassion."
“THE MEMORY OF WATER…is dotted with stimulating observations…it has a raw spontaneity that captures perfectly the idea of what normal people do in abnormal times…” —The New York Times.
“THE MEMORY OF WATER really lives up to the poetry reflected in its title. It also keeps us highly entertained for two hours and leaves us deeply touched in the end.” —New York Daily News.
“This touching and hugely entertaining comedy provides an insight into the lives of three sisters who are reunited for their mother’s funeral. A neurotic maternal type, a paranoid doctor and a brattish youngest sibling recall their childhood, but find that personal grievances have coloured their memories, which differ greatly and cause immense friction” —The Independent (UK).
“This is a lovely piece, full of humour and heart…Where the play works best is…in its satisfying mixture of sardonic humour and deep emotion. Excellent jokes give way to festering resentments, booze and dope-fuelled hilarity to sudden glimpses of buried secrets and aching pain.” —The Telegraph (UK).
“Shelagh Stephenson [is] a dramatist with a sharp eye and a gift for quirky dialogue to match.” —The Times (London).
