The Memory of Water
Her daughter Mary is understandably perplexed by the dead woman’s refusal to disappear. “You seem like nice, personable people,” Vi says to her about the daughters she raised. “But I don’t know what you’ve got to do with me.” Mary, in turn, is only beginning to realize how little she knew her mother–and how impossible it is to escape her influence. “Have you finished?” she asks defiantly as Vi continues to criticize from beyond the grave. Vi’s response is terse and telling: “Never.” And anyone who’s ever coped with the death of a parent will nod in acknowledgment of the profound truth of that statement.
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The Steppenwolf actors make the most of the opportunity. Amy Morton brings a masterful blend of irony, vulnerability, and mystery to the part of Mary, and Martha Lavey–whose natural elegance has sometimes led directors to cast her as merely icy and aloof–finds wonderful nuances in the oldest sister’s emotional repression: her handling of Teresa’s drunken dramatics is uncannily accurate. LA actor Heather Ehlers is hilarious and infuriating as the outrageous Catherine, while Rick Snyder and Tim Grimm bring depth to the supporting roles of Frank and Mike. As Vi, Mary Beth Fisher is an eerie ghost, at first clinging to life, then gradually disengaging. Complementing the fine acting and evocative set and lighting are Allison Reeds’s costumes and Richard Woodbury’s haunting, rhythmically charged modal violin score. Wryly witty and touchingly honest, The Memory of Water is one of Steppenwolf’s most satisfying premieres in recent years.
