Saturday July 4

THE MEMORY OF WATER

BLACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY, 4 JULY – 19 JULY
PLAYHOUSE THEATRE

A City of Perth Winter Arts Season Event.

In the best tradition of British black humour, this award-winning comedy by playwright Shelagh Stephenson proves that death can reveal the absurdity of life. When sisters Mary, Teresa and Catherine gather together at their childhood home on the eve of their mother’s funeral, laughter and tears ensue in equal measure. As each of the sisters struggles to come to grips with their loss, childhood battle lines are unearthed and redrawn, memories are disputed and reinvented, life choices are analysed, and grief gives way to cathartic giggling fits.

The play employs metaphors such as homeopathy to suggest the puzzling qualities of memory. It sometimes asks searching questions such as who are we without our memories.
Yet it never ventures far into these speculative depths, remaining firmly within its genre of family comedy. What makes it better than most, however, is its true note of emotional pain and complexity beneath ordinary surfaces.

Tickets from BOCS.

For more info go to www.perthwinterarts.com.au.