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The Memory of Water, a Show on States of Mind, Premiering at NTB
Distinguished with the Laurence Olivier Award in 2000, The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson is also staged in Romania, after a series of successful international enactments (from London and Munich to Chicago and New York), premiering (for the press) at the National Theatre of Bucharest on 6 and 7 May 2016, as of 8.00 p.m., in the Painting Hall, under the direction of Erwin Şimşensohn, scenography by Alina Herescu and original music signed by Vlaicu Golcea.
The Memory of Water invites you on a journey, slightly uncomfortable, to everyone’s inner world. A show for the soul, fluid but also slippery, about family relationships, about rediscovery and acceptance out of love, with sinuous roads, twists and frustrations, a dramatic odyssey with moments of crazy humour, in which you shall be guided by the actors: Cecilia Bârbora, Medeea Marinescu/Natalia Călin, Raluca Aprodu, Diana Dumbravă, Marius Manole, Andrei Finţi. The memory of life and the memory of water seem to fuse in this show, in the small universe threatened to be, one day, swallowed by the waters...
"I have never imagined, declares the authoress, that people want to laugh and I have not known how much they needed to laugh! Even in a play speaking about loss, pain, sadness, anger. I have finally understood that people want to experience extreme states. They want to cry, to laugh. And especially, they want to experience both within the same ... show. Only this is how I can explain the tremendous and unexpected success from Finland to the USA, from Japan to Israel and anywhere in the world".
The Memory of Water was enacted for the first time in 1997 at the Hampstead Theatre of London, has known a cinematographic version, in the year 2002, entitled "Before You Go", with Julie Walters in the cast, and is the first play of the authoress. Shelagh Stephenson is as appreciated for her radio drama. At BBC, she had a series of notable achievements, among which Five Kinds of Silence (1996) was rewarded with the Writer's Guild Prize for Best Original Radio Play and with the Sony Award for Best Theatre Play.
Among Erwin Şimşensohn’s previous achievements, disciple of directors Cătălina Buzoianu and Felix Alexa, let us recall the courses graduated in 2003 at the National University Of Theatrical And Cinematic Arts, followed by a workshop of theatrical anthropology, with Eugenio Barba, in Denmark, and several shows in Bucharest and throughout the country: Kidnapping Francesca by Dario Fo, 2002, the Youth Theatre of Piatra Neamţ, Born Guilty by Ari Roth, 2003, The Monday Theatre at Green Hours, Yentl by Isaac Bahevis Singer, 2013 and Visiting Mr. Green by Jeff Baron, 2014, at the Jewish State Theatre, The Nameless Star by Mihail Sebastian, National Theatre of Târgu-Mureş, Holiday Games by Mihail Sebastian, “Maria Filotti” Theatre of Brăila and The Belgrade Trilogy by Biljana Srbljanovic, “Fani Tardini” Drama Theatre, Galaţi – the last three produced in 2015, as well as the recent premiere with The Anniversary by Jeroen van den Berg, from the “Mihai Eminescu” Theatre of Botoşani.
The first encounters of the show The Memory of Water with the audience have been scheduled for the days of 26 and 27 April, as of 8.00 p.m., in the Painting Hall.
Translated by Simona Nichiteanu
