Soulstice Theatre’s “The Memory of Water”

Three sisters come home to plan their late mother’s funeral — and the conversational smackdown begins.

That’s The Memory of Water, the gem of a play that Soulstice Theatre opened Friday in the company’s St. Francis theater. And though it’s a crowded spring theater season, this sophisticated British comedy by Downton Abbey writer Shelagh Stephenson, should not be missed.

The play, directed by David Ferrie, is set in the mother’s bedroom. Mary, the middle sister, sits on bed, with sunglasses over her eyes and a bottle of Irish whiskey in hand. Amy Hansmann inhabits this role, portraying Mary’s world-weary physician with just the right amount of acerbic tension. A visit by her mother’s ghost, soulfully played by Mary B. Kababik, suggests the play’s deeper message of the unreliability of memory.

The sisters have issues, with one another and with their late mother.

Jillian Smith plays Teresa, the older sister who has been caring for mom and resents the absence of the others. She is married to Frank, played as one reliable guy by Joe Krapf. They operate a health food supplement business, which makes Teresa’s psychosomatic character even funnier. When she drinks too much in the second act, Smith gives her inebriated gibes a malicious punch.

Amber Smith plays the youngest sister, Catherine, as a hyper-party girl, resembling Charlotte in Sex in the City. When she says “I’ve been with 78 men…I don’t want to be on my own!” we believe her. She is at her best during the dress-up scene in the first act, when she gets her older sisters to stop bickering and have fun.

Mary’s relationship with her married lover, Mike (Andrew Riebau), seems a bit tortured until we learn the secret in Mary’s past that haunts her. As a physician and father of three with no intention of leaving his wife, Riebau gives Mike a roguish grace, even when he is forced to spend an entire scene in his underwear. Riebau’s well-modulated voice suggests Trevor Howard’s in Brief Encounter.

Art Jaehnke’s set has a shabby functionality. Mirrors in each corner add dimension to a scene when mother’s ghost says to Mary: “Your memories aren’t the same as mine. I know different things…I look at you and see myself.”

The Memory of Water runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through May 18 at the Soulstice Theatre, 3770 S. Pennsylvania Ave., St. Francis. Tickets available at the Soulstice Theatre website.