Taking The Waters

A mix of theatre, puppetry and music, Taking The Waters stars Fiona Macleod and Suzannah Espie as sisters caring for their dying sister, Duck (performed via puppetry by Tamara Rewse). Written and directed by Sarah Kriegler, the show is set in Duck’s home – a well-designed set by Yvette Turnbull with soft pastel colours – building a pattern that works in tandem with the looping stage. As the actors weave in and out of rooms, Taking The Waters observes the domestic routines people create to distract themselves from pain, then attempts to show those routines dissolve as the unavoidable approaches.

Admittedly, the puppeteering takes some getting used to. Much of it is done behind a screen, casting the characters in stark silhouette. Some of Taking The Waters’ highlights are sequences that marry the puppetry with music (performed live by Espie) and projected art designed by Kyoko Imazu. These scenes meditate on the sisters’ relationships, lulling viewers into dreamlike visions of a woman’s manifested memories and a soul starting to transcend its corporeal form. These visions begin gently, but increasingly become uneasy, seemingly haunted. As they veer into intensity with horror-esque climaxes of rumbling sound, Duck’s pain and panic are deeply felt, as is her sisters’ inability to help her.

Not that her two sisters don’t try. Despite their tense relationship and differing personalities – simply but effectively contrasted through Macleod’s anxious, orderly character, Chook, versus Espie’s more lax Maggie – they demonstrate how much they care for Duck. While not everything in Taking The Waters resonates, the work’s best moment is one of wordless beauty: Macleod and Espie alone in silhouette, resting their heads on each other’s shoulders, isolated in their grief but united in their familial bonds.