ACTORS from the Swan Theatre Amateur Company are turning their hand to comic anguish.

The long running group is staging the award-winning tragi-comedy The Memory of Water at the Swan Theatre studio next week.

“Our contribution to the Worcester Festival” – states the poster.

Shelagh Stephenson’s play, which premiered in 1998 and instantly received rave reviews, won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy. It tells the story of three sisters reunited at their mother’s funeral.

“I love everything about this play,” said director Derek Chaplin, a member of STAC since 1990. “It has everything; laughter and sorrow, sadness and gladness.

“And it is good to do something contemporary.”

The three sisters clash and stuggle to cope with their grief but, buoyed by drugs and alcohol, begin to get to know each other all over again.

Billed as a “roller-coaster of emotions, veering from the darkly dramatic to the wryly humorous”, Stephenson’s script calls for willing and able actors.

Chaplin believes he has found exactly that with STAC. “We have a very good cast,” he said. “They are all very individual, strong actors and it shows.”

Siblings Teresa, Mary and Catherine are played, respectively, by Gill Charles, Jane Luch and Amber Bluck.

Peter Thorpe, Math Jones and Barbara Wright – as the ghost of their mother Vi – complete the cast.

The play contains a little strong language and runs from Tuesday to Saturday.

For tickets, priced £7.50, call the Worcester Festival box office on 01905 611427.