Ah, the ambiguous ending. For some, it’s infuriating; for others, it can be part of the fun of going to the theatre.

But what about the ending when you’re not exactly sure what happened, the kind that has you questioning what the play was even about in the first place? A Body of Water, now being staged at Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, delivers that kind of conclusion. And while it will give you plenty of fodder for mid-work emails with your theater-going companion the next day (not that I was doing that…), it undoubtedly will leave you feeling a bit befuddled and perhaps a little cheated to boot. But a play’s about more than just an ending, and A Body of Water’s obliqueness doesn’t keep you from appreciating its themes, staging or performances.

At the beginning of the play, we’re presented with an unlikely scenario – a man and a woman wake up naked in bed with each other, with no memory of what got them there in the first place. Their amnesia also has them forgetting who they are, a condition they learn repeats itself at the beginning of each day. Their only source for answers – or, for a lack of them – is a younger woman who shows up later on, jogging into the premises as if she owns the place. She may be their daughter. She may be their attorney. They could be cared for daily by someone who loves them, or caught up in a sadistic mind game. Our curiosity about the characters’ identities, present situation and history drives us excitedly through the quickly-paced first act, while the second act forces us to look harder at the relationship between memory and conception of self, of life’s impermanence, and other important questions – when we’re not distracted by the particular plight of this trio.