Review

Peg and Cliff Small suit their family name: they lead small lives. Peg doesn't mind - she's happy to be ordinary - but Cliff had always assumed he was special, and craves lasting fame. In Peta Murry's play, Wallflowering, presented by Tall Tales Theatre Company, directed by Muirne Bloomer and David Horan, they tell us the story of their difficult marriage, a relationship in which they actively share only their success at ballroom dancing.

With the spare set, whitewashed wooden background and high multi-coloured windows, the audience could have been invited to a provincial church basement to listen to Peg (Helen Norton) and Cliff (Mal Whyte) before a ballroom event. As Cliff's realisation of his profound ordinariness grows, he grasps at straws in futile attempts to rise above it.

Peg, who had been happy, allows her "friends" to convince her she might be mistaken about her happiness, and begins reading feminist literature. She comes to feel restless, wants something new. This finds tangible expression in their dancing - they row over steps, Cliff wanting to stick with the ones they know, that have brought them their small success, Peg wanting to try new steps, because for her it's about having fun. (Strangely, Cliff never seeks the distinction he desires with dance, why not?) Norton and Whyte's performances as a dreary, long-wed couple whose marriage is losing its fizz, however, paradoxically comes across with wit and energy. As they narrate their woes and recreate their conflicts, the wordless dancing and situation enactment by Diane O'Keeffe and Klaus Icleiber provides colour and flourish and takes the tale to another dimension. O'Keeffe in particular shines, bringing both her acting and dancing skill to inject verve into the piece.

Although championing the right to be happy and ordinary - an important revelation - the play at its conclusion masks the real tragedy of Peg, who in her small way becomes a kind of Pygmalion. After their social disaster, Peg and Cliff seek comfort and companionship from each other. Yet now, her consciousness raised, trapped by her isolation, can she regain her happiness in ordinariness?

Runs until Jun 10 at the Project Cube.