Archive - Wallflowering

Zootango Theatre Company
State Theatre Company of Tasmania

Peacock Theatre, Salamanca, Hobart, March-April 1990

Selected Archive Credit

Wallflowering represented a significant intersection of theatre, dance, and narrative movement, bringing ballroom language onto the dramatic stage in a way rarely seen in Australian theatre at the time.

Written by Peta Murray and directed by Mary McMenamin, Wallflowering premiered in Hobart in March 1990 as a Zootango Theatre Company production for the State Theatre Company of Tasmania. The work centred on two ageing ballroom dancers and the emotional, physical, and relational terrain of a life shaped by dance, memory, and endurance.

Ray Mather and Sonia Kruger were invited to join the production as featured performers, appearing as the South Pacific Ballroom Dancing Champions. Their role was not decorative but integral, embodying the living presence of dance within the narrative world of the play. The production required dancers who could communicate character, history, and vulnerability through movement rather than spectacle alone.

At the time, both performers were at the height of their competitive and professional careers, having transitioned from championship ballroom into theatrical and screen-based work. Their casting followed an extended search by the director, who later acknowledged the difficulty of finding dancers capable of meeting the dramatic demands of the piece.

Wallflowering opened at the Peacock Theatre in Salamanca and played through until April 7, 1990. Contemporary media coverage highlighted the production’s emotional restraint, its physical storytelling, and the unusual but effective integration of ballroom dance into a scripted theatrical form.

Behind the scenes, the production was notable for its care and trust between playwright, director, actors, and dancers. In a handwritten note following the Hobart season, playwright Peta Murray expressed gratitude for the sensitivity with which the dancers held her work, writing of her relief in knowing that the play was “in safe hands and on even safer feet.”

For Ray Mather, Wallflowering sits within a formative period of crossover work between dance, theatre, and screen. It represents an early example of movement being used not as embellishment, but as narrative language, a thread that would continue through later choreography, film work, and eventually into photographic practice grounded in gesture, presence, and lived experience.

Wallflowering was originally workshopped at the 1988 Australian National Playwright’s Conference and remains a quietly important example of Australian theatre that honoured the body as storyteller.

Government House Reception, Hobart

During the Hobart season of Wallflowering, Raymond Mather attended a reception at Government House, Hobart, hosted by the Governor and Lady Bennett. The event also included the cast of Lettice and Lovage, who were performing concurrently at the Theatre Royal and were the principal invitees to the reception.

Cast and creative representatives from Wallflowering, including Raymond Mather and members of Zootango Theatre Company, were invited to attend alongside them.

The reception reflects the cultural visibility of visiting theatre productions in Hobart at the time and situates Wallfloweringwithin the broader civic and professional arts landscape of Tasmania.

 

Original printed invitation, Government House, Hobart. Personal archive of Raymond Mather.

An enduring outcome of the Wallflowering production was the beginning of a professional connection with Kate Gaul, who worked on the production as Stage Manager and Costumer Designer. This meeting marked the start of a creative relationship that would later extend beyond Tasmania. Kate Gaul went on to establish Siren Theatre Company, for whom Ray Mather subsequently contributed to several productions, continuing a shared interest in theatre that foregrounded movement, design, and emotionally grounded storytelling.

ART1 Archive Context

This page forms part of the ART1 Archive, documenting professional work and cultural contributions prior to the launch of ART1.

View related theatre, screen, and movement credits in the Archive.