'Peta Murray wrote 'Wallflowering' in 1988, a period in Australian playwriting identified by Geoff Milne as the 'Third Wave' of Australian theatre, a period he defines as 'loosely spanning the years from 1979 to about 1991'. Milne notes that Third Wave theatre challenged dominant paradigms, 'taking the theatre away from the proscenium arch, diversifying the established stage voice with those of Indigenous and multicultural Australia, women, and regional Australians. Orthodox spoken-word drama began to cede ground to other forms like physical theatre and new circus, visual theatre and puppetry, and contemporary performance.' 'Wallflowering' is very much of its time. In it, Murray explored the world of ballroom dancing, and the place of the individual within its conventions. With its embedded narratives of metamorphoses, and its aspirations to grace and beauty, the lore and culture of ballroom allowed for close examination of idealised tropes of femininity and masculinity within twentieth-century codes.' (Publication abstract)
