Child's play

The idea of transforming such an everyday domestic task as hanging out the washing into a performance piece for children is excellent, both because it opens up the potential playfulness in a chore and it shows how, given a free reign, a child's imagination needs but the simplest things to be nurtured.

This show by Theaterwerk statt Pilkentafel, a German company, is a particularly playful introduction to this year's Musicfest at The Ark. And ideas were not in short supply as Torsten Schutte (Heini) and Sonja Hilpert (Elsie) slowly, ceremoniously and sometimes exuberantly pegged their sheets, socks and extra-large underpants out to dry (the clothes were already dry, so there were no watergames on offer). The couple's layered white costumes, the large crisp white sheets and red, blue and yellow socks formed a striking image against the plain black background set.

The duo's wordless antics were at their best when Heini, covered in a large sheet, became a camel on which Elsie rode and when Heini pegged Elsie and then himself to the clothesline. Hartmut Leistritz's piano accompaniment (Pictures At An Exhibition by Mussorgsky) worked well and acted as a lovely introduction to classical music for young listeners.

However, the conflicting energies between the two actors (the more servile Heini set against the self-possessed Elsie) dominated the action too much. And I suspect that the young viewers (the show is for those aged between four and seven) would have enjoyed much more of the washing transforming into animals and birds, tugs-of-war and general mayhem than even folding large sheets in the wind can sometimes result in.

Often it was just when the real fun began that the actors moved on too quickly to another scene rather than indulging the children with their looser, more creative energy. Even the final 10 minutes of audience free play was over-controlled if aesthetically very pleasing.