The title of this play is so intriguing I felt compelled to see it. The action starts with a familiar domestic scene. A woman singing and half dancing to her favourite song while clearing up in the kitchen. It’s Christmas and the woman Katie, played by Katie Mansfield, is nervously awaiting her father who she hasn’t seen since she was a child. Her boyfriend Sam (played by her husband in real life Sam Mansfield) is competing with her to play his silly Christmas Wombles song and generally getting on her nerves, with comic effect.

When she meets her father, played by Joe Graham (who also wrote the play) her anger towards him comes out against a backdrop of forced Christmas jolliness.

Happily this anger turns to laughter when she finds out why she loves her favourite ‘relaxing’ song. Her father tells her that she danced to the song in the garden while jumping on snails as she enjoyed the sound of them crunching so much. This memory of this ‘snail massacre’ brings them together as a family for the first time in years.

Dancing to the Sound of Crunching Snails is a light-hearted drama which, as well as eliciting lots of laughter, touches on deeply felt emotions. One of the central themes is the power of music and how music is intertwined with the memories which shape us. The play also shows how the funny memories parents and children share bind them together.

The script is very well written as it recreates the interactions of a family with gentle observational humour, in a way that reminded me of an episode of TV’s Gavin and Stacey. Katie Mansfield shows the vulnerability and brittle anger of her character effectively and Sam Mansfield is very funny, although slightly over the top, as her clown-like boyfriend. Sara Graham, is excellent as the bubbly and no-nonsense Sara, the sister of Katie, and Joe Graham plays the part of their bumbling father well.

Balancing Act is clearly a budding company worth looking out for.