'Time for a comedy - a mad, gorgeous, bittersweet comedy about how good it is not to be dead yet.
'A group of more or less ordinary Sydneysiders go about their lives: Anna makes toast, Henry dresses for work, Milla catches the train to school, Moses deals drugs - that kind of thing. But hovering above this unholy parade of life is the sobering fact that Milla will die before her 15th birthday.
'Rita Kalnejais is a young playwright of uncommon genius. She looks at the humdrum world around us and sees something radically alive. Dogs, Paganini, figs, an eight-year-old Vietnamese violin prodigy, morphine, clear skies and a Latvian immigrant are amongst the magnificent conflagration of ingredients which make up this wonderful, funny play. Written specially for Belvoir, its theme is what Rita calls the violent sweetness of life.
'Eamon Flack (The End, As You Like It) directs a play of unexpected brilliance about that very old and almost forgotten quality of life: grace.' (Source: Belvoir St Theatre website)
Babyteeth
( dir. Shannon Murphy
)
Australia
:
Whitefalk Films
,
2019
13197206
2019
single work
film/TV
'When seriously ill teenager Milla Finlay falls in love with smalltime drug dealer Moses, it’s her parents’ worst nightmare. But as Milla’s first brush with love brings her a new lust for life, things get messy and traditional morals go out the window. Milla shows everyone in her orbit—her parents, Moses, a sensitive music teacher, a budding child violinist, and a disarmingly honest pregnant neighbor—how to live like you have nothing to lose. What might have been a disaster for the Finlay family instead leads to letting go and finding grace in the glorious chaos of life. Babyteeth joyously explores how good it is not to be dead and how far we will go for love.'
Source: Venice International Film Festival.
Performed at the Belvior St Theatre, Sydney: 15 February 2012.
Directed by Eamon Flack.
Produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia at the Space Theatre, 16 August - 7 September 2013.
Director: Chris Drummond.
Lighting Designer: Geoff Cobham.
Composer: Hilary Kleinig.
Cast including Danielle Catanzariti, Chris Pitman, and Mandy McElhinney.
