In the eastern suburbs of Adelaide in the Cold War 1960s, Svetlana, the daughter of Russian immigrants, dreams of escaping the world of Dad’s smallgoods shop and her ever-disintegrating family into sci-fi, spaceships and stars. While Svetlana lives out her anxious, gut-wrenchingly funny adolescence her sister makes a break for freedom in the back seat of her boyfriend’s MG; her father tries to maintain his white-knuckled hold over his family and her mother does battle with mental illness before it claims her forever.

Part yearning cosmic fantasy, part tribute to an awkward adolescent survival, Levkowicz’s rich and endearing play transcends both the clichéd suburban vistas of Anglo Australia , and the tough migrant’s survival story, with honesty, imagination and deadpan humour.

Val Levkowicz began her association with Belvoir in our very first production, Patrick White’s Signal Driver in 1985, when she played impish Second Being buzzing behind Kerry Walker’s Ivy and John Gaden’s Theo Vokes. Half a lifetime later it was great for Val to come back with her story. And it was great to welcome back director Kate Gaul, after her thrilling success with The Laramie Project in 2001.

Cast

Sacha Horler
Kristof Kaczmarek
Valentina Oustimovitch
Tim Richards
Justin Smith
Rachel Szalay

Team

By Valentina Levkowicz
Director Kate Gaul
Designer Stephen Curtis
Lighting Designer Stephen Hawker
Composer Iain Grandage
Sound Designer Wei Han Liao