Maya Stange grew up in Fremantle. She attended the little-known Family School and then the better-known Lance Holt School, before the John Curtin College of the Arts, where she began her acting apprenticeship.
Her first feature was also Russell Crowe’s first. In the story, three boys, one of whom is Maya’s character’s brother, make their way to Kalgoorlie to lose their virginities, with mixed success. It’s not a great film, and Rusty shdn’t’ve tried to do a Welsh accent. But the production design saves it. It’s set in the 1950s, and it’s all Laminex and primary colours. The acting is, of a piece with the locations and costumes, theatrical.
I made a point of attending the Fremantle premiere, in the presence of the star, at Luna S/X. I’m not sure of the exact number in the cinema, but it was less than ten, including Maya and her Mum and another family member. No red carpet.
Jim Schembri’s review included this:
The film’s art direction (by David McKay) looks like a Norgen Vaas icecream counter. Exaaggerated pastel colours reincarnate a glorious 1950s suburbia which has nothing to do with documentary recreation and everything to do with evoking a nostalgic memory that is universally pleasing. …
Of all the things celebrated in Love in Limbo, it is the romantic vision of a mythical Australia and the glory of its values that help give the film heart, however rose-coloured. There is male bonding through drinking, defiance of authority, larrikins, soft-hearted macho men and golden-hearted whores. Jim Schembri, Murray: 363.