In January 2004, Rose starred alongside Ben Mendelsohn in Petunia Takes Tea in Australia.

Rose said to the The Sunday Telegraph: “Often it’s harder to do something smaller than something big. There’s different challenges in each. This play came up a few weeks ago and it’s not too taxing. It doesn’t mean I won’t be nervous at Newtown: what if they don’t laugh?

About the Play
PETUNIA TAKES TEA is a nightmarish piece of suburban horror – we meet budding ballerina Petunia shortly after she’s cut off her own legs below the knee, just to spite her long-suffering, and viciously dominating, Mother. Pet’s friend Lyndel drops by to see her friend Pet, and casually mentions that Mother’s sister Janet has just been the victim of a fatal car accident. Mother then sends Lyndel back to her satanist parents, to eat ‘left-over sacrifice’ for tea… Vanessa’s play manages to be hilariously funny, but each time a laugh rises in your throat it’s accompanied by something else – a bilious unease. The combination is unsettling, to say the least. Source