School Dance at Brisbane Powerhouse Arts, Powerhouse Theatre

A sell-out when it premiered at the Adelaide Festival in 2012 and a Ruby Award winner for best drama, School Dance mashes together some '80s gold (BMX heroics, Smurfs, power ballads) to create some gloriously goofy and - for those of us with long memories - achingly real comedy.

Set in the special kind of hell that is the school dance, it follows three awkward teens Matthew, Luke and Jonathan, on their hormone-fuelled quest for social acceptability. They’re on a mission. But they are losers.

A highly personal work that, just like it's central protagonists, is funny, sad, scary, weird, really stupid, endearing and repulsive.

Directed by Rosemary Myers, the show stars writer Matthew Whittet, designer Jonathon Oxlade and composer Luke Smiles have drawn inspiration from the 1980s teen angst films of John Hughes to create a nostalgic and boisterous theatrical gem.

This is one for the dorks, the misfits and the wannabe rock gods.