Raewyn Hill's long-awaited larger cast dance-theatre work, Angels with Dirty Feet, has premiered at Downstage before touring to Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch.

It explores the realm of drug addiction and is inspired by Australian author Luke Davies' 2001 book Candy.

Hill describes herself as a child whose education included nothing about drugs. She believes works like hers should tour small towns and schools, funded from the $3 million recently allocated for drug education. Children "need to be treated like adults by adults," she writes in her programme note. "If they are smart enough to understand and access drugs then they need to be outsmarted, not lectured ... Give them something that will encourage them to feel, think and talk about" the issue.

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