Melina Marchetto’s 1992 novel has had a few incarnations. Its first incarnation was as a successful stage adaptation by the PACT Youth Theatre in 1995. Then in 2000 the novel was adapted to film, with the screenplay by Marchetto, which starred Pia Miranda and Anthony LaPaglia. Now Belvoir Street Theatre is presenting a fresh stage adaptation by Vidya Rajan, in a production directed by Stephen Bicolazzo.
It is the last year of school in LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI. 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi can’t wait for her future to begin. If only she can get past the world of her Nonna, holding on to the values of the old country; and the world of her Mum, full of care and secrets. It’s time to take her place as a young adult, in the real world, beyond her family, beyond being an Alibrandi.
But this is the year Josie gets to know her father. This is the year she falls in love. And this is the year she uncovers the truth – and finds the Alibrandi she has been searching for.
In Bicolazzo’s program note he describes what for him is the very heart of the story that he wants to share with audiences; that Josie’s journey sees her have to face up to all the labels that get thrown her way and to come through it being proudly Italian and being able to stand up for herself in the mainstream Anglo Saxon culture.
Stephen Bicolazzo’s production is colourful and passionate. Italian culture is on display in all its richness. Pasta, well at least the sauce, is made on stage. Boxes of tomatoes are at the back of the stage. (Just to ‘immerse’ the audience in the Alibrandi experience, there are alo tomatoes heaped together against a wall of the theatre foyer). Sometimes the dialogue is in Italian. The vitality and feistiness of the Alibrandi family comes across well.
In the 2000 film Pia Miranda’s Josie was such a slight, petite figure. The large, imposing figure of Chanelle Macri as Josie could not be more different. The picture in my mind of Miranda from the novel and the film was so imprinted that Chanelle just didn’t jell for me in the role.
Ashley Lyons impressed as father Michael who comes back into Josie’s life. Lyons portrays his character’s mixed feelings returning to the Alibrandi’s. The scene between Michael and his ex wife was well played and deeply felt.
John Marc Desengano was a very likable figure as Jacob Coote, Josie’s friend who turns boyfriend.
The other actors play multiple roles. Lucia Mastratone, as always, is great as Josie’s very loving and caring mother Christine, who wants to be a much better mother than her own, with whom she had a very fractured relationship. Matratone also plays Josie’s outrageous, flamboyant friend Sara.
Hannah Monson plays Josie’s close friend and crush, John Barton, a very intelligent but also troubled soul. She also plays the spiteful Ivy.
Jennifer Vuletic gives the performance of the night, a powerful, evocative performance as Josie’s gritty, temperamental grandma, Nonna, who has had a very difficult life, coming to Australia as a young Italian immigrant with a husband that she didn’t really love, and moving to a town where no-one spoke Italian. Vuletic also plays Sister Benedict who flits in and out of the action, and also is the voice of Margaret Throsby, the legendary ABC radio broadcaster.
Nicolazzo’s accomplished creative team comprised the excellent work of set and costume designer Kate Davis, so good at evoking the world of the play, composer and sound designer Daniel Nixonm, and lighting designer Katie Sfetkidis.
It was good to see Alibrandi on the stage even if it didn’t quite satisfy.
LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is playing upstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre until Saturday 6 November 2022.
https://belvoir.com.au/productions/looking-for-alibrandi/
Featured image Jennifer Vuletic as Nonna in ‘Looking For Alibrandi’. Production photography by Daniel Boud
