Looking for Alibrandi – REVIEW
Image: Jennifer Vuletic and Chanella Macri in Looking for Alibrandi at Belvoir St. Photo: Daniel Boud
This much loved novel, which was a literary hit when it was published in 1992, can be seen on the Belvoir stage in a new adaptation by Vidya Rajan.
Melina Marchetta’s story about the growing pains of a 17-year-old girl of Italian background resonated with Australian audiences, who recognised something of themselves in her teenage angst and migrant family conflict.
Three women dominate the stage: Josephine (Josie), played by Chanella Macri, who is in her final year of school; and her mother (Lucia Mastrantone) and her grandmother (Jennifer Vuletic), the latter two fine actors capturing the expressive gestures and vocal rhythms of Italian speech.
Josie is having a difficult time at school while having to deal with her over-protective nonna and mother at home, both of whom hold secrets that come out after Josie’s father (Ashley Lyons) turns up.
Director Stephen Nicolazzo wrings maximum humour out of script and situation to give the audience almost continuous laughs along the way.
Two dramatic turning points in the play could have been given a stronger emphasis: the suicide of Josie’s crush John Barton, her first encounter with the death of a person close to her, and Nonna’s revelation about her lover Chris. These are momentous moments in Josie’s life and deserved to be accorded greater pause and weight. After all, both Josie and her mother are illegitimate daughters of non-Italian fathers. What would the Pope say about that!
The back of the stage is piled high with boxes of tomatoes which the three women frequently use to make Italian passata. Perhaps this was a little overdone? Surely there are other things on Italian menus?
Josie’s boyfriend Jacob Coote (John Marc Desengano) and her girlfriend, the hilarious Sera (also played by versatile Lucia Mastrantone) delivered credible close relationships with Josie, and Ivy, Josie’s enemy at school, was played with spiteful racist snobbery by Hannah Monson, who also disguised herself to play John.
In the play, there’s less emphasis on Josie’s feelings of being an outsider, which was one of the resonating themes of the book. On the stage, Josie had a lot more agency and confidence in herself – which is probably more in keeping with teenagers from migrant backgrounds today.
This is a perfect play to take your teenagers to as it raises important questions about identity, racism and bullying, among other things, which you can discuss with them in the car, bus or train on the way home.
