Review: Looking For Alibrandi at Riverside Theatres

Review by Michelle Sutton 

Based on the iconic book by Melina Marchetta released in 1992, Looking for Alibrandi is a pivotal part of Australian popular culture and literature. The cult classic 2000 film of the same name helped cement the story in Australian history. The stage play is adapted by the talented Vidya Rajan and beautifully and lovingly builds upon this story’s sparkling legacy. Looking for Alibrandi is a coming-of-age story that tells the interconnected tales of three generations of women. The protagonist of the play is Josie; she is deputy captain at a prestigious catholic girl’s school and has big plans to be a big-time lawyer when she graduates. She is smart, funny and slightly volatile. Josie is navigating life as a teenager living under the weight of her Italian family’s cultural traditions and expectations, her own expectations of herself and peer pressure. 

Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, the production is seamless. The stage is dressed with towers of crates of tomatoes. Traditional Italian music blends with 90s Australian pop classics. The set remains the same throughout every scene and it is the actors and costuming that helps the audience understand the passing time and changing of place. 

The energy on stage is palpable whenever Josie, her mother Christina and her Nonna are all on stage together. The gifted artists capture the tight complex and sacred family dynamics. Chanella Macri as Josie harnesses the attitude and mannerisms of a precocious, impulsive 17-almost-18-year-old perfectly. Josie’s Mum Christina is played by Lucia Mastrantone who does a wonderful job of showing the strain of trying to please and placate everyone around her at the expense of her own wishes. Jennifer Vuletic plays Josie’s Nonna who is stoic and quiet about her past. Vuletic imbues her character with  fear, shame, guilt, passion and love. It is a tremendous treat to watch three such talented actors interact and make each other’s performance even better. 

Melina Marchetta has a magical way of putting words together that makes you laugh and puts a lump in your throat in the most casual, gradual way so that you are usually so busy laughing at some everyday relatable dialogue of a family argument that you don’t even realise that you are having a visceral reaction to a touching moment that’s been slowly building up. Rajan’s script skilfully translates this writing for the world of theatre, bringing the pulsating-with-life dialogue and surprising and devastating plot points to the stage. The pacing of the show is spot on and it never feels like it drags. Actors play multiple roles to great comedic effect. 

With the relationships of women, stories of migrants and experience of being caught between two cultures at its heart, Looking for Alibrandi is as relevant as ever. A true love letter to the inner west of Sydney, the power of teenage girls, the way relationships can form and evolve, and to embracing the richness and messiness of your family and culture, Looking for Alibrandi still has a lot of very poignant things to say. With beautiful direction, an exceptional cast of performers and perhaps most importantly a terrific script by Vidya Rajan, the story written so insightfully by Melina Marchetta shines through in this production. Whether you already consider yourself a fan, or if you have never heard of Looking for Alibrandi before, this show is sure to make you laugh and move you.

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