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| Chanella Macri (Josie) - Natalie Gamsu (Nonna) in "Looking for Alibrandi" |
A play by Vidya Rajan based on a book by Melina Marchetta.
Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo – Set and Costume Design by
Kate Davis
Lighting Design by Kate Sfetkidis - Sound Design by Daniel
Nixon Canberra
Canberra Theatre 3rd & 4th October
2025.
Performance on October 3rd reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.
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| Natalie Gamsu (Nonna) - Amanda McGregor (Sera) - Chanella Macri (Josie) |
Vidja Rajan’s theatrical adaptation of Melina Marchetta’ s
popular novel set in the inner western suburbs of Sydney in the 1990’s following
the travails of 17-year-old Italian/Australian, Josephine Alibrandi, who’s trying
to find her place in a world while dealing with old-time family traditions and
her new-world dreams, was originally commissioned and directed by Stephen Nicolazzo
for seasons at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, and The Belvoir in Sydney in
2022.
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| Amanda McGregor (Sera) - Natalie Gamsu (Nonna) Chanella Macri (Josie) |
Earlier this year Nicolazzo directed this new production of Looking For Alibrandi for a 12 venue National tour by Brink Productions, for which these performances in the Canberra Theatre were the last.
Nicolazzo’s production immediately challenges the perceptions
of those whose only knowledge of the work is from the popular film in which the
role of Josephine Alibrandi was famously played by Pia Miranda.
For this production Nicolazzo has cast 29-year-old Samoan/Italian
actress Chanella Macri as the 17-year-old, year-12 student. Amanda McGregor plays both Josie’s single
mother Christina, and her scatter-brain friend Sera, while Natalie Gamsu plays
her domineering Nonna, Sister Bernadette and radio personality, Margaret Throsby.
Brigid Gallacher plays the viperous school captain, Ivy, as
well as Josie’s tragic friend, John Barton, while Chris Asimos is Josie’s frequently
absent, successful lawyer father, Michael Andretti, and Riley Warner plays the cliché
Australian bogan stereotype and object of Josie’s affections, Jacob Coote.
The play is performed in an evocative setting devised by Kate
Davis, in which a huge drum of steaming tomatoes, stacks of tomato filled crates,
and passata-making paraphernalia, dominate the stage.
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| Chanella Macri (Josie) - Brigid Gallacher (John Barton) |
Laughs came quickly as the establishing scenes were played as a series of comedy sketches with chairs and tables moved around to represent changing locales, and supporting roles interpreted as comic characters with funny voices and bad wigs with dialogue rich with cliché Italian/Australian cultural references.
However, as Josie’s situation deepened with the suicide of
her friend, John Barton, and the reappearance of her father Michael Andretti, with
the focus narrowing on her predicaments requiring more naturalist performance of
the central roles, it was hard ti escape the feeling that, despite the best efforts of the talented cast,
whatever gains had been achieved by the idiosyncratic casting and clashing
acting styles employed in the search for
a different perspective, had been achieved by the loss of much of the charm and
purpose of the original property.
Photos supplied
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com,au
