It’s no easy task to adapt a beloved text, especially when it’s the first new version in over two decades; audiences will doubtlessly come in with preconceived expectations of characters and scenes they’ve known and loved for years. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, the Malthouse Theatre’s take on Melina Marchetta’s seminal 1992 coming-of-age novel Looking for Alibrandi (also a 2000 cult film) has pushed through countless Covid complications to make it to the main stage. It retains many of the beats of the original, but is best approached as its own beast.
Set in 1990s Sydney, the story follows the final schooling year of scholarship student Josephine Alibrandi (Chanella Macri) as she wrestles with her Italian heritage, and the struggles of her mother, Christina, (Lucia Mastrantone) and Nonna Katia (Jennifer Vuletic). Writer Vidya Rajan centres the exploration of intergenerational trauma, and the disparities of class, in this adaptation. Her balance of humour and empathy, light and shadow, draws out the threads that make this such a timeless story.
