Thirty years after it was first published to critical and popular acclaim, Melina Marchetta’s debut novel Looking for Alibrandi still speaks powerfully about growing up in Australia as the child of migrants. Adapted for the silver screen in 2000, this classic story returns in a new Malthouse/Belvoir co-production directed by Stephen Nicolazzo. A love of the novel and the Italian-Australian migrant experience is always apparent, but the play doesn’t work as well as it could. There were some stilted moments during the opening night performance, probably due to COVID running through the cast in recent weeks. More significant, and insurmountable until the Belvoir season, is the problem of having a small cast in the Malthouse’s largest space, diminishing the intimacy of a work in which connecting with family and friends is crucial.

Chanella Macri and Lucia Mastrantone, Looking for Alibrandi, Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse, 2022. Photo © Jeff Busby

Adapted by Vidya Rajan, this two-hour take is about the titular Josie Alibrandi, as well as her single mum Christina, who works hard to make ends meet and overcome the past, and Nonna, whose lifelong regrets makes this post-war migrant...