Looking for Alibrandi is the very definition of an iconic Aussie story: you don’t get to be the most stolen book from high school libraries for nothing. An adaptation of the book is hitting the Sydney stage in October to celebrate its 30th anniversary, so author and living legend Melina Marchetta sat down with PEDESTRIAN.TV to talk about Australia’s beloved teen novel.
The original Looking for Alibrandi novel was published in 1992, while the equally stellar film came out in 2000. It featured Pia Miranda as Josie Alibrandi, Greta Scacchi and Anthony LaPaglia as her parents and everyone’s childhood crush Kick Gurry as Jacob Coote.
Oh, to ride a motorbike over the Anzac Bridge without getting stuck in heinous traffic.
Melina Marchetta touched on the ways Australia has changed since Looking for Alibrandi burst onto the scene back in the early 90s.
“Sometimes I think it’s changed quite a lot and other times, I feel as if it hasn’t changed at all,” she told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I still feel as if there isn’t enough representation of people that are of a non-English speaking background, or people of colour.”
She said it was “disappointing” that despite the film’s success back in the noughties, Australian cinema is still lacking stories about diversity and the migrant experience.
“For all the success of Alibrandi, and how wonderfully it was received, I don’t feel as if that really changed a lot when it came to Australian film.”
So much of the original story is about Josie’s identity and which worlds she does — and doesn’t — fit into.
“[As a] child of a migrant, you’re grappling with your identity because you are told, ‘You don’t belong here’,” Marchetta explained.
For Marchetta, part of the reason Looking for Alibrandi has remained so iconic is because of its main character Josie, who she described as an underdog.
“She certainly likes to challenge the status quo, but at the same time she wants to be part of the very thing that she’s challenging. I think a lot of us are like that,” she explained.
“I think anyone reading about her could feel as if they could be her”.
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While the story has remained an iconic staple of Australian teen-hood, for Marchetta part of the reason the novel resonated at the time is because it captured a specific era of Aussie life.
She pointed out that now, it’s unlikely a character like Josie would be persecuted for being Italian or because her mum isn’t married.
“I just don’t think she would have those hassles in 2022. So I think it was meant to be out in the 90s. I always think it was written about the 80s and it was just its time to really shine.”
For those of us who wondered what became of Josie Alibrandi post high school, Marchetta explained she didn’t want to tie up all the strands of her story too tightly.
But she does reckon Josie wouldn’t necessarily have become a lawyer.
Ah, the highschool flirtation with studying law. Relatable!
“I think those ambitions belonged to someone else,” Marchetta said.
“I think she wanted things that her father was just to prove that she could be better [than him] and those girls at school. So I don’t know what she would be doing, but I know what she wouldn’t be doing.”
A part of her wanted Josie to end up with Jacob at the end of the book.
“I would want all these romantic kind of endings and… I’m not saying it doesn’t happen by all means. But yeah, it’s not that easy,” she said.
Looking for Alibrani has stood the test of time because it powerfully captures all of those themes: of identity, of figuring out how to be a person, of coping with loss and the threat of the future.
But ultimately, Looking for Alibrandi is also a story of intergenerational trauma.
“This novel is not about a girl who finds it hard to fit in at school or falls in love with one boy and loves another. It’s not about that,” Marchetta explained.
“It is about three generations of women. And that to me hasn’t changed.”
Marchetta hasn’t been involved in the stage production though she’s assured it’s in safe hands. It’ll be directed by legend Stephen Nicolazzo while the adaptation is by Vidya Rajan — the same team behind the Melbourne run earlier this year.
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It stars Chanella Macri, Lucia Mastrantone, Jennifer Vuletic, Hannah Munson, Ashley Lyons and John Marc Desengano.
“I love [Nicolazzo’s] casting, I just think it’s got this vibrancy that’s very 2022,” Marchetta said.
“It excites me because it is going to be very different, except the elements we love about the story being those three women. I think that they have taken centre stage.”
When Marchetta goes to see it, she’ll be bringing her daughter, who’s about to turn 11, and her mum. It’s a pretty stunning full circle moment, if you ask me.
“I think it’s just such a wonderful opportunity, at the 30 year anniversary, that my daughter can be involved in this,” she said.
“I just want her to see that story on the stage. And one day, we’ll read it together.”
Looking for Alibrandi will be at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney from October 1 to November 6. You can cop tickets and more info here.
