A familiar Italian migrant tale will be brought to life in Griffith later this month with Dan Giovannoni’s Jurassica sure to strike a chord with many locals.
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This magical play weaves the past and present together, exploring what it is to migrate, to be displaced and to spend the rest of your life searching for home.
Most of all, this is a play about the importance of family and about mending fences before it’s too late.
Spoken in English and Italian, it’s about dinosaurs – just not the prehistoric kind.
Jurassica will be showing at Griffith Regional Theatre on Wednesday September 26 at 7.30pm, with members invited to bring a friend for free.
To complete the experience, an array of local Italian stories will be on display in the foyer before the show.
Jurassica tells how Ralph and Sara migrated from Italy in the 1950s to their concrete-front- yard house in suburban Moorabbin.
Their son, Ichlis, never really forgave them for his misunderstood name, and grandson Luca is struggling to talk to his father or grandfather.
Until one night Ralph is rushed to hospital and, through an unlikely connection with Kaja, an interpreter, Luca learns to reconnect.
Griffith Regional Theatre Manager, Raina Savage, said this heart-warming story should resonate with many locals.
“This is a beautifully told story that will speak to Griffith people,” Ms Savage said.
“There are obvious similarities between what some of our Italian migrants have been through and this fictional family.
“Jurassica is a warm, multi-generational family story which will appeal to a broad age demographic, older theatre-going audiences as well as young adults will enjoy this show.”
Jurassica was the winner of the 2015 Green Room Award for Best New Australian Writing.
As the child of migrant parents and grandparents, Giovannoni (Merciless Gods) has often sat in the space between being Australian and being Italian, experiencing a slight disconnect between both. Dan points out that Jurassica is not his life story, but is one born from his experiences.
“This is not my life story by any means, but it would be silly, and incorrect to suggest that I’m not in there somehow... Jurassica reflects my own experiences,” Giovannoni said.
