Io non mi marito per procura, UTM’s 25th anniversary Maschere Duemondi’s show, is a comedy in Italiese—“mangia-cake Italian”—whose title translates to “He is not my husband by choice.” Set in the 1960s in both Toronto and Sicily, the show delivers a whopping amount of clever lines that delighted audiences both young and old at performances in the last week of February and early March.
Io non mi marito per procura, written by Lina Riccobene, opened on February 23 in the CCT Building under the direction of professor Teresa Lobalsamo. It centres on the themes of family, love and marriage. The show stars UTM student Luigi Giangrande in the role of Charlie Mangiapani, a twenty-nine-year-old who still lives with his parents, who are trying to marry him off as soon as possible.
With a phone call to Sicily, Charlie’s dreams of marrying a nice Canadian “gherla” are snatched away as an arranged marriage is made between Charlie and a Sicilian girl named Mariuzza, played by Katherine Zuraw. What ensues is a hilarious rendition of the play as the two families meet in the old country to work out the details of the marriage.
Giangrande, who is not part of the Italian theatre course but who was nonetheless invited to participate, delivers a wonderfully frustrated Charlie, tired of living in an intrusive household in which he is constantly being nagged to marry. Charlie’s parents, played with fantastic hilarity by Matthew Lima and Jenna Spagnuolo, are a great contrast to Mariuzza’s parents, Bilasi and Vita, played by Stew Arevalo and Carla Romeo.
Praise must be given to Lima for getting the most laughs out of the audience in his dual roles as Charlie’s father and the girl’s grandmother.
Perhaps the funniest part of the show is the lively banter between Lima and Romeo’s characters, the mother of Mariuzza and her mother-in-law, who are constantly at each other’s throats.
The acting, accent, and linguistics play are what make this great show such a hit. The actors’ emotive hand gestures, facial expressions, and change in pitch and tone are masterfully done during the performance. Most notably, the set design, costumes, and music have a hand in tying knot in the audience’s heart.
The show endeavours to make the audience laugh, and pulls it off by its sheer entertainment fantastically. Io non mi marito per procura is a must-see!
