La Nonna's Saucy Sauce Day review (Midsumma Festival)

In 2019, Samuel Dariol presented a tender homage to his nonna with La Nonna, where he shared her life and choices that led her to moving to Australia and raising her family. In 2024, we once again meet nonna (and nonna) but this time it's all about sauce making day with La Nonna's Saucy Sauce Day. I may not be Italian but I am very aware of how significant sauce making day is for Italian families.

Dariol and Anna Cerreto are exceptional as the nonnas. It's testament to Dariol's strong performance from 2019 that the 2024 nonna feels so familiar and welcoming. The mannerisms of the nonnas are scarily accurate and they display effective commitment to these matriarchs. The inclusion of some contemporary dance breaks are highly entertaining and seeing how they attempt to make this day a success is a joy to watch unfold, despite their setbacks.

La Nonna review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | The Rattlesnake Saloon

There is nothing more important to an Italian than family and food. In his cabaret show La Nonna, Samuel Dariol presents a homage to his grandmother that is full of love, warmth and admiration. Dariol recreates moments of her life that have led her to be where she is now and that have also led him to where he is now. Incorporating song, storytelling and plenty of food, he explores how his queerness connects with his nonna’s migrant experience and how this has formed part of his identity.

Dariol's selection of songs perfectly encapsulate the emotions his nonna is feeling at those moments, such as the abusive relationship she found herself in and how she coped with her new found independence after her husband moved back to Italy. Dariol uses these songs in a way that changes their original meanings, making them sound fresh and exciting. His cover of “Feeling Good” (previously covered by Michael Bublé) is sung from the violent perspective of his grandfather, which is then followed by Tina Arena’s “Chains”, putting the focus on the fallout of the end of this relationship.

Wearing a big black wig and a blood-red dress, Dariol takes on the role of his nonna and he does so with extreme attention to detail in how she moves, walks and talks. This is further made evident when he briefly becomes his grandfather with the intimidating and aggressive physicality he adopts. He has gone to painstaking efforts to replicate the ambience of a traditional Italian kitchen with his nonna spending her time preparing salami, soup and offering us - her guests - a constant stream of food. Mangia mangia she exclaims.