Jurassica is a story of family, migration, language and growing old. It is a heart-warming tale, told with humour and pathos and spoken in both English and Italian. It’s also about dinosaurs – but not necessarily those from pre-historic times. Performed in Italian as well as English, Giovannoni’s exquisite play provides a very contemporary perspective on the universal themes of displacement, home, and how our past shapes our future.

Ralph and Sara migrated from Tuscany 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 with his father or grandfather. One night Ralph is rushed to hospital and through an unlikely link with Kaja, an interpreter who herself fled wartorn Belgrade, Luca learns to reconnect.

Dan Giovannoni’s magical new play, Jurassica, 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 you grow too old.

‘I am not fully Italian or fully Australian and despite ignoring my family heritage for a long time, I don’t think I can really understand my family unless I understand what they went through, how they were raised.’ Dan Giovannoni.