Canadian ReviewsCanadian Reviews
  • What’s On
  • Reviews
  • Digital World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Trending
  • Web Stories
Trending Now

U.S. Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Set New High in July 2025 :: Hospitality Trends

3 Birth Months That Shine on Social Media, Per Experts

Google says the quiet part out loud: IP68 protection doesn’t last

REVIEW: Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival 2025

Hotel Development Opportunity in Central London Southbank Area

Windows 11 test brings AI file search to the Copilot app Canada reviews

20th Aug: Fisk (2024), 3 Seasons [TV-MA] – New Episodes (6.95/10)

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest Vimeo
Canadian ReviewsCanadian Reviews
  • What’s On
  • Reviews
  • Digital World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Trending
  • Web Stories
Newsletter
Canadian ReviewsCanadian Reviews
You are at:Home » Timoteo serves up a story of family and food with solo show Made in Italy | Canada Voices
Lifestyle

Timoteo serves up a story of family and food with solo show Made in Italy | Canada Voices

26 May 20255 Mins Read

Open this photo in gallery:

Farren Timoteo’s Made in italy is a semi-autobiographical solo show about the fractured sense of unbelonging that can accompany being the child of immigrants in Canada.Nanc Price/Mirvish

Title: Made in Italy

Written and performed by: Farren Timoteo

Director: Daryl Cloran

Company: Marquis Entertainment Inc., in association with the Citadel Theatre

Venue: CAA Theatre

City: Toronto

Year: Until June 8, 2025

In Italian families, every story begins with a juicy glass of vino – or so says Farren Timoteo’s nonno, or grandfather, near the beginning of Made In Italy, Timoteo’s semi-autobiographical solo show about family, food and the fractured sense of unbelonging that can accompany being the child of immigrants in Canada.

The show starts simply enough: Timoteo takes the stage as bespectacled grandpa Salvatore Mantini and dials his accent up to 11. Soft accordions play as part of Mishelle Cuttler’s sound design, nostalgic and gentle as Salvatore explains the theatre of a traditional Italian meal – the overture of an aperitif; the rising action of a risotto or pasta; the sweet climax of tiramisu.

And, of course, the main event: the ever-flowing drama of good wine, and better conversation.

Suddenly, Timoteo removes his glasses to become someone else – an equally fictionalized version of his father, Francesco. Driven by adolescent hormones and tormented by cruel schoolyard bullies in 1970s Jasper, Alta., Francesco dreams of singing something other than Italian art songs – and wearing something other than the stuffy suits his father picks out for him.

Open this photo in gallery:

Made In Italy‘s musical interludes, nicely performed by Timoteo, never feel like padding.Nanc Price/Mirvish

A teenage trip to Italy sees Francesco blossom in more ways than one – a lifelong friendship erupts with his cousin, and Francesco gets the chance to see his father’s culinary traditions in context. Stories about his grandmother’s pasta e fagioli become deliciously real, a token of his genealogy made tangible. Italy, in the important ways, is home, he learns.

Timoteo’s play, directed by Citadel Theatre artistic director Daryl Cloran, is not new: It’s had a healthy string of runs across Canada, and based on Timoteo’s performance, it’s not hard to see why. Timoteo oozes with stage presence as he twirls his family’s story around like a spaghetti noodle, stretching it out and tending to it with high-energy sauce. As told by Timoteo, the Mantini family sounds just as worthy of an HBO dramedy as the fictional Sopranos – Francesco, in particular, makes for a rather charming anti-hero, even in the later beats of the play, which briefly see him turn his back on his heritage.

Made In Italy falls neatly into an existing tradition of semi-autobiographical plays about second-generation Canadians, but eschews the genre‘s penchant for 90-minute runtimes. At nearly two-and-a-quarter hours, including a lengthy intermission (for audience members to partake in the vino, presumably), the play feels overly lengthy and breaded with material that doesn’t always serve the rest of Timoteo’s more incisive writing. An extended Rocky-inspired sequence, in which teenage Francesco prepares to hit his bully, comes to mind; while Timoteo’s a decent slapstick comic, just a few too many of Made In Italy‘s gags hinge upon Timoteo’s ability to throw himself on and off the large dining table sat centre stage.

Open this photo in gallery:

Timoteo oozes with stage presence as he twirls his family’s story around like a spaghetti noodle, stretching it out and tending to it with high-energy sauce.Nanc Price/Mirvish

Speaking of that table, though: Cory Sincennes’s set design, featuring dozens of framed photos and the massive dining surface, is just lovely, and provides Timoteo with ample room to play – more than once he launches himself from antique-looking chairs or lays himself bare to a saint on Sincennes’s back wall, snappily lit by Celeste English.

Additionally, Made In Italy‘s musical interludes, nicely performed by Timoteo, never feel like padding – that’s especially true of Timoteo’s rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water, sung jointly in Italian and English. Autobiographical solo shows can often feel in search of their endings – that’s not the case here, and, length quibbles aside, Timoteo’s final beat is touching and honest.

It’s a neat coincidence that, just a few blocks away from the CAA Theatre, two similarly excellent plays explore the complications of growing up within immigrant families.

Packaged by Buddies in Bad Times as a cheekily-titled double bill called Genrefuck., Augusto Bitter’s Reina breathes vibrant life into the women printed onto packages of P.A.N. corn flour, while Julie Phan’s Never Walk Alone offers sex work as a gesture toward familial intimacy. While I’m more impressed by the latter of those two, I’m also rather charmed by the unintentional triptych of immigration-informed family portraits now playing between Alexander and Bloor streets in downtown Toronto. (The double bill at Buddies runs until Saturday.)

Back on the Mediterranean side: While Made In Italy could use a trim, the play’s poignant ending makes for a digestivo that’ll likely satisfy the masses with its simplicity and genuine charm. Now that’s amore.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Telegram Email

Related Articles

3 Birth Months That Shine on Social Media, Per Experts

Lifestyle 20 August 2025

20th Aug: Fisk (2024), 3 Seasons [TV-MA] – New Episodes (6.95/10)

Lifestyle 20 August 2025

Car crashes into Houston restaurant, narrowly misses influencers filming review

Lifestyle 20 August 2025

CSIS is hiring in Montreal and you could get paid up to $120K to be nosy AF

Lifestyle 20 August 2025

Have cellphone bans been effective in schools? Share your thoughts | Canada Voices

Lifestyle 20 August 2025

Masterpiece Shin Godzilla gets a black-and-white U.S. re-release

Lifestyle 20 August 2025
Top Articles

These Ontario employers were just ranked among best in Canada

17 July 2025261 Views

What Time Are the Tony Awards? How to Watch for Free

8 June 2025155 Views

Getting a taste of Maori culture in New Zealand’s overlooked Auckland | Canada Voices

12 July 2025136 Views

Full List of World’s Safest Countries in 2025 Revealed, Canada Reviews

12 June 202599 Views
Demo
Don't Miss
Reviews 20 August 2025

Windows 11 test brings AI file search to the Copilot app Canada reviews

Microsoft is testing out a Windows 11 update that lets you use AI to search…

20th Aug: Fisk (2024), 3 Seasons [TV-MA] – New Episodes (6.95/10)

The best new features of the Pixel 10 lineup Canada reviews

Car crashes into Houston restaurant, narrowly misses influencers filming review

About Us
About Us

Canadian Reviews is your one-stop website for the latest Canadian trends and things to do, follow us now to get the news that matters to you.

Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest YouTube WhatsApp
Our Picks

U.S. Travel Agency Air Ticket Sales Set New High in July 2025 :: Hospitality Trends

3 Birth Months That Shine on Social Media, Per Experts

Google says the quiet part out loud: IP68 protection doesn’t last

Most Popular

Why You Should Consider Investing with IC Markets

28 April 202424 Views

OANDA Review – Low costs and no deposit requirements

28 April 2024345 Views

LearnToTrade: A Comprehensive Look at the Controversial Trading School

28 April 202448 Views
© 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise
  • Contact us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.