Stratford Festival review: Saturday, Sunday, Monday is a beautiful story about family learning to communicate

Rose Napoli as Rosa Priore (front left) and Graham Abbey as Giuseppe "Peppino" Priore (front right) with members of the company, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Stratford Festival 2026.

By: Galen Simmons

For my money, there’s nothing quite like a well-written, well-staged family drama.

There’s something I love about watching family members explore and find resolution to the issues they have with each other, themselves, or the world around them. At the Stratford Festival, I’ve seen quite a few family dramas that have left lasting impressions – Death of a Salesman, Get That Hope and Long Day’s Journey Into Night all come to mind.

I’m happy to say I can now add Saturday, Sunday, Monday to that list.

Translated to English for the first time by outgoing festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino and Donato Santeramo and directed by Cimolino as his final production during his tenure as artistic director, this production of Italian playwright Eduardo De Filippo’s renowned play is a masterpiece of immersive theatre.

From the smell of real ragu simmering on the onstage stove and having the chance to taste that very same sauce at intermission to the attention to detail the production design team put into every inch of the set – a remarkable recreation of an upscale Italian apartment from the late ‘50s complete with a beautiful and well-stocked kitchen – and even the costumes, music and sound design, this production completely envelopes all five of the senses. As soon as I sat down, I was instantly transported to a time and place that was both somewhat familiar and totally different from anything I’d experienced before.

Now, this play is long – like Lord of the Rings long – but the important thing, for me anyway, is it didn’t feel long. It’s divided into three parts – one part each for Saturday, Sunday and Monday – and there are two intermissions to ensure those of us in the audience have plenty of opportunity to refresh and stretch our legs.

Beyond that, the story told on stage and the actors’ embodiment of their characters and the emotions they are feeling, even if they aren’t expressing them outright, kept my attention from start to finish – which is saying something for someone like me who gets distracted easily.

In this style of family drama, it’s the relationships between the characters and their individual growth that gives me the most entertainment and satisfaction. While that level of emotional investment can be difficult in a play like Saturday, Sunday, Monday where there are so many characters present at different moments – each of whom have different relationships with one another – I found myself entirely drawn in by how real I found the deep emotional connections to be between the characters, and how heartbreaking it was when those connections appeared to break.

Yet beneath it all, there’s this undercurrent of love and care that propels the characters to address their issues with one another, and a motivation from the other characters to want to help their family work through those issues, that gives you this sense – by the end of the play, anyway – that everything will work out for the best and this huge, diverse and eclectic family will remain strong for generations to come.

Honestly, there were so many fantastic performances in this production that I can’t recognize them all, but I will point out a few I found particularly moving.

Though fraught at first, the relationship between Rosa Priore (Rose Napoli) and her husband, Giuseppe “Peppino” Priore (Graham Abbey), was the centrepiece of this performance, and deservedly so. Napoli fully embodies the overworked and underappreciated Italian housewife and mother who values caring for her family, togetherness and food above all else, while Abbey gives us the classic counterpoint with his depiction of a husband who is stressed out by his work, has a bit of a temper and values whatever rare peace and quiet he can get at the cost of ignoring the needs of the woman he loves.

I also quite enjoyed the relationship between Rosa’s father, Antonio Piscopo (Rod Beattie), and his grandson, Rocco Priore (Emilio Vieira). Beattie’s portrayal as Antonio, a retired milliner who handed control of his business over to Peppino, is at once humorous and emotional as he tries to make himself useful and retain some semblance of autonomy as he manages his declining physical ability in his old age.

Antonio is immensely proud of Rocco, who has worked in the family’s men’s hat and clothing store for years and is on the precipice of opening a new location serving a more elite clientele – a dream his own father doesn’t believe in. Antonio loves nothing more than spending time with his grandson and won’t even sit down for Sunday lunch until Rocco has taken his place at the table. In turn, Rocco dotes on his grandfather, ensuring he is comfortable and has what he needs whenever he is around. Both actors bring that relationship to life in all the right ways despite it being secondary in the plot to Rosa and Peppino’s embattled marriage.

Aside from the emotional depth in this play’s relationships, there is also quite a lot of humour. Whether it’s Geraint Wyn Davies’ performance as Peppino’s brother, Raffaele Priore, who loves to regale his family with tales from his hobby as an actor, or upstairs neighbour Luigi Ianniello, whose overabundance of generosity toward Rosa convinces Peppino the two are having an affair, the humour in this play and its delivery gives the audience an opportunity to release the pressure of some very intense, emotional moments.

In the end, Saturday, Sunday, Monday is a story about the importance of open and honest communication, sharing worries and fears with the people we love, and being unafraid of showing vulnerability, especially with those closest to us who only want to help.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday runs at the Avon Theatre until Oct. 24.