About the Play:

Espresso is full-length drama by Lucia Frangione. Three fiery women – Vito's estranged daughter, his pit-bull of a second wife, and the family's wrinkled matriarch – find humour and grace in the aftermath of a violent car crash that threatens to take from them the one man they all love. Sexy, provocative and challenging, Espresso is a rich, dark, bitter hit of comedy and sensuality.

Espresso is set around a family emergency, but ultimately explores a taboo topic: the erotic side of Christ's love. There has been a horrible car crash, and Vito, the patriarch of an immigrant family, has had his body smashed and his heart lacerated, his life hanging by threads of tubes and wires in an intensive care ward. His family has rushed in from all over the country for an anxious vigil of hope, prayer and memory by his bedside. In this crucible of anxiety, a single actress alternately narrates and enacts her own and her family's history along with an uninvited narrator/actor, Amante ("lover" in Italian). As Amante engages all the women of the clan Rosa plays in a swirl of sharply portrayed characters – Vito's mother, Nonna, forced into marriage at thirteen but only now, at sixty-seven, experiencing the first intimations of her body's desire; the pit-bull martyrdom of Vito's second wife, Vincenza; and Rosa herself in her own thin, urbane skin stretched tight to hold in the red, passionate blood that boils just below the surface – we are never sure whether Rosa has created Amante or he has created her.

Espresso is a shot of caffeine, Italian family, death and Catholic erotic mysticism. One of Lucia Frangione's blasphemy plays, it inverts the Catholic stereotypes of feminine sexuality to boldly examine their corresponding masculine sexual emblems of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In an erotic world where men are traditionally cast as either fathers to be looked up to or sons to be looked after, where, for women, is the possibility of a flesh-and-blood lover, challenging her to open her heart without trespassing her will – a lover as he appears in the Song of Solomon: passionate, earthy, creative, vulnerable and beautiful – the avatar of the holy spirit?

Espresso premiered in 2003 at Pacific Theatre in Vancouver and was a runaway success. The play toured widely throughout Canada during its initial run where it received rave reviews, and has since enjoyed a sold-out remounts.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"Espresso is one of the best scripts ever produced by a Vancouver playwright. And you know what? The show is really funny too. Artistic Directors from across the continent should be flocking to Vancouver to experience it." — The Georgia Straight

"…a high-quality blend of bitter, dark comedy and subtle literary complexities that pack a strong punch." — The Globe and Mail

About the Playwright:

Lucia Frangione is an internationally produced award winning Canadian playwright and actor, best known for performing in her own works. The author of over twenty-five plays, she received training through Studio 58 and Rosebud School of the Arts.