Espresso

Tamara Jones is a former production operations supervisor in the
Entertainment Department of Paramount Canada’s Wonderland.

Considered one of Frangione’s “blasphemy” plays, Espresso puts
Catholicism on notice as it pursues the theme of spirituality and
sexuality within the aspects of the Holy Trinity.

The play has only two roles, Rosa and Amante, but these two characters
become a host of other characters. The story centres on an
Italian-Catholic family—Rosa, her grandmother Nonna, and her
stepmother Chinz—and the man at the centre of all their lives:
Rosa’s father, who lies on the verge of death after a car accident. In
order to confront the women and men in her life, Rosa must recreate them
either through herself or through the character of Amante, a figure
Frangione introduces in her foreword as “the spiritual energy that
comes in times of loneliness and grief.” Amante provokes and entices
Rosa, forcing her into a confrontation with the truth.

The theme implied by the play’s title brings with it a wry
commentary: “You require the taste. Rosa—the espresso—she’s
life. Quick, black, bitter in the mouth. Don’t add for the milk to
take away the strong. Bitter can be beautiful. And if you can drink it
straight, then you feel like a God.” Espresso is a fascinating, if
unsettling, dramatization of a woman’s struggle to exorcise her sexual
and spiritual demons.