Correspondence (Roberto Osa)

Winner of the City of Malaga Prize 2019, Roberto Osa’s latest play, Correspondencia, is a dark comedy set before and after a funeral in small-town Spain. As the wake progresses, a family’s secrets are gradually revealed.

Everyone rushes to view the deceased. SILENCE.

MARTA:      They’ve done a good job with her.

EUGENIO:    She looks a bit stern.

JUAN:       She always looked a bit stern.

CARLOS:     She doesn’t seem… She doesn’t look… She looks odd.

JUAN:       She looks dead.

MARTA:      I think she looks beautiful. A bit stern, maybe, but beautiful.

CARLOS:     Her mouth is… I don’t know…

JUAN:       Closed?

CARETAKER:  We put a touch of glue on their lips to prevent the evacuation of fluids during the wake.

MARTA:      Glue?

CARETAKER:  Yes, madam. Glue.

JUAN:       It must have been the strong stuff.

CARLOS:     Uncle Juan, please, not now…