Lingua Franca
by Peter Nichols
by Peter Nichols
Lingua Franca is a fast-paced, sexually-charged exploration of cultural clashes and personal identity as Steven Flowers navigates life in a chaotic language school in post-war Florence.
About The Play
About The Play
★★★★ The Guardian, Four Stars and Critics’ Choice
Transferred Off-Broadway to 2010 Brits Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters from
November 9 – 28 2010
With Anna Carteret, Enzo Cilenti, Ian Gelder, Abigail McKern, Chris New, Charlotte Randle and Natalie Walter
Lingua Franca follows innocent abroad, Steven Flowers, as he travels from National Service in South-East Asia to 1950’s Florence. He soon finds himself working for a chaotically-run language school, together with a cosmopolitan muddle of seven foreign misfits killing their post-war nihilism in the cafés of Florence, the cradle of Renaissance high culture.
Based around a leading character in Peter Nichols’ acclaimed work Privates on Parade, and inspired by his own experiences, Lingua Franca is a fast-paced, sexually-charged story, and both a damning indictment and a celebration of sexual freedom.
Playing with notions of xenophobia and deep-seated cultural stereotypes, nationalist foibles and prejudices clash and sparkle to high comic effect as Steven tries to make sense of his own life and a Europe at peace after so many years of war.