“Any change, lady? I don’t need much. One, two hundred thousand tops. Okay, you drive a hard bargain, I’ll settle for twenty-five cents. Okay, I’ll settle for your silent contempt… Evening, sir, any spare contempt?”A bitter young woman is trying to survive a cold December night on the street. She shelters from the wind outside a small Iranian grocery – perfunctory Christmas decorations in the shop window – and spews vitriol at passersby.The shopkeeper is also trying to get through the night. It’s hard enough for an immigrant woman to make a living in the 24-hour grocery business without this street girl scaring away customers.The shopkeeper won’t let the young woman stay, and the young woman won’t leave. Tensions rise between them, with occasional interruptions from a student who pops in for snacks to ornament his insouciant downtown life, until exploding into a conflagration of violence and dark memories.The Nutritional Value of Anger won Infinithéâtre’s 2016 Write-On-Q contest for new English scripts by Quebec playwrights. It delves into anger’s salutary side, as well as the effort involved in repressing it, and the effortlessness of walking right past it.
Keywords: homeless, immigrant, Christmas, winter, Iran, downtown
Genre: Drama
Acts: 1
Run time: 80 minutes
Content note: Contains strong language
Suitable for students 16+
Cast size: 3 actors
Male roles: 1
Female roles: 2