Nic Meets David at Caffe Trieste

Adapted by screenwriters Luke Davies & Felix van Groeningen, this contemporary dramatic duologue captures an agonizing reunion between a father and his estranged son. Meeting in a public cafe, David confronts Nic, whose physical decline and erratic behavior point to an ongoing spiral of addiction. Nic attempts to feign stability in order to manipulate David into handing over money, while David struggles to maintain a firm boundary without severing their connection entirely. The scene pulses with hidden history, broken trust, and the painful collision between parental love and self-preservation.

David embodies the agonizing conflict of a parent attempting to stop enabling someone he loves. He remains attentive and deeply concerned, yet forced into a defensive posture where every word must be measured to avoid being manipulated. Nic operates in a state of high volatility, driven by physical craving and psychological exhaustion. He oscillates quickly between charm, defensive resentment, familial affection, and desperation, struggling to maintain eye contact while manufacturing excuses to justify his financial need.

This duologue offers actors an exceptional platform to demonstrate emotional restraint, active listening, and fluid tactical shifts under intense circumstances. Because the confrontation takes place in a public setting, both characters are forced to keep their voices relatively controlled, which naturally heightens the internal tension. Casting directors and panels can readily evaluate an actor's ability to navigate subtext, resist easy melodrama, and handle mature, heavy themes with honesty and specificity.

This piece is well suited for self-tapes, agent showcases, drama school auditions, and advanced partner practice. It provides strong showcase material for performers matching casting types such as Patriarch, Everyman, Leading Man, Vulnerable, or Intense. The piece works particularly well for actors looking to demonstrate realistic, grounded scene work that demands complex emotional calibration.

Resist the temptation to play the general state of addiction or grief; ground every line in a concrete physical action and a direct objective. The actor playing Nic should allow physical restlessness and shifting eye contact to emerge organically from the need to secure money, rather than indicating intoxication. The actor playing David should anchor the scene with stillness, letting the heartbreak register in the pauses and the difficult effort required to say no.