Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sanaz Toossi’s ENGLISH subtly intersects the notions of language, identity, and self-worth

• By drediman
• February 22, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, Atlantic Theater Company and Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Sanaz Toossi’s play English opened at the Linda Gross Theater. Set in a claustrophobic classroom in Iran, the new play tracks four students from different backgrounds as they prepare for the TOEFL exam – a test used internationally to gauge English proficiency – for various personal reasons (e.g., study, work, immigration, etc.). When the students and their guarded instructor start letting their defenses down to reveal their aspirations and insecurities, the dramatic gears of the play begin to churn.

As a play essentially about learning English, the work’s characters necessarily speak in both Farsi and English, which the playwright cleverly gets around. When the characters speak in Farsi, Ms. Toossi has the actors act in fluent English, so as to reveal their “true selves”. However, when the characters attempt to speak in English, the actors speak in fractured phrases — at times painfully, at other times to comedic effect. What the play does so brilliantly is it subtly intersects the notions of language, identity, and self-worth without being overly didactic. As an immigrant and pseudo bilingual speaker myself, I found myself identifying with its exploration of cultural assimilation and the residual effects of colonialism. Indeed, I left the theater both illuminated and stealthily shaken by English.

The clear-eyed, slow-burning direction by Knud Adams patiently allows the play’s pressure points reveal themselves. Through the use of a rotating classroom set (which calls to mind The Lehman Trilogy‘s rotating office set), Mr. Adams elegantly marks the passing of time between scenes, as well as physically manifests the mounting tension between and within the characters. As for the play’s five performances, they’re very fine across the board; each actor seems to have an intimate connection to their respective roles, which is apparent in how organically they “open up” their characters. Particularly impressive are Tala Ashe as the aggressive and competitive Elham, as well as Marjan Neshat as the instructor who is tested to her limits.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

ENGLISH
Off-Broadway, Play
Atlantic Theater Company
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 13