“Wish You Were Here” at Yale Repertory Theatre by Zander Opper

“Wish You Were Here”

Yale Repertory Theatre

Yale Repertory Theatre is currently presenting an excellent production of “Wish You Were Here,” a very funny, yet sobering play by Sanaz Toossi.  Performed without an intermission, the play focuses on a group of young women in Iran whose friendship exists and continues between the years 1978 and 1991.  The scenes of the friends together occur in short sequences and there is much humor, some of it very rowdy and quite hilarious.  The cast is uniformly wonderful, with particularly stand out work by Anita Abdinezhad, Bahar Beihaghi, and Shadee Vossoughi. 

Sivan Battat has done a superlative job directing the show and the entire production moves smoothly through the years, with each particular year projected (courtesy of the expert projection designer Sam Skynner) onto the walls of the set between each scene.  “Wish You Were Here” at Yale Repertory Theatre is so enjoyable and so much fun that one almost forgets the war and political turmoil just outside the house the girls are staying in.  This show is beautifully done and is most highly recommended.

The first scene occurs in 1978, right before the wedding of Salme (luminously performed by Bahar Beihaghi), and the interaction and dialogue between the five young women in the opening scene is raunchy and uproarious and engages the audience almost immediately.  These are a group of very good friends, though there also exists a kind of hierarchy amongst them.  Other than Salme onstage, there is Shideh (the delightful Shadee Vossoughi), perhaps the most sensible girl in the group; Rana (portrayed fantastically by Vaneh Assadourian), the kind of queen bee among the friends; and Zari (the terrific Ava Lalezarzadeh), who practically bursts with mischief.

Also among the girls is Nazanin, superbly embodied by Anita Abdinezhad, who seems to exist within the shadow of Rana.  It is almost difficult to realize in the opening moments of “Wish You Were Here” just how outstanding a character Nazanin is and will become and how she remains the one constant as each year in the play goes by.  Indeed, much of “Wish You Were Here” exists within her individual world and vantage point.

I would hate to give away any more of the plot of “Wish You Were Here,” because the ensuing scenes all work so well and there are several surprises along the way.  Suffice it is to say that, as time goes on in the show, there are many changes amongst the friends, including more weddings and the birth of children, but the outside world does invade this group of women in devastating ways. 

Scenic designer Omid Akbari provides the ideal set for “Wish You Were Here,” a very attractive and stylish house in which the play’s action occurs.  Likewise, the costumes, gorgeously designed by T. F. Dubois, are just perfect, with the individual dresses that the actresses wear helping to display each of their personalities and, as the years go by, the costumes reflect the passing of time, as well.  The lighting design by David Anthony-Ken DeCarolis is effective and evocative.  Playwright Sanaz Toossi has an excellent ear for dialogue and, although there is turmoil going on during the years the plays takes place in, this writer always finds humor and something to celebrate within the group of women.

Director Sanaz Battat keeps the play moving at a good pace, though there is almost a sinking feeling as each scene flows into the next, simply because one never knows what changes are going to occur with each new year.  It must be mentioned that there is actually one other character in the play (identified in the program as “New Friend”), who is extremely well played by Sahar Bibiyan, and she certainly makes her mark in her one scene in the show.  The portrait of the group of girls maturing is moving and sometimes troubling, what with the political unrest around them, but the creators of “Wish You Were Here” show that there is definitely a bright side within the world these friends live in.  This production at Yale Repertory Theatre is exemplary and entertaining and certainly deserves to be seen.

“Wish You Were Here” runs through October 28, 2023, at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven CT. For tickets and information, please call 203-432-1234 or visit yalerep.org.

Photo: (L-R) Vaneh Assadourian, Ava Lalezarzadeh, Anita Abdinezhad, Bahar Beihaghi, and Shadee Vossoughi
Photo by Joan Marcus