“English”
Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is presenting an engaging and incisive production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “English.” Written by Sanaz Toossi and directed by Arya Shahi, this work questions the very meaning of language and how it can shape a person to their very soul. “English” takes place in a classroom in Karaj, Iran in 2008 and the adult students are learning English as a way of passing the Test of English as a Foreign Language, which is crucial for their ambitions to study or live abroad.
As led by the fine Neagheen Homaifar, as the teacher Marjan, the class only contains four students, but, through the microcosm of examining each of their lives, “English” takes on a meaning and a depth that transcends the classroom and really questions identity and the feeling of belonging.
Arya Shahi’s direction is excellent and the play is made up a series of very short scenes that are often breathtaking and surprising and devastating. The very classroom almost plays a part in this production, with the four students’ desks continually being reconfigured in a myriad of shapes. This carefully choreographed staging and the idea of change, and its impact, is at the very core of “English” and this play is both illuminating a little scary. It is highly recommended that you get to Long Wharf Theatre’s production of “English” before it ends its run.
When the show begins, it is at the very beginning of the lessons and Marjan is diligent that her students speak only English in the classroom, with students getting disciplined for speaking the language Farsi. In a neat touch, the moments when the characters interact in Farsi, they speak very smooth and confident English, in contrast to their halted speaking of English as a foreign language. In other words, the audience is always aware of what is going on in the characters’ discussions, from beginning to almost the very end. Thanks to a splendid and deeply committed cast, this play resonates way beyond the class.
The students are told to bring in an English language song to be played on a CD boom box, which is on the teacher’s desk. The first student is Goli (the delightful Aryana Asefirad) and she chooses Ricky Martin’s hit, “She Bangs.” Marjan insists that they examine the language in the song, in a hope of achieving increased fluency. Without giving too much away, not all of the students are as compliant as they first seem, especially when the course gets increasingly difficult and the relationships in the play evolve and result in both friendship and friction.
Perhaps the most defiant student is the grandmother Roya (wonderfully portrayed by Nina Ameri), whose goal to be with her son and her grandchild in Canada. When one student, Elham (the brilliant Sahar Milani), asks why Roya’s calls to her son always go to voicemail, it uncomfortably begins to question just how close Roya is to her son. Playing the one male in the class, the terrific and handsome Afsheen Misaghi as Omid immediately displays that his skills in English are far advanced from his fellow classmates. Marjan’s especially close relationship to Omid during her office hours is also striking, with the feeling that perhaps Marjan is playing favorites.
But I would hate to give anything more away about the plot or language of this outstanding play. Suffice it is to say that the overriding learning of English can develop quandaries for each one of the characters, with the idea that one perhaps cannot feel completely comfortable speaking more than one language. And, how does it affect one’s dignity and sense of self, without, as one character says, making a person feel like they are “disappearing”? These and several, by turns, humanistic and cunning questions are continually arising during the intermission-less hour and forty minute running time of “English.” This is certainly one play that will result in discussions long after the show is over and “English” ultimately ranks as a must-see for any lover of theater.
“English” runs through through February 1, 202g, at Long Wharf Theatre at SCSU’s Kendall Drama Lab. For tickets and information, please visit www.longwharf.org/.
Reviews by Zander Opper 