In a classroom in Iran, four students seek to expand their horizons and opportunities by learning English. Over six weeks, they and their teacher’s ambitions and loyalties collide. The playwright, Sanaz Toossi, was born and raised in California of Iranian descent and visited Iran regularly while growing up. The play has a tinge of Americianisms. Sanaz wrote the play in 2022 and it premiered in 2023. ‘English’ takes place all before the current turbulence. The play has nothing about the Ayatollah’s regime, Middle East politics or anything globally controversial. It is a play about the struggles of learning a new language, the angst of abandoning a language as the definer of culture and the hopes for a better life elsewhere.
Under the direction of Craig Baldwin for Outhouse Theatre Company in association with the Seymour Centre, ‘English’ certainly speaks to multicultural Australia. Everyone in the audience is either a migrant who can identify with the happenings in the classroom or would know someone who would. Setareh Naghoni plays the efficient and caring teacher who lived in America for nine years but never reveals why she returned. Pedram Biazar plays the only man in the class. He speaks English well and the others wonder why he is in the class. Nicole Chamoun plays the complex overly strident student. Minerva Khodabande plays the enthusiastic bubbly 18-year-old. Neveen Hanna plays Roya, the grandmother whose son and grandchild are in America. Neveen has the most poignant role in the play and performs the grandmother magnificently. The character is the most accessible and easiest to understand. The other characters are enigmas, and their mysteries are never fully revealed.
A most interesting technique is when the characters speak Farsi, in English. After the initial confusion, you begin to understand when the character is talking in their own language (in English), then smoothly flipping into their struggling English. The students are only allowed to speak in English in the classroom but slip into Farsi as grumbles, side comments to each other and occasionally as outright rebellion.
Hamed Sadeghi’s wonderful Iranian-style music compositions add considerably to the success of the production. It certainly gives the feeling we’re in Iran. But the play could be about learning Urdu or Thai or any language. ‘English’ is not about Iran. It’s about how language is related to culture and identity.
Seymour is promoting the play as being “wickedly funny”. I don’t see that. There are few, if any, belly-laughs. There are amusing bits but mostly it is a subtle drama that is best appreciated on reflection. I wouldn’t even say it is a memorable play. It was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize but then, critics argue that the Pulitzer Prize often has often been awarded to mediocre plays, leading to concerns about its relevance and the quality of its winners over the years. Additionally, some believe the prize’s selection process is outdated and lacks transparency, which may contribute to its perceived decline in prestige.
‘English’ is a good, easy-to-enjoy, wonderfully performed play with loads of caring and empathy.
Until May 2 in the Reginald Theatre of the Seymour Centre.
90 minutes
