Leave it to The Old Globe to come up with a play you’d never expect.
This time it’s playwright Sanaz Toossi’s “English,” set in Karaj, Iran in 2008 and featuring a cast of four Iranians studying English with teacher Marjan (Pooya Mohseni). It’s a varied group in one or more of these characteristics: age, experience with the English language and natural ability to pick up a new language.
Elham (Țara Grammy) iș anglo-minded and at times combative. She needs high marks to get into medical school in Australia.
Goli (Ari Derambakhsh) is the youngest. She notes that “English does not want to be poetry like Farsi.”
The oldest student, Roya (Mary Apick), wants to move to “the Canada” to be with her granddaughter. She even has an iPhone.
There is also one male student, Omid (Joe Joseph). He is handsome and charming, but a question mark since he was born not in Iran but in Ohio.
Teacher Marjan’s desk has the forbidding sign “English only.” Her English comes from several years spent in Manchester.
It’s difficult for us as observers to try to make sense out of the nearly instantaneous language changes. But what we non-Iranians do get is a feel for the difficulties these characters have, as well as the almost inevitable insults they feel from others as they attempt to communicate. But along with the difficulties, you will also be privy to the interconnections occasioned by them.
It’s difficult to describe this piece, because it’s just not like anything you’ve seen onstage. But know that the cast is excellent and that the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2023. It may be a challenge, but it’s an interesting one, and using the circular Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre makes the action more visible, though not more comprehensible.
The details
“English” plays Tuesday through Sunday at noon. The last show is Feb. 18.
Tickets: (619) 234-5623 or Tickets@TheOldGlobe.org
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