Learning English as a second language becomes an extremely fraught challenge for a group of adult Iranian students, whose professional and personal futures depend on mastering and embracing the language, in Sanaz Toossi’s slight but smart comic drama “English,” which is being produced on Broadway after premiering Off-Broadway in 2022 and winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Set in an ordinary classroom in Iran in 2008 (VHS tapes are still being used, while an early iPhone makes an appearance), the four students include Goli (Ava Lalezarzadeh), a polite teenage girl; Roya (Pooya Mohseni), a late middle-aged mother who hopes to join her son and granddaughter who already live in Canada; Elham (Tala Ashe), a defiant young woman who aced the MCAT but struggles with English and prefers Farsi; and Omid (Hadi Tabbal), a confident young man who speaks English a little too well.
They are taught by Marjan (Marjan Neshat), who herself learned English as a second language and lived abroad but eventually returned to Iran. Determined that her students pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), Marjan screens Hollywood romantic comedies during office hours (including “Notting Hill” and “Moonstruck”) and gives out strikes for each time a student speaks in Farsi rather than English during class time.
Rather than have the characters speak both Farsi (presumably with supertitles) and English, they convey that they are speaking in Farsi by speaking in English without Iranian accents (to emphasize their ease with the language) and by speaking in English with Iranian accents (to emphasize that they are learning a foreign language).
The play (which runs just under two hours without an intermission) consists of bits and pieces of class sessions, with the cube-like classroom set rotating slightly during pauses to emphasize the movement of time.
While the need to pass the test and master the language creates an obvious conflict, “English” primarily functions as a character study and academic paper on the connection between one’s language and sense of self-identity and belonging. According to the Iranian-American playwright, learning a new language and entering a new culture can be personally empowering or debilitating.
“English” is a play that grows on the audience as it moves along. At first, it looks small and feels static. But as time passes, the characters and their internal conflicts and mysteries pull you closer and engage you.
Considering that Roundabout Theatre Company was a co-producer of the Off-Broadway production of “English,” it made sense for the company to transfer Knud Adams’ fine production to Broadway for a limited run as part of its subscriber series.
Ironically, the other producer of the Off-Broadway production was the Atlantic Theater Company, which recently had to cancel two Off-Broadway productions due to a strike by its crew workers over a union contract. Another recent production by the Atlantic, “Buena Vista Social Club,” will transfer to Broadway in February.
One hopes that the strike is resolved shortly and that Atlantic can return to producing Off-Broadway plays and musicals that deserve to transfer to Broadway.
Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd St., roundabouttheatre.org. Through March 2.
