Stage Review - English (ArtsWest)

Stage Review - English
Presented By: ArtsWest / Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble - Seattle, WA
Show Run: April 04 - April 28, 2024
Date Reviewed: Sunday, April 21, 2024
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

Rarely has so much been accomplished from the first two words of a play as what Sanaz Toossi has done with her 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning play English. Two simple words, “English Only” sets into motion a thesis on language, how it defines us, how it becomes part and parcel of who we are, and how it can become a prison, or, at the same time, something that can be liberating. English (the play), first performed in 2022 and on stage in Seattle in a production directed by Naghmeh Samini and presented cooperatively by ArtsWest and the Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble, tells the story of a group of four Iranian students preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The students have different reasons for wanting to become fluent in English, from rediscovering a lost part of their personality, to the expectation of opportunity, to it being a gateway for being able to spend time with family. What each of them learn, though, is that as with everything else in life, there is a give and a take, the more that English (the language) becomes a part of them, the more they feel divided between who they are when the speak the language vs. their true personality, and something even more important to them, their culture.

Farsi is the native language spoken by these four Iranian students and their teacher, but as part of their learning, they’re instructed not to speak it in class, the philosophy being that fluency comes from not just speaking the language, but thinking it, avoiding the internal translation that occurs when thinking in a native tongue and then speaking in a new language. Anyone who has taken a significant amount of time to learn a foreign language will recognize this, the times when they’re only allowed to speak in the one being learned, and that moment of realization when it’s notice that they are thinking in that new language. The difference in the situation with these students comes with why they are learning English. The play is not outwardly political, but it’s clear for anyone that has any familiarity with the news and the challenges of the Iranian people that there is the shroud of politics that sits among the production like a low cloud that is both dark and translucent at the same time. There is a necessity to learn English, and therefore these students are more invested than someone learning a language out of pure interest or for a career. In fact, for some Iranian citizens it’s a matter of life and death. Of course, as much as the Marjan, the instructor here, would like her students only to speak English, and not their native Farsi, slip-ups happen, or if they struggle with something particularly difficult to say, the students revert to their native tongue. In this production, when the actors speak in broken English, with a fairly thick accent, it’s English that their characters are speaking. When they speak without an accent, it’s Farsi that their characters are using. It’s quite tricky at times, think of a time if you’ve studied a foreign language when you are trying to say something in that language, then revert to English to express your frustration at not finding the right word, or to express more accurately what you’re trying to say. The switch is quick, and for the native English speaking actors here, the show requires them to go back and forth between accented/broken English and straight (for lack of a better word) English very quickly at times. It’s an agility that underscores both the actors’ talent as well as their preparation. It could be excused if there was the odd mixup, but during Sunday’s matinee performance, there was none, the delivery was executed beautifully and precisely.

The talent these actors display goes beyond just being able to speak with or without an accent. There’s a lot of complexity to each of the characters, each with a different backstory and each with a different future that they’ve planned for themselves. Their teacher, Marjan, is a stickler for what language is spoken in class. She challenges the students to learn fluency through a series of games and activities, some of which in the play are used as a tool to help the actors depict their characters’ feeling at a particular point in the story. Marjan has returned to Iran after spending time in Europe, lamenting the time she was away, when she felt detached from her culture, when she was known even by a different name. Vahishta Vafadari plays Marjan, and her story speaks to the challenge of becoming fluent in a new language and living where that language is used primarily. It’s a hard balance for Marjan, acclimating to a new environment while still trying to maintain a semblance of the culture in which she was raised. Vahishta presents Marjan with the authority of a teacher, but also with an underlying softness, a sadness that feels just below the surface. Marjan’s students are Omid (Emon Elboudwarej), Goli (Newsha Farahani), Roya (Janet Hayatshahi), and Elham (Shereen Khatibloo). Omid is the sole male in the group, and he’s by far the furthest along with his English. Emon’s Omid is the counterpoint to the other students in the class, he’s a bit flirty with Marjan, and at odds with classmate Elham. The genius of this character that Emon captures so perfectly is how he feels stuck between worlds. His English is so good and life situation such that he doesn’t quite feel like he fits in Iran, but he’s also Iranian, so he doesn’t quite fit anywhere else either. He feels lost, something that many in his situation surely can relate to. Shereen’s Elham is laser focused on passing the TOEFL, is a bit jealous of Omid and his ability, but also challenging of Marjan, whom she feels is favoring the more advanced of the students. Elham struggles the most with Farsi, and to Shereen’s credit, she is the one who alternates between Farsi (straight English) and English (broken English) the most, and seems to have mastered not just that aspect of it, but being able to do that while portraying those angry and jealous emotions. Her performance here most certainly raises the level of this play.

Meanwhile, Janet Hayatshahi’s Roya is perhaps the one that the audience gets the most direct insight into. She’s upfront in the reasoning for her wanting to pass the TOEFL, and in conversations with her son over the phone, she’s adamant that she is fluent, that fluency being a requirement to see her grandchildren. Roya’s story arc puts a fine point on the differences between speaking a second language vs. a native one, and how that affects a conversation, and ultimately a relationship. There’s a comfort to speaking natively, and when her son speaks Farsi, he seems softer to her, and even more loving then when he speaks English. Janet does a very nice job, especially in those scenes portraying her emotion. Rouding out the cast is Newsha Farahani as Goli. Goli is perhaps the most enthusiastic about leaning English and Newsha plays her with a youthful exuberance, with more of a desire to learn the language than an absolute need.

The ensemble aspect of the show is very well done, too. There’s a lot of movement with the language games that the group participates in and Director Naghmeh Samini has the actors changing positions on stage quite a bit, but it never feels chaotic, unless there needs to be a point made by it. Naghmeh also does a nice job of making sure that audience members on all three sides of the ArtsWest theatre space can see and hear the actors plainly, her blocking designed and executed very well. Also from a design perspective, Parmida Ziaei’s set is relatively simple, in that there’s not a lot of complex color schemes or large detailed set pieces, but rather the scene is more stark and gray, with a series of chairs stacked in a way that it feels they are rising from the floor, or falling from the ceiling, or both. Parmida has a knack for representing motion in a static display, and this is a prime example of that. And on the subject of chairs, that’s really the extent of this set, chairs are the only physical props, moved around during scene changes to reflect whatever setting is required for the next piece of the story. Chih-Hung Shao’s lighting and Andi Villegas’ sound both help contribute to that starkness, while Nabilah Ahmed provides context through a creative use of projections. I like the use of projections to reflect what Marjan writes on the chalk board, Vahishta mimicking her writing and the text projected behind the stage. Further, Chih-Hung’s florescent flickering adds a lot to the overall feel of a lack of affluence in the story, and a crafty way to indicate scene changes. All, very well done.

English is a well written and creatively constructed look at language, culture, and personality. The story reflects on how each of these are intertwined in the context of Iranian students studying to become proficient in English, and how the learning of this new language changes them, how it impacts their relationships, and how they wrestle to live in the world of a new language while still trying to keep in touch with their own culture. The ArtsWest/Seda produced English is a superbly directed and acted piece of art that will be relatable not just to anyone who has attempted to learn a foreign language for any reason, but even more so to those who feel a new language is the ticket out of a particularly harsh situation, or for those who feel trapped between cultures. It’s told with respect to the Iranian culture and Farsi language and is worthy of its Pulitzer Prize.

English, a co-production between ArtsWest and the Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble, runs on stage through April 28 at ArtsWest in Seattle. For more information about the show, visit https://www.artswest.org/. Note that there is some adult language in this play and may not be suitable for some younger audiences.

Photo credit: John McLellan