Why are the four students in the Iranian classroom where Melbourne Theatre Company’s English is entirely set so determined to learn the language? Cultural imperialism might jump to mind as the most likely and all-encompassing answer, however it’s touched on only lightly in this 90-minute play.
Instead, Iranian American playwright Sanaz Toossi, who won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play, takes a more humanistic approach to exploring the motivations of each student in the simple classroom.
As four students study for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) under the sage guidance of teacher Marjan (Salme Geransar), we learn that they all have very different reasons for signing up for the course. Roya (Marjan Mesbahi) wants to be able to communicate with her grandchild, who is being raised only to speak English. Elham (Maia Abbas) is on track to study at Melbourne’s RMIT, while Goli (Delaram Ahmadi) just seems to genuinely enjoy learning. As for Omid (Osamah Sami), no one is quite sure why he’s there, since his English language skills appear strong already.
From watching bootleg movies to conducting dramatic readings of Ricky Martin lyrics, each scene follows the students as they move through the awkwardness, embarrassment and sometimes hilarity of struggling to express themselves in a language they didn’t grow up speaking. They pace back and forth working on their ‘W’ sounds, because “people like English accents and French accents, but not our accents”.
Marjan encourages the group to “be brave in English” and confides that while living in Manchester, she went years without making anyone laugh and went by ‘Mary’ to avoid confusing people with her real name.
The ensemble cast bounce off each other beautifully during energetic classroom games, creating warmth and pulling at our heartstrings. They often burst with energy as they navigate the simple yet effective classroom set (by Kat Chan) , which features a clock that cleverly changes with each scene to mark moments in time.
What most stands out about this play is its nuanced approach to showing multiple languages being spoken. Almost no Farsi is actually spoken on stage. Instead, the actors adopt a thick accent and slower pace when speaking ‘English’, and revert to their natural Aussie accent when speaking their mother tongue. While this takes a moment to get used to, it’s a highly effective device.
While English is a well-performed and well-framed play, there’s a sense that it could dig further into the politics of the language’s cultural hegemony to pack an even bigger emotional and sociopolitical punch. Perhaps if the stakes for each student were a little higher, the payoff in the end could be more satisfying.
The world outside the classroom in English seems far away and could stand to be brought a little closer, however its subject matter is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be given more space on Melbourne’s stages.
Tickets to English start from $29 and are on sale now via the Melbourne Theatre Company website.
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