The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon – until 1st June 2024 and then at the Kiln Theatre, London – until 29th June 2024 London
Reviewed by Amarjeet Singh
4****
Four adult students are gathered in a classroom in Karaj, Iran, with the shared goal of learning English as a foreign language. All for different reasons, all with different abilities they are under strict instructions by the teacher that they must only communicate via English during lessons. The production follows their journeys, to varying degrees, as they attempt to improve their vocabulary, pronunciation and rid themselves of their accents, but to what end.
Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer prize-winning play is a beautiful, charming, and incredibly funny production, full of heart and passion. You feel endeared towards the characters and begin to become invested in them as their stories unfold. Elham (Serena Manteghi) is a dedicated student who needs to attend this class in order to achieve her English-language certificate for medical school overseas. Determined, she is frustrated by the barrier language is posing. Omid (Nojan Khazai), has mysterious reasons for needing to be in class. His English is of a high standard, so there is something else drawing him to the class. Roya (Lanna Joffrey) is a grandmother who is desperate to connect with her grandchild. Her son emigrated to Canada, married, and had a grandchild and only wants Roya over when she can communicate with the child in English. Then there is Goli (Sara Hazemi), an enthusiastic teenager who’s only reason I could fathom, for being in the classroom, was to learn English, nothing more. Led by teacher Marjan, Nadia Albina, who has her own tales of learning English, they are all studying towards a final English exam.
Director, Diyan Zora, kept the performance fresh and dynamic. Along with the creative team, Set and Costume Designer Anisha Fields, Lighting Designer Elliot Griggs, Sound Designer George Dennis, Movement Director Maria Tarokh, they created a fully immersive piece. Announcing scene changes with the sound of the streets suddenly stopped with the switch of a light. Stonewashed walls strewn with Arabic. Slow, undulating fans to stave off the heat. The students playing word games by tossing a ball, listening to American language recordings, watching projected films and perform role-plays. This all drew us in to the world Toossi created. The masterful move to have two kinds of English spoken by the actors was utter genius, it didn’t take long for us to understand what was going on. Fluent and English accented English represented Farsi. Broken, Iranian accented English represented actual English. It cleverly displayed when the characters were talking in their native language and when they were struggling in English without the audience ever having to struggle to understand them. This switch is so seamlessly achieved, it was mindboggling.
My only complaint is that I felt there was a lack of character realisation. Some were more fleshed out then others. It felt that some were there to provide comedic moments instead of having a fully formed story. Which is a real shame as there are some real gems beginning to sparkle, they just need to be polished.
There is so much heart in this peace and the humour absolutely hits the mark every single time. Your mother tongue is intrinsic with your mother land, this moving exploration of migration and motivation is magnificent.