When Farsi-speaking learners go for the full English
Daniel Nelson
English has five characters - four adult students and a teacher. But the real central character is the language itself, for better or for worse.
Set in Iran and played out over six weeks in a series of short, sharp scenes, Sanaz Toossi’s 90-minute play quickly delineates the learners: Roya, who wants to speak English well-enough to join her son and his child in Canada; Elham, who intends to work abroad as a medic and insists she’s a nicer person when speaking Farsi; young Goli, who thinks it may help give her a voice; and Omid, who speaks English better than the teacher and says he wants a Green Card for the US.
Instructor Marjan lived in Manchester for almost a decade and wants to imbue her charges with the wonders of speaking English.
Fault lines quickly become evident as they study for their test. One of the characters seems lovestruck. Another faces a distressing family situation. One has a sharp tongue. Two have secrets.
Marjan insists on a no-Farsi rule in the class (“In this room we are native speakers. We think in English. We laugh in English. Our inhales, our exhales – we fill our lungs in English”). And that exacerbates other differences, because each of the five learns – of forgets – at a different rate, which causes misunderstanding and frustration.
And though Marjan seems to revel in the ability to speak another tongue, the women’s search for the right word, the appropriate phrase, the exact language to match the nuances of their thoughts and speech, does not come easily.
Gradually, the positivity about speaking English that is prominent in the opening scenes gives way to doubts. Do the limitations in conveying your character and thoughts in English undermine, even outweigh, the advantages? Does it not diminish you? And is it not annoying that historical accident has led swathes of the world to talk in English instead of Farsi? And if you go abroad to an English-speaking country, why do the natives so often ignore your name and then re-name you? Why should Marjan become Maria?
Such thoughts shift the play from childish humour at mispronunciations and misunderstandings to a far more thoughtful riff on the importance of mother tongue.
It’s not a deep play, or a piece with major character development, but it powers along at a brisk pace, with a couple of twists to keep you attentive. It’s entertaining and has real heart. There’s always a pleasure in watching people grapple with a new language, especially if you are not involved yourself, and at the very least audiences should emerge with increased respect for the hundreds of thousands of migrants who help keep this country running however slowly or rapidly their fluency of English is progressing.
* English is at The Kiln, 289 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR until 6 July. Info: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/english/
+ 18 June, post-show Q&A