Review: in “English”, looking for a language in which living

Some pieces are bouillabisses, filled with all that a playwright can put in the pot. Even if it means splashing the stove, these stories will boil.

The other parts are consumed perfectly calibrated. Refined and subtle, they shine to simmer.

The transfer of Broadway of “English” of Sanaz Tossi, which opened its doors on Thursday at Todd Haimes Theater, is the consumed accomplished. Even more than when he made his debut off the coast of Broadway in 2022 and won the price of the drama Pulitzer in 2023, it seems to me a work of rare discipline despite his big laughs and sometimes easy. Without ever releasing a tight socket on his theme – or perhaps because of this tight grip – he suggests a world of small tragedies and smaller compensation.

The theme is the conflict between mother languages ​​and other languages. More than six weeks in 2008, in four adults of Farsi language in a small school in Iran are preparing for the test of English as a foreign language, or TOEFL, them and their teacher fight with the often humorous mechanics of the W initials and defined articles. (We do not say “Canada”, for example.) But by looking for opportunities to get back into a new language, they also come up against the limits created by that which they already know.

This is not a problem for Goli (Ava Lalezarzadeh). Just 18 years old, she has no objective in acquiring English, except to enjoy the easy practice and the cultural currency of the French International French. “English does not want to be poetry like Farsi,” she says with approval. “English does not try to flow.” For Show and Tell, she plays a CD of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” on her Boombox.

The other students find the burden of imperfect English heavy. Elham (Tala Ashe) has the most difficulty achieving skills, despite the most needed. (Her acceptance at a medical school in Australia is conditioned to obtain a good TOEFL score.) Roya (POOYA MOHSENI) wants to master the language so that she can live with her negligent son in Canada. (He will not allow his daughter of Canadian origin to be influenced by the thick accent of Roya.) And although Imid (Hadi Tabbal) is already Glib in English and seems fully American to everyone, he knows Truth in his own inner ear.