Theater: “English” by Samar Toossi @ Atlantic

In “English,” set in 2008 Iran, Marjan (Marjan Neshat) is a teacher hired to teach English to native Iranians. None of her four students necessarily wants to learn English; it’s more like they have to.

Roya (Pooya Mohseni) wants to join her son and grandchildren in CanadA—but can only do if she learns English. Ellhan (Tala Ashe) has failed TOEFL five times and needs to pass in order to move to Australia and further her medical studies. It’s not clear why Goli, a teenager (Ava Lalezarzadeh) wants to speak English, but she brings a CD of Shakira to the class’s show-and-tell and solemnly explains the lyrics to “Whenever, Wherever.”

All three women are a bit jealous of the sole male student, Omid (Hadi Tabbal), as he seems to pick up English easier than they do and is therefore dubbed the “teacher’s pet.” Indeed Marjhan does seem to prefer his company and they spend time after class viewing English-language films like “Notting Hill” and “Room with a View.”

The classroom situation would seem to offer comic gold, with a high probability of malaprops. But the playwright, Samar Toossi, has something more serious in mind: the concept of identity. The English teacher had lived nine years in Manchester and while she learned to speak English proficiently, she did so with an accent and thought she would always be perceived as an outsider. So where will she be her most authentic self? Speaking Farsi in the UK? Or English in Iran? An identity crisis undoubtedly suffered by any immigrant. Or even by tourists like you or me.

In Warsaw last December, for example, I attempted to assist two elderly ladies who were waiting at a bus stop and who spoke broken English. I soon discovered they were not Polish, but Belgian; and then excitedly broke into French, in which I happen to be fairly fluent. During the ensuing conversation, one lady asked, “Did anyone ever tell you that you speak French with a heavy Italian accent?” Nice to travel 4,300 miles only to discover you sound like Chico Marx.

A solid, absorbing, non-political dramedy about how language can define you while simultaneously frustrating you. At Atlantic.