Review: ‘English’ explores uneasy ties between language and identity in Berkeley

Learning a second language can be the key to unlocking a new world. Alas, in “English,” Sanaz Toossi’s subtle new comedy in its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, shedding your mother tongue can also bring pangs of loss, the pain of losing part of who you really are.

Set in an Iranian test prep classroom as four students cram for the Test of English as a Second Language, this intimately observed gem muses on the link between language and identity, how we speak and how we feel.

The contemplative 100-minute piece makes you wonder when the phrase “English only” might be an act of hostility.

Toossi conjures a gentle, low-key universe as Marjan (Sahar Bibiyan), the English teacher, greets her new students in the city of Karaj, near Tehran, in 2008. Bibiyan makes you long to understand the mysterious Marjan, who returned to Iran after a decade in England, but only seems to come to life inside her classroom.

Meet Goli (a radiant Christine Mirzayan), who gushes with the unfettered enthusiasm of being 18 and full of promise. She says English is like rice. You can flavor it anyway you like.

The gray-haired Roya, (a regal turn by Sarah Nina Hayon), by contrast, exudes ambivalence. She is only learning English because her son, who lives in Canada, won’t teach her granddaughter any Farsi. Just sounding out the girl’s name, Claire, takes a herculean effort that humbles Roya and her classmates.

Meanwhile the fiery Elham (Mehry Eslaminia) is wracked with anxiety. She hates English both as a language and as a symbol of the American empire, but she has to ace this test. If she doesn’t, she can’t go to medical school in Australia.

The only man in the class, Omid (Amir Malaklou), is a natural. He even nails words like windbreaker. Only he can hear his own imperfection.

These five flirt, jostle and compete through fast-paced scenes as Toossi explores the shifting alliances of four people who must come to terms with their yearning for a life outside Iran.

The scenes are often so rich with emotional undercurrents that you don’t notice the play’s flaws, such as a romance that takes a long time to sprout but never quite blooms. Marjan’s motivations also remain unsatisfyingly schematic.

Toossi touches on themes of being a perpetual outsider, caught between two worlds, but she doesn’t dive deeply enough into the quagmire of belonging. At times the play seems too subdued to be truly memorable but it’s still deftly acted and sensitively directed by Mina Morita.