Iran irrelevant in ‘English,’ & ‘Escape’
Sanaz Toossi, the author of English at the Wallis in Beverly Hills (to Sun., April 26), wrote her play as a response to President Trump’s 2016 “Muslim” ban. The play went from off-Broadway to Broadway, won the 2023 Pulitzer prize, and has been touring (with the four original, talented actresses) ever since.
Set in Iran in 2008, the play takes place in an ESL night school where three women and a hunky young man come to learn English for various personal reasons (even though the young hunk turns out to speak English fluently and has a valid, if expired, U.S. passport).
In 2023, the Pulitzer committee called the play “quietly powerful.” Other reviews refer to it as “contemplative” or a “low key comedy.” I found it simply frustrating, not only for its gaping plot holes, but also for its total lack of any political point of view. These Iranians could be learning English in Brentwood.
In 2008 Iran saw “a dramatic rise in arrests…for peacefully exercising [the right] of free expression,” according to a UN report. The same year, a women’s rights group, the One Million Signatures Campaign, was a target of government censorship. According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, at least 200 students were arrested in 2008, many of whom were tortured. By 2008, the UN had adopted three resolutions to sanction Iran for its nuclear program.
All of which is nonexistent in Toossi’s play. The women speak freely, watch American movies, and have plenty of cell phone access. Their chief concerns are apolitcal (getting into med school, seeing a grandchild in Canada). No one comes from a demonstration or worries about the classroom being bugged. The hunk chooses to live in Iran, even though he was born in America, because he is more “himself” in Farsi. That seems to be the extent of his critique of the Great Satan. The biggest crisis for the class’s teacher was her not being her fully integrated “self” in English while she lived abroad.
Toossi seems more influenced by Oprah than by any anti-Islamic event. Given our President’s recent civilizational threat to Iran, Toossi’s play, while pleasant and touching, seems strangely irrelevant (310-246-3800; thewallis.org).
Not all theater has to be political, but it should have something to say. Diavolo’s Escape: Architecture in Motion brilliantly manages to do this with barely a spoken word.
Diavolo is a movement/dance/theater company that expands what we think the human body and spirit are capable of. I first saw them in a warehouse in Europe 30 years ago, and, if the current production is not quite as dangerous and thrilling, it is still a testament to shared vision, community, risk and, oddly, love.
Using huge geometric constructs that turn into doorways, stairways, locomotives and ocean liners, the 20 or so performers fling, leap, fly, tumble and explode across the warehouse space that is Diavolo’s L.A. home. The theme of escape is played in many forms: escaping traps, bad relationships, death, fear, and the limits we think our bodies (and daily lives) put on us. The message here is clear: no one puts limits on us except ourselves! Escape to Diavolo (at the Brewery in downtown) for one of the best nights of your life. Weekends to Sun., June 14; diavolo.org/escape; 323-335-4290.
What to watch for
GUAC, Manuel Oliver’s one-man play about his son and the Parkland High School shooting, Kirk Douglas Theatre; Tues., April 28, to Sun., May 17. Not to be missed! (centertheatregroup.org).
Michael Michetti directs Ionesco’s absurdist Exit the King at A Noise Within; Sat., May 9 to Sun., May 31; 626-356-3100 anoisewithin.org.
Brigadoon, the classic Lerner and Lowe musical is at the Pasadena Playhouse Weds., May 13, to Sun., June 14; 626-356-7529; pasadenaplayhouse.org.
Real Women Have Curves continues its 35th anniversary run at Casa 0101 in East L.A. to Sun., May 3; 323-263-7684; casa0101.org.
Category: Entertainment
