“This play about learning English is a timely and brilliant must-see”

“Few are the standout gems—those plays that conquer an audience so wholly you feel a delicious two-way crackle in the room as a performance progresses. Sanaz Toossi’s English [...] is one such gem.”

“Marsha Ginsberg’s rotating classroom set allows us to see the performances from many angles, with Reza Behjat’s naturalistic light penetrating the curtains and giving us a sense of the passage of time. The effect is balletic when paired with Sinan Refik Zafar’s underscoring, which begins with contemplative piano music in the scene transitions and later expands to the fully symphonic. Everything about this production is strikingly beautiful.”

“Adams’s staging and his work with the faultless actors pull off the trick of making what “English” doesn’t say out loud so moving. Also moving: the rotating box of a set by Marsha Ginsberg, which offers changing perspectives on action that might otherwise dig a rut. Also beautifully considered are the interstitial rearrangements of the classroom furniture; the shifting of angles of the sun and thus its shadows (lighting by Reza Behjat); the subtle changes of clothing (costumes by Enver Chakartash); and the unexpectedly nonliteral music, mostly solo piano works with a distinctive French accent. (Sound by Sinan Refik Zafar.)”