Tag Archives: comedy

Review: W (Old Fitz Theatre)

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Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre (Woolloomooloo NSW), May 29 – Jun 14, 2026
Playwright: Madelaine Nunn
Director: Rachel Chant
Cast: Danielle Cormack, Celeste Cortes-Davis, Edyll Ismail, Ally Morgan, Shannon Ryan, Grace Smibert
Images by Phil Erbacher

Theatre review
In Madelaine Nunn’s W, an elite women’s football team hurtles toward the season finals, yet the play’s dramatic momentum is diffused rather than concentrated. Between coach Sue and five players, our attention is parcelled out too sparingly; while team captain Rosie receives marginally more narrative real estate, her story never quite becomes the play’s anchoring centre. The result is a dramatic architecture that feels structurally tentative—compelling in its parts, yet uncertain of its whole.

What holds the production together is Rachel Chant’s astute direction. She renders each character with such precision and emotional texture that the ensemble transcends the script’s fractured architecture, making the evening dramaturgically coherent and, for the most part, gripping. Still, there is something irreducibly splintered about the writing itself—an episodic restlessness that prevents the work from achieving the satisfying unity it intermittently promises.

Among the cast, Shannon Ryan delivers a performance of unwavering commitment as Rosie, yet her isolation is palpable; she generates little chemistry with her fellow players, and that disconnection quietly erodes the production’s emotional foundation. Danielle Cormack, by contrast, thrives as Sue, crafting a character of terrific vitality—by turns hilarious and deeply, authentically felt. The remainder of the ensemble matches her standard with consistent excellence, balancing humour and emotional depth while executing Poppy Lynch’s movement direction with an athletic rigour that lends the staging a genuine physical exhilaration.

The design elements are equally accomplished. Meg Anderson’s set and Aloma Barnes Siraswar’s costumes combine visual vibrancy with meticulous detail, while Luna Yuet Yee Ng’s lighting is calibrated with exquisite sensitivity, seizing every opportunity for theatrical flourish and transforming it into something genuinely beautiful. Clare Hennessy’s sound design deepens the atmosphere at every turn, enriching the production’s dramatic texture without ever overwhelming it.

The play arrives at a cultural moment when many still refuse to acknowledge the insidious depth of everyday sexism; the marginalisation of women’s sport renders that denial impossible. Curiously, W never names misogyny outright, yet the additional labour these women endure to pursue their passion speaks with unmistakable eloquence. In the end, W tackles the extra miles women must run—but stops just short of naming the finish line they are forbidden to cross.

www.oldfitztheatre.com.au | www.newghoststheatre.com

Review: Tootsie (Teatro)

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Venue: Teatro (Leichhardt NSW), May 26 – Jun 21, 2026
Book: Robert Horn
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek
Directors: Cameron Mitchell
Cast: Andrew Bevis, Chris Huntly-Turner, Brendan Irving, Elena Kokubo, Donna Lee, Lachlan O’Brien, Tyran Stig, Alana Tranter.
Images by Robert Miniter

Theatre review
Michael Dorsey, an actor of considerable talent but negligible employability, seizes an unexpected opportunity when an audition calls specifically for a woman. His decision to adopt the persona of Dorothy Michaels sets in motion a cascade of consequences far more triumphant than he could have anticipated. This stage adaptation of the 1982 film Tootsie—sharing both its title and its essential premise—derives considerable vitality from David Yazbek’s effervescent, jaunty score and, perhaps more crucially, from Robert Horn’s exceptionally nimble book, which manages to render the narrative with a contemporary sensibility that largely obviates the mustiness one might expect from a four-decade-old property. That a story of this vintage could be resuscitated without appearing anachronistic or, worse, tone-deaf in the current cultural climate is no small feat; the production merits particular praise for its interrogation of gender inequity through a lens that feels immediate rather than merely dutiful.

Under Cameron Mitchell’s direction and choreography, the work sustains its entertainment value without sacrificing narrative coherence, navigating its inherently preposterous premise with such assurance that one scarcely questions the plausibility of the central deception. Mitchell possesses the rare capacity to suspend disbelief not through obfuscation but through the sheer force of theatrical conviction, rendering the absurd eminently digestible.

Where the production falter is in its visual execution. The design elements, regrettably, undermine rather than elevate the material. Angela White’s costumes and Helen Thatcher’s wigs suffer from a conspicuous parsimony, appearing neither flattering nor sufficiently polished to support the illusion upon which the drama depends. Dan Potra’s set, painted in a disconcerting and rather aggressive shade of red, has a rough-hewn, provisional quality that feels more workshop than finished production. Peter Rubie’s lighting design offers a measure of redemption, imparting occasional visual sophistication to the proceedings, though it ultimately stops short of genuine ingenuity or surprise.

In the formidable role of Michael/Dorothy, Andrew Bevis shoulders an almost impossible burden and, unfortunately, delivers a performance that falls short of the role’s demands. His vocal work proves inconsistent, and more damagingly, he lacks the magnetism necessary to anchor so outsized a character. The romantic chemistry between his Michael and Julia, portrayed by Elenoa Rokobaro, is essentially nonexistent—a deficiency rendered all the more conspicuous by Rokobaro’s own transcendent vocal performance, which stands as one of the production’s undeniable glories. The supporting ensemble, by contrast, is uniformly superb. Tyran Stig and Alana Trantner emerge as particular treasures, creating indelible characterizations distinguished by vocal excellence and a comic timing that feels both spontaneous and impeccably wrought.

The art of drag, it must be acknowledged, has undergone a profound evolution since Tootsie first appeared, migrating from the margins of subcultural expression to occupy an unprecedented position in mainstream consciousness. Its potency resides in what it reveals about the constructed nature of gender—the fluidity of identity itself—and in its implicit argument for a radical, unconditional acceptance that transcends the arbitrary taxonomies by which we so often classify one another. In 2026, one might reasonably expect this narrative to plumb such themes with greater depth and daring, particularly given its determination to remain accessible to family audiences. Yet if this staging does not fully exploit the rich thematic territory now available to it, it nonetheless succeeds in being genuinely delightful, navigating its material with a lightness of touch that thankfully avoids the pitfalls of either creepiness or regression. That, in itself, is no inconsiderable achievement.

www.teatroitalianforum.com.au

Review: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Hayes Theatre)

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Venue: Hayes Theatre Co (Potts Point NSW), May 22 – Jun 21, 2026 | Riverside (Parramatta NSW), Jun 25 – 28, 2026
Book: Jeffrey Lane
Music and Lyrics: David Yazbek
Director: Rebecca McNamee
Cast: Oliver Clisdell, Blake Erickson, Emma Feliciano, Brendan Godwin, Madelene Kirkwood, Scarlet Lindsay, Kristina McNamara, Aurélie Roque, Jordan Shea, Christopher Tendai, Rowan Witt
Images by John McCrae

Theatre review
Lawrence and Freddy, kindred spirits in the art of the swindle, prey upon wealthy women with motives that extend well beyond the merely pecuniary. Pride—arguably the more potent fuel for their elaborate deceptions—renders their eventual collision not merely probable but structurally inevitable.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 2004 musical comedy adapted from the 1988 film, promises unalloyed frivolity, and its libretto brims with comic invention. Yet under Rebecca McNamee’s direction, the production does not consistently translate that potential into theatrical life; a certain vital spark remains stubbornly elusive. Despite Dylan Pollard’s buoyant musical direction and Cameron Boxall’s vigorous choreography, an unmistakable deficit of chemistry among the principals keeps the enterprise earthbound.

Blake Erickson’s Lawrence possesses the requisite savoir-faire, and Rowan Witt’s Freddy exerts a roguish appeal, but their pairing never achieves that alchemical synergy whereby the whole transcends its constituent parts. Kristina McNamara, as Christine—the narrative’s ostensible mark and emotional fulcrum—invests her performance with admirable precision and intensity, yet the production retains a curiously restrained, almost buttoned-up quality that sits at odds with the material’s inherent vulgarian exuberance.

Visually, the production fares considerably better. Soham Apte’s set design emerges as a genuine asset, importing glamour and a welcome sense of theatrical fantasy to the proceedings. James Wallis’s lighting proves most compelling when it abandons restraint for something more operatically bold. Angelina Daniel’s costumes, by contrast, are inconsistently realized: certain pieces achieve a polished, character-defining flair, while others land with an unfortunate visual discord.

What proves most striking about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is its moral architecture—or rather, the conspicuous absence of one. The narrative does not merely tolerate its protagonists’ ethical bankruptcy; it actively celebrates their cunning. One might read in this a particularly American strain of cultural logic: the conflation of charisma with virtue, of success with moral license. The musical’s gleeful amorality invites a broader reflection on a society increasingly inclined to reward performance over principle—a trajectory, one observes from current state of affairs in the USA, that leads only to diminishing returns. 

www.hayestheatre.com.au | www.instagram.com/redfernlane

Review: Savior (Griffin Theatre Co)

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Venue: Belvoir St Theatre (Surry Hills NSW), May 16 – Jun 14, 2026
Playwright: Happy Feraren
Director: Kenneth Moraleda
Cast: Chrissy Mae Valentine, Chaye Mogg, Mark Paguio, Michael Whalley
Images by Brett Boardman

Theatre review
When a typhoon devastates Tacloban, Michelle, a Manila-based NGO aid worker, commits herself wholeheartedly to relief efforts—only to find her labour obstructed by Joe, her manager, who arrives from the United States to supervise the disaster response mission with little regard for the community and a great deal of regard for himself. Happy Feraren’s Savior certainly broaches weighty subject matter, yet it is the precision of its dialogue that ultimately resonates. The comedy operates across a wide register, from broad farce to piercing social observation, and it lands with remarkable consistency, eliciting sustained laughter even when the narrative itself does not always summon the gravitas necessary to inspire deeper emotional investment. What the play occasionally lacks in dramatic heft, it more than compensates for in comic satisfaction.

Kenneth Moraleda directs with palpable assurance, constructing a rhythm that keeps the characters perpetually engaging and the comic timing impeccably calibrated. He deserves particular credit for the deft deployment of brief, sobering interludes—moments of gravity that refocus attention on the production’s true emotional core and from which the surrounding comedy acquires its sharpest edge.

The ensemble of four delivers uniformly excellent work, each actor crafting a distinct and thoroughly delightful character who commands continued attention. Chrissy Mae Valentine strikes an impressive equilibrium in the role of Michelle, grounding her portrayal in the earnest conviction of a genuine charity worker while ensuring every line lands with comic precision. Michael Whalley leans fully into the caricature dimensions of Joe, wielding the role to mount a pointed, satirical critique of whiteness within a broader context of social commentary. Mark Paguio proves utterly charming as Jobert, making an indelible impression through relentless optimism while nonetheless threading welcome complexity into the performance whenever the script permits. Chaye Mogg, as Janna, brings jovial verve to a production that never flags in energy.

Hailley Hunt’s set design meaningfully evokes a fragile sense of fabricated order erected atop rubble, capturing the delusory semblances of structure that humans impose upon chaos in an effort to feel in control. Her costuming for one of Joe’s entrances proves especially inspired, drawing a huge laugh and encapsulating the acerbic tone central to the production’s impact. Brockman’s lighting transitions fluidly between locations with minimal fuss, always modulating the precise tonal register required by each scene. Dobby’s richly imagined sound design positions the audience firmly within each environment, fostering an atmospheric connection to the narrative world.

Savior confronts the paradox of post-colonial experience across much of the Global South: communities devastated by catastrophe find themselves dependent upon assistance from nations that plundered and abandoned them, only to return imposing foreign values and disregarding the priorities of those they purport to rescue. The play makes painfully visible the West’s fondness for swooping into crisis to perform benevolence, even as it remains steadfastly unwilling to elevate these same regions to anything approaching commensurate prosperity.

www.griffintheatre.com.au 

Review: Ride The Cyclone (Eternity Playhouse)

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Venue: Eternity Playhouse (Darlinghurst NSW), May 14 – 30, 2026
Book, Music & Lyrics: Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell
Director: Kris Sergi
Cast: Brock Cramond, Riley Druce, Liam Faulkner-Dimond, Michael Haratzis, Kayla Ingle-Olson, Kavisha Karunarathna, Natalie Patterson
Images by Izzy Sergi

Theatre review
In a liminal purgatory, six teenagers compete in a macabre talent show for the singular prize of resurrection. *Ride the Cyclone*, the 2008 musical by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, purports to meditate on existential meaning, yet its philosophical inquiry remains largely superficial. The score offers moderate pleasures, and the characters possess intermittent charm, but the work never achieves the emotional gravity its premise demands. Though consistently amusing, the humour too often settles for the facile rather than the genuinely witty.

Kris Sergi’s direction and choreography inject the production with undeniable verve and exuberance, yet even this kinetic energy cannot fully animate the material’s hollow center. The production’s most compelling achievement lies in Kathryn Smith and Peter Mussared’s scenic design, which masterfully constructs the spatial paradox of a threshold existence—granting this purgatorial realm genuine dimensionality and visual majesty that momentarily transcends the script’s limitations. Sergi and Lexi Willis’s costumes display welcome visual variety, though they would benefit from greater refinement. Tim Hope’s lighting, too, is marked by inconsistency: it lacks the sustained atmospheric density to conjure a convincingly supernatural realm and falls short of the chromatic complexity required for nuanced tonal metamorphoses, yet it nonetheless achieves an arresting memorability at the drama’s most pivotal junctures.

The seven-member cast commits wholeheartedly, their palpable effort to infuse the piece with soulfulness evident even when the material resists such depth. Beyond some genuinely formidable vocal work, individual performances fluctuate between competent and genuinely accomplished. Natalie Patterson emerges as the production’s undeniable anchor; her Jane Doe combines technical precision with an emotional acuity so penetrating it becomes the evening’s most authentic glimpse into genuine pathos.

There are fleeting instants when the production invites a more profound consideration—that perhaps the hereafter offers possibilities more tantalizing than earthly existence itself. As these characters claw desperately toward their former lives, one might paradoxically conclude that while our time on the current plane remains unequivocally precious, what lies beyond may hold its own strange allure. Terrifying though the unknowable remains, it may not, in the end, be something to fear.

www.companyofdramaticarts.com

Review: Steel Magnolias (Theatre Royal)

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Venue: Theatre Royal (Sydney NSW), May 13 – 30, 2026
Playwright: Robert Harling
Director: Lee Lewis
Cast: Belinda Giblin, Lotte Beckett, Mandy Bishop, Debra Lawrance, Lisa McCune, Jessica Redmayne
Images by Brett Boardman

Theatre review
Set in late-1980s Louisiana, Robert Harling’s *Steel Magnolias* unfolds primarily within Truvy’s beauty salon, where a tight-knit circle of women gather to trade confidences ranging from the quotidian to the devastating, their conversations laced with the acerbic warmth of Southern wit. Approaching its fortieth anniversary, the play now reads as an almost accidental period piece; its cultural markers may have faded, but its portrait of female solidarity retains its emotional currency. What endures is not necessarily the substance of every exchange, but the musicality of the dialogue itself—the pleasure of witnessing women who speak with intimacy, velocity, and irreverent affection.

Director Lee Lewis leans into the production’s nostalgic appeal, crafting a staging that privileges comfort and communal charm over dramatic urgency. The result is inviting, if occasionally too gentle to fully command our investment in every narrative turn. Designer Simone Romaniuk supports this atmosphere with sets and costumes that evoke a more sheltered era, deploying a vivid, deliberately kitsch palette that winks at the aesthetic excesses of the decade without undermining its sincerity.

The ensemble of six operates with uniform commitment, yet the production’s true strength lies not in individual virtuosity but in their collective chemistry. The camaraderie feels lived-in and authentic, bridging the temporal and cultural distance that separates these characters from a contemporary Australian audience. Only some unfortunate choices in wig design briefly rupture the illusion.

Perhaps the most disorienting aspect of encountering this work in 2026 is its resolute political silence. To watch a group of white American women onstage, entirely insulated from the civic ruptures of their moment, feels almost anthropological now. In the 1980s, such insulation might have read as plausible, even unremarkable; today, it registers as a stark reminder of the privilege inherent in that protection—a privilege that, in the current climate, no demographic can safely assume will hold.

www.steelmagnoliasplay.com

Review: The Lion King (Capitol Theatre)

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Venue: Capitol Theatre (Sydney NSW), from Apr 18, 2026
Book: Roger Allers, Irene Mecchi
Music & Lyrics: Elton John, Tim Rice
Director: Julie Taymor
Cast: Nick Afoa, Daniel Frederiksen, Winston Hillyer, Jamie McGregor, Emily Nkomo, Aphiiwe Nyezi, Dev Raval, Rutene Spooner, Wilhemina Umeh-Nicholas, Mat Verevis, Benn Welford, Ezra Williams, Buyi Zama
Images by Daniel Boud, Cylla von Tiedemann

Theatre review
While The Lion King’s meditations on destiny and legacy possess a timeless resonance, it is the contemporary allegory of a narcissistic, inept ruler yielding to a leader of integrity and benevolence that strikes its most urgent chord today. We watch Scar lay waste to the kingdom, yet our spirits soar when Simba returns to reclaim his birthright and restore harmony to the ravaged land. In our present climate, this is precisely the fairy tale we require.

Nearly three decades since its debut, this stage adaptation not only reverberates with renewed significance; its peerless theatrical craftsmanship remains as spectacular as it is refined. The puppetry and mask work continue to stand unrivaled within the Broadway tradition, its sweeping vision no less breathtaking and hypnotic in an era where LED screens have become commonplace, often reducing live performance to a pseudo-virtual spectacle.

Under music director Laura Tipoki, the score surges with greater power than ever, stirring the soul and elevating the spirit. Aphiwe Nyezi and Dev Raval share the role of Simba, both commanding the stage with extraordinary physicality and magnetism. Buyi Zama proves unforgettable as Rafiki, her formidable presence and vocal brilliance captivating us from the moment the curtain rises. Jamie McGregor mines the comedy of Timon with expert precision, his puppetry skills not only conjuring a fully realized character but also delivering the evening’s most riotous laughter. Daniel Frederiksen’s Scar is appropriately inscrutable, deploying both vocal menace and physical stillness to forge a figure of genuine villainy.

We may no longer inhabit a world where sovereignty is conferred by bloodline alone, yet we remain acutely aware of the necessity for principled individuals to occupy positions of power and advance the common good. The selfish will always covet the crown; our enduring duty is to unite in keeping them from seizing it, and to cast them down should they ascend.

www.thelionkingmusical.com.au

Review: Cluedo (Theatre Royal)

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Venue: Theatre Royal (Sydney NSW), Apr 11 – May 10, 2026
Playwright: Sandy Rustin (based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn)
Director: Luke Joslin
Cast: Octavia Barron-Martin, Rachael Beck, Laurence Boxhall, Lib Campbell, Olivia Deeble, David James, Nat Jobe, Genevieve Lemon, Joshua Monaghan, Adam Murphy, Grant Piro
Images by Jeff Busby

Theatre review
Six guests converge upon a secluded estate for an mysterious gathering, wherein Wadsworth, the obsequious butler, reveals their shared predicament: each has suffered extortion at the hands of the nefarious Mr. Boddy, whose abrupt murder initiates an evening of escalating pandemonium.

Despite its contemporary provenance—adapted by Sandy Rustin a mere six years ago from the iconic board game and its 1985 cinematic counterpart—this production of Cluedo exudes a decidedly antiquated sensibility, trafficking in broad farcical conventions and groan-inducing “dad jokes” delivered with such thudding deliberateness, that their artlessness appears almost intentional.

Alas, director Luke Joslin’s deployment of high camp, while tonally apt, cannot disguise this relentless barrage of puerile humour into genuine wit, though the proceedings maintain a vigorous kinetic energy that helps sustains audience attention. The ensemble operates with choreographed cohesion, rendering exuberant chaos with polished finesse; Grant Piro’s Wadsworth epitomizes this aesthetic—an unapologetic homage to the vaudevillian excesses of the 1970s and 80s, all nostalgic bombast without the faintest whisper of nuance.

James Browne’s scenic and sartorial designs emerge as the production’s redemption, conjuring vintage grandeur while deploying spatial ingenuity to navigate the mansion’s proliferating chambers with surprising dexterity. Sean Peter’s soundscape amplifies the counterfeit melodrama at every turn, augmenting the unrelenting slapstick with sonic hyperbole, while Jasmine Rizk’s lighting design bathes both architectural splendor and character eccentricities in flatteringly dramatic illumination.

Though Cluedo ultimately offers scant entertainment value, the consummate skill and craftsmanship underlying its execution—the meticulous professionalism permeating every discipline—provides its own peculiar, modest gratification.

www.cluedoplay.com.au

Review: Gutenberg! The Musical! (Hayes Theatre)

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Venue: Hayes Theatre Co (Potts Point NSW), Apr 10 – May 10, 2026
Creators: Anthony King, Scott Brown
Director: Richard Carroll
Cast: Stephen Anderson, Ryan González
Images by John McRae

Theatre review
Bud and Doug are conducting a backer’s audition—a hallowed, anxiety-drenched ritual of the American theatre—to an intimate assembly that they pray includes angel investors with Broadway connections. That these two hope to leap from this modest presentation to the Great White Way represents either breathtaking entrepreneurial courage or delusional hubris; in the delicious friction between those poles lies the show’s particular charm. Conceived two decades ago by Anthony King and Scott Brown, Gutenberg! The Musical! operates on a deceptively slender premise, its book and lyrics unremarkable on the page. Yet as Richard Carroll’s production demonstrates, material that reads as slight becomes transcendent when filtered through the alchemy of exacting performance.

This is camp elevated to high art—unapologetically exuberant, intellectually irreverent, and executed with rigorous precision masquerading as spontaneity. Stephen Anderson and Ryan González navigate the two-hander format with such virtuosic ease that they effectively erase the text’s deficiencies through the sheer force of their charisma. They possess that rarest of theatrical gifts: the ability to make the audience complicit in the illusion, transforming spectators into enthusiastic conspirators. Their technical proficiency—vocally immaculate, comically razor-sharp—serves a deeper purpose: they convince us that Bud and Doug’s quixotic dream deserves to succeed, if only because the passion propelling it is so infectious.

They receive impeccable support from Zara Stanton, whose work at the keyboard as accompanist and music director provides more than musical infrastructure; her presence completes the trio with an understated wit that mirrors the leads’ symbiotic rapport. Shannon Burns’ choreography excavates humour from physicality, generating kinetic comedy within the stringent limitations of the space—proving that inventive staging requires merely bodies in motion, not architectural spectacle. Lochie Odgers’ scenic design and Lily Mateljan’s costumes embrace aesthetic economy not as constraint but as dramaturgical choice, authentically evoking the scrambled, duct-taped urgency of fledgling theatrical development. Only Veronique Benett’s lighting design luxuriates in complexity; her dynamic, intricate compositions assert the transformative power of illumination when other visual elements remain deliberately, appropriately threadbare.

The production invites a familiar meditation: musical theatre depends upon entertainers who can suspend disbelief through sheer force of personality, and we are rightfully grateful for the ephemeral wonders they bestow. Yet Gutenberg! The Musical! also underscores the distinction between the immediate gratification of laughter and the lingering resonance of meaning. The evening delivers the former in abundance; whether it transcends into the latter remains debatable. Still, if laughter proves the best medicine, then this production administers a potent dosage, leaving its audience indisputably invigorated—if not permanently altered—by the encounter.

www.hayestheatre.com.au

Review: English (Seymour Centre)

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Venue: Seymour Centre (Chippendale NSW), Apr 9 – May 2, 2026
Playwright: Sanaz Toossi
Director: Craig Baldwin
Cast: Pedram Biazar, Nicole Chamoun, Neveen Hanna, Minerva Khodabande, Setareh Naghoni
Images by Richard Farland

Theatre review
In a modest classroom in Karaj, 2008, where the air itself seems thick with unspoken anxiety, Marjan presides over a small cohort of Iranians preparing for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examination. They arrive bearing different destinies but share a common condition: displacement. Sanaz Toossi’s English excavates the immigrant experience with surgical precision, revealing how language acquisition becomes both lifeline and loss, a means of escape that simultaneously erases.

Toossi’s work operates in the confluence of colonized trauma and pragmatic survival; it deftly weaves exploration of love for a homeland and the quiet grief of witnessing it unravel. The play captures the immigrant experience with astonishing complexity, yet articulates with remarkable clarity the intricate and often agonizing challenges of forging a sense of home in foreign, unfamiliar terrain. Under Craig Baldwin’s direction, the production holds the audience spellbound from start to finish—devastating in its most searing dramatic moments, yet threaded throughout with sharp, scintillating wit. It achieves the rare feat of being both thoroughly entertaining and profoundly resonant, offering the kind of theatre that feels deeply, viscerally satisfying. For those with personal ties to the themes Toossi explores, English becomes nothing less than cathartic.

The ensemble executes this vision with extraordinary nuance. As Marjan, the eminently watchable Nicole Chamoun navigates the character’s post-colonial consciousness through restraint rather than histrionics—her trauma articulated in the tightening of a jaw, the careful modulation of vowels that betray her own complicated relationship with the English she peddles. Setareh Naghoni’s Elham embodies the paradox of the proud exile: armoured with abrasive humour yet perpetually vulnerable, her hard-headedness serving as both defence mechanism and prison.

Minerva Khodabande’s effortless charm as Goli provides necessary luminosity, her youthful exuberance offering fleeting respite from the production’s heavier thematic weight, while the elegant Pedram Biazar’s turn as Omid maintains a dichotomy of warmth and opacity that complicates the narrative’s moral architecture, suggesting that escape always exacts its own particular tariffs. Most shattering is Neveen Hanna’s Roya, whose separation from her Canadian grandchildren becomes a meditation on intergenerational rupture. Hanna navigates the character’s desperation with such authenticity that her moments of comic relief—delivered with impeccable timing—land with twice the force, reminding us that grief and laughter often share the same respiratory system.

The technical elements eschew spectacle in favour of psychological acuity. Spencer Herd’s lighting design maintains a quotidian warmth during instructional scenes, then shifts during transitions to more expressionistic palettes that externalize the characters’ interiority. Hamed Sadeghi’s compositions function as aural set changes, traversing genres to evoke Iran’s cultural landscape while underscoring the disorientation in the very act of relocation. Soham Apte’s set and Rita Naidu’s costumes embrace a deliberate anti-theatricality; their unvarnished naturalism strips away distraction, forcing our attention onto the micro-gestures and linguistic stumbles that constitute the drama’s true intentions.

For many migrants, the journey begins long before their own lifetime. Where we find ourselves today is shaped not only by our individual choices and circumstances but also by the movement of ancestors who, generations earlier, sought better tomorrows for their children and their children’s children. Yet in the very act of building better lives, we often lose the language—or the permission—to speak of the hardships and ruptures that come with being pushed away from one’s homeland. English, however, refuses that silence, turning a searching gaze toward both the pain and the hope that bind so many of us together.

www.seymourcentre.com | www.outhousetheatre.org