English is the latest in Pulitzer Prize-winning plays to come to Sydney, with Purpose playing at the Sydney Theatre Company earlier this year and Primary Trust playing at Ensemble Theatre last year. This time it is the turn of the Seymour Centre to host a Pulitzer-winning play, with director Craig Baldwin taking on the 2023 winner penned by Sanaz Toossi.

The play follows four Iranian students and their teacher as the students study for their TOEFL exam. On its surface, the piece seems quite simple with most of the action set in a classroom as the students prepare for their exams with varying degrees of success. In the play, the teacher Marjan requires that English be spoken only in the classroom as her four students prepare for the exam which is followed at some points more than others throughout the production. Elham has a medical background and wants to go to university at RMIT while Omid is supposedly looking for his green card. Goli is 18 and trying to start her life while Roya wants to visit her grandchild in Canada whom her son will only let her see if she speaks English.

Quickly, the differing backgrounds of the students become clear, with Elham revealing that she has failed the test a number of times. One of the more devastating moments in the play comes when Roya drops the class halfway through when it becomes clear that she will never have the relationship with her son and her grandchild that she desires. Goli keeps up with the class but struggles with her confidence, while Omid ultimately reveals himself to be an American citizen, taking the English class as a display of superiority if viewed cynically or, if viewed charitably, as an attempt to finally fit in where he feels like he belongs in neither world.

The actors are all excellent, with Nicole Chamoun doing an exceptional job of portraying Marjan, the teacher who seems confident but holds a level of insecurity below the surface which slowly becomes more and more prevalent. Pedram Biazar is appropriately suave as Omid, while Neveen Hanna brings out the devastation of the role of Roya, who really has the richest part in this play and whose departure says a lot about the difficulties of the migrant experience and trying to balance culture with a new life. Setareh Naghoni as Elham and Minerva Khodabande as Goli round out the cast and do a fine job as well, with huge character swings for both of them that they handle well dramatically.

The set is quite simple but it works well, while Hamed Sadeghi’s music serves as an important plot point and thematic element for the show. While there is definitely a huge amount of symbolism and hidden meaning in this show, it is ultimately a 90 minute play set in an English class with not much surface-level variance, which does mean it drags at times, but the actors do an exceptional job of maintaining interest and teasing out the hidden meanings where they arise.

Overall, this is a very good play which is exceptionally well acted and has some interesting things to say about the migrant experience and cultural belonging at a time where such themes are at the forefront of everyone’s mind. While the play itself does drag at times by the nature of its setting, it is very well executed here and is a great choice for Outhouse Theatre Co’s 2026 major work. This is definitely a winner and a thought provoking one at that.

Rating: ★★★★1/2

English plays at the Reginald Theatre until 2 May. For more information, click here. 

All photo credits: Richard Farland