Pulitzer Prize-winning drama English comes to Canberra to teach a contemplative and comic lesson

Posted on 27 August, 2024

Hope, belonging, and desire – anyone who has ever learned a language knows the power and drive that comes from these three things.

That’s what drew Canberra Youth Theatre alum and Melbourne Theatre Company Resident Director Tasnim Hossain to the award-winning drama English in the first place.

And now – after an enormously successful extended season in Melbourne – it’s coming to the Canberra Theatre Centre for a limited run from Thursday 5 until Saturday 7 September.

“It’s about identity and belonging. I think people often ask themselves where they belong, regardless of their cultural backgrounds or if they’ve been through something as traumatic as migration,” says Tasnim.

“That question of where we belong, who we belong to, what home is, it’s something all of us ask and all of us are searching for, whether we know it or not.”

Written by Iranian American playwright Sanaz Toossi, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play is both comedic and contemplative.

Set in 2008 in a town just outside of Tehran, English takes place in an English-language classroom, where four adults and their teacher Marjan explore their complex and confusing relationship with the language.

Each has their reason for learning the language – whether it offers opportunities abroad or a way to grow closer to grandchildren – and as they dive into the complexities of English, their own complexities are revealed.

“We follow them over six weeks and get to know a little bit more about them, what brings them to the class and what they want to get out of it, as well as their insecurities,” explains Tasnim.

“Telling these stories is important, because so often we have a single narrative – and it’s a media narrative or a political narrative – about who and what people are and what they stand for.”

“I think in the arts, we have an extraordinary power and an opportunity to challenge those dominant narratives and see that we are closer to each other than we might think or might have been told we are.”

Coming back to Canberra after being appointed the Melbourne Theatre Company Resident Director in 2022, this is the first play Tasnim has directed in her hometown.

Growing up in Canberra as the daughter of public servants, Tasnim says that she originally studied international relations at the Australian National University because she wanted to “understand how the world works.” And while she never ended up working for DFAT or AusAID like she always thought she would, bringing English to the stage is her way of helping to make the world a little better.

Coming across the play in 2023 while researching potential comedies to add to the season, Tasnim is under no illusion that she was incredibly lucky to stumble across it – because a few months later English won a Pulitzer Prize, and she was able to have a hand in the Australian premiere of the much-lauded drama.

“It’s about people of colour and it’s about people who are looking to migrate…A lot of the time when we come across stories about migrants in their destination country, it’s usually stories about migrants who feel like fish out of water in Sydney, Melbourne, or Canberra. But this is set in their home country, so you get a sense of who these people are,” she says.

“When people think of Iran, they often think about the politics of the country instead of the people. And this felt like an opportunity to showcase what the people are like and that they have the same kinds of hopes and dreams and ambitions as anyone else.”

Featuring a stellar cast, including Maia Abbas (ABC’s House of Gods), Delaram Ahmadi (Silver String Productions Caress/Ache), Salme Geransar (ABC’s Mystery Road: Origin), Marjan Mesbahi (Peridot Theatre Echoes of Healing) and Osamah Sami (ABC’s Savage River, House of Gods) and celebrating the universal struggle and joy of learning a new language, Tasmin is excited to bring English to Canberra – not only because it’s her hometown, but because she feels the audience will love it just as much as she does.

“I think so many [Canberrans] are so engaged politically and socially. I think we’re very intellectually curious, and we want to meet a lot of new people and hear new voices,” she says.

“I’m really excited that the Canberra Theatre Centre is bringing this production up because it feels like such a wonderful match between who I know Canberrans to be – having experienced that – and being able to make this work.”

“It’s funny, warm, and heartfelt, and has a moving and meaningful core.”

Photography: Pia Johnson.