I really enjoyed it. It's a very good setting for a play: a small classroom of students (four students plus the teacher) in Iran studying to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
I can't say enough about the cast - very well cast and all very talented and ready, even at the early preview. The set is a bit limited by the play, but it's serviceable (I did think they may need to check sitelines at some points because, as the classroom pivots, it moves the actors to be possibly hidden from patrons in some seats). I sat audience right, and I often thought I would have been better on the opposite side, or in the middle.
It reminded me a bit of maybe an Annie Baker-lite play, with fewer pauses. I thought of Circle Mirror Transformation at times, as this is a series of scenes over time in the same setting.
It's a world premiere, so some tweaking should take place. I felt a couple details about the characters could be made clearer, or more pointed. Definitely worth seeing. I believe it ran about 100 minutes, no intermission. |
