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Character Breakdown: ENGLISH Cast Unpacks Their Roles
Dec 28, 2024
Roundabout Theatre Company's English is getting ready to begin previews on Broadway! Written by Sanaz Toossi, the new play arrives at the Todd Haimes Theatre directed by Knud Adams. Watch as the cast unpacks their roles!
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0:00
I play Marjan, who has my name's sake
0:12
She is an English teacher tasked with preparing these four students for the TOEFL
0:19
And it gets a bit derailed. But what I love about her is that she is not binary
0:27
that there's such a mystery in terms of no one knows why she loves what she loves
0:32
and it's not that she's toned deaf to the world around her it's just that and I think it's to me
0:36
the exciting thing about her is that she's such an almost unsolvable puzzle
0:41
and that she is deeply romantic and she's a cinephile and she loves this language
0:47
and she doesn't know why she feels more alive in this in a way that I think we all come into the world
0:53
with certain connections to things and sometimes they're not what we're born to
0:59
It's just our own discovery of life and how we feel most alive
1:04
And I think to live in that kind of complexity is a real gift
1:09
So I play a character called Omid. He is one of the students in this class
1:13
which takes place in Iran. And each one of us is in the class for a certain reason
1:21
And what I love about Omid is he is, he is I think a very gentle soul and a very caring person who is looking for something he cannot find And I think there is something I like the chance to play
1:38
I like that I have the chance to play a character that is, whose neuroses are a bit controlled this time and not, you know
1:48
not like a lot of things I've done before. So this is really, really, yeah, it's great
1:52
I play Roya, who's one of the students in the class. and she's a grandmother, you know, it's like she loves her son, she loves her grandchild
2:02
And what I love about it is, I understand her. She's elegant, she's like a queen, and she wouldn't let the cracks show
2:11
But they're there, and when you get to see it, it just makes you realize that beyond the queenliness, she's just like a mother
2:21
I play Elham, and she is very determined. Some might describe her as the bad student in class, but she tries very hard
2:32
She's trying maybe the hardest of all. She's not great at making friends, but she is an incredibly resilient, resilient human being
2:40
and I love her a lot. You know, I think I really resonate with Goli because she is the optimist and the ever-earnest one in the group
2:48
I think while the other characters, they have internal battle with the English language
2:53
Goli relishes in the challenge and the opportunity of a new language
2:58
In English, Goli finds confidence in her voice
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