The Primary English Class

An eager young teacher is about to tackle her first assignment, teaching basic English to a group of new citizens, none of whom speaks the same language. The voice of an off-stage translator enables the audience to understand what those on-stage cannot comprehend. Rigid and pedagogical at first, she becomes more frantic and desperate as her lack of success with her charges mounts, and the wonderfully funny misunderstandings multiply, until, at last, all self-control (and sanity) vanish into total, and totally hilarious, panic. The production later transferred (in February 1980) to Wyndham's Theatre in the West End, where the cast included Graeme Eton, Carl Forgione, James greene, Kieran Montague, Zohra Segal, Megumi Shimanuki, Auriol Smith, and Roman Stefanski.