The primary English class: A play

by Israel Horovitz

The setting is a classroom where an eager young teacher is about to tackle her first assignment teaching basic English to a group of new citizens, not one of whom speaks the same language as another. Included are an excitable Italian, an over-eager Frenchman, a near-sighted German, an elderly Chinese woman and a Japanese girl. The one thing that they manage to convey to each other is that their respective names all mean "wastebasket" but, struggle as she will, the teacher, Debbie, is hard-pressed to bring them beyond this point of communication. Fortunately the voice of an off-stage translator enables the audience to understand what those on-stage cannot comprehend, but this does not help the sorely pressed Debbie, whose frustration is increased by her fear of a mugger lurking outside the door. 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.

Genres: Plays

152 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1979

About the author

Israel Horovitz has written more than 80 plays, several of which have been translated into as many as 30 languages and performed worldwide. His play Line reached 50 years of continuous performance, off-Broadway, at 13th Street Repertory Theatre.

Horovitz is Founding Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage Company, and of the New York Playwrights Lab. For two decades, he taught a bilingual screenwriting workshop with writers from la Fémis, France’s national film school, and Columbia University’s graduate film program. Has also written or adapted numerous plays for BBC Radio. (Click on link for listing and description of plays.)

He is married to Gillian Adams-Horovitz, former British National Marathon Champion and Record holder, and former USA Track & Field (Masters) Marathon Champion. The Horovitz family divides its time among homes in Gloucester, Massachusetts, NYC’s Greenwich Village, and London’s Dulwich Village. Mr. Horovitz visits France, frequently, where he often directs French-language productions of his plays. He is the most-produced American playwright in French theatre history.

Reviews

[Carolyn Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

A New York Times review called it a "comic tower of Babel"... and so it is. I see in Debbie Wastba the ugly American, despite her non-WASP last name. I got so mad at her!! So thoroughly incompetent it almost stopped being funny. She's a sad woman. Moments of pathos in this comedy, in between the insanity.