The Language Archive

The central premise of Julia Cho's "The Language Archive" is a little too on-the-nose for comfort. George, an expert linguist, is, ironically, unable to communicate with his wife, Mary, who leaves cryptic fortune-cookie-like notes all over the house. She isn't great in the communication department either. When Mary threatens to leave George, he is unable to say "I love you" in exactly the right way. After encountering a mysterious old man in a train station, Mary starts life over as a baker. Meanwhile, George fails to pick up the obvious clues that his co-worker Emma is attracted to him. The smitten Emma is learning Esperanto, the universal language George is fluent in, in order to get closer to him. But that still doesn't help get her message through to her dense colleague, who is also having trouble with Alta and Resten, an elderly couple who have flown from their tiny Eastern European country so that George and Emma can record their dying language. But the quarrelling pair will only speak with each other in English, because they feel it is the tongue of anger.

Cho's theme—we each speak an individual language that only our soul mate can understand—is a valid one, and she has written some funny and touching moments, but her protagonist's plight is too obvious and never really resolved. George spends too much of the play whining or curled up in a ball on the floor. The most interesting characters are the bickering Alta and Resten, who curse each other in comically mangled English and are played with gusto and bite by veteran character actors Jayne Houdyshell and John Horton. Unfortunately, the characters vanish for much of the second act. Luckily, Houdyshell and Horton reappear in other roles to enliven the overwritten proceedings.

Matt Letscher and Heidi Schreck earnestly attempt to make George and Mary as appealing as possible, but their characters' flaws defeat them. Betty Gilpin has an easier time pursuing Emma's objective to snare the elusive George. Mark Brokaw delivers his usual proficient directing job, and Neil Patel's set is attractive, with its sliding bookshelves full of books, bread, and unusual objects. Likewise, "The Language Archive" is pleasant but not rich or complex enough to hold us beyond the initial concept.



Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St., NYC. Oct. 17–Dec. 19. Tue.–Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 2 p.m. (212) 719-1300 or www.roundabouttheatre.org. Casting by Carrie Gardner.