Lingua Frank

Given Edinburgh’s popularity as an English language summer school destination, there’s a lot of comic potential to be mined in Lingua Frank, though this production fails to strike gold. Set in one such institution, it follows the tribulations of Frank, an English language teacher who has invested all his money into Lingua Frank, a programme that claims to teach English in one hour. But he’s got competition from Chest Armstrong, a fellow teacher and obnoxious American, who has stolen Frank’s girlfriend, Felicity, and wants the school’s students to use his own language software instead.

The best jokes in Lingua Frank are the visual ones: Bollard, the Scottish nationalist head of the school, wears a sporran decked with sequins encrusted in the shape of a Saltire, and paints pictures of Alex Salmond in his spare time (watch out for a particularly large, revealing impression of the First Minister wheeled out in the middle of the play). The cast are adept performers too, switching between scenes and characters with ease.

But although its farcical plot is well-structured, the dialogue in Lingua Frank falls flat. And even though it’s meant to be over the top, it stretches the ridiculousness of its characters—especially Chest and Felicity—too far. With just a little more restraint and a greater focus on students instead of teachers, the buffoonery on show here would make a more satisfying comedy. As it is, it’s too exaggerated but worth a look if you’ve ever worked in an international summer school.