Review: 'Mother in Another Language' shows with humor how cultures and mothers-in-law collide

As if one mother-in-law isn't bad enough, imagine two of them — living with you. One doesn't share your culture and the other doesn't share your values. That's the problem faced by Karen, the American, and Tarak, the Bengali. They're lovers headed toward marriage who find that values and culture present formidable hurdles to their union.

In this charming play by Taniya Hossain, everyone speaks the same language, but not everyone hears the same thing. It's a lively and funny exploration of the manner in which social and cultural preconceptions color our understandings and precipitate ideological collisions.

Co-directors David Hsieh and Agastya Kohli effectively use the play's humor to spotlight the deeper issues it raises. They've guided the extremely competent lead actors to portray their righteousness, confusion and disappointment with subtlety as well as passion.

Karen (Angela DiMarco), the women's libber, adores Tarak (Bikas Saha), the expatriate from Bangladesh who is caught between his traditional values and American culture. Lovingly but unilaterally he makes decisions that impact Karen: buying a house, deciding to marry her, making plans for his mother, Meena, to move to the United States and into their basement apartment. And he can't understand why that infuriates his feminist beloved.

No sooner do they reach a truce on those issues than Karen's mom, a hippie, wheedles her way into the basement apartment, to share it with the fastidious Meena, who's having her own difficulties adjusting.

Meenakshi Rishi brings a regal bearing to her portrayal of the elegant, highly educated Meena. American customs amaze and offend her, yet she learns how to maintain her equilibrium, ascertaining just when to push and when to back off.

Walayn Sharples, as Karen's mother, also moves past cultural barriers. But the foul-mouthed, sexually rapacious Blanch's transformation into a reasonable and loving family member is unconvincing. That may be both a playwright and director problem.

The play reminds us, too, that cultural misunderstanding is not just an East-West issue. Before Meena's arrival, a Hindu friend helps Karen transform the apartment into her idea of what someone from India would want. The suggested décor includes a large picture of a Hindu god surrounded by colored lights — totally inappropriate, since Tarak and his mother are Muslim. They quickly replace the Hindu deity with a picture of Mecca.

New family members, like societies, have much to learn about one another. As this play proves, compassion, open minds and a lot of humor can make it work.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net