Broken English

This black comedy is set in post war London where Jewish refugees Karl and Trude have finally scraped together enough money to bring their teenage daughter Ruth home from the orphanage where she has been raised as a British school girl

Tension between the family members is heightened by a neighbor, retired Latin teacher Miss Singer, who befriends Ruth. Act One takes place during Ruth's disastrous first night home

She does not share her parents' language, taste in food or sense of humor. They in turn regard her English ways as a kind of treachery. Act Two transpires months later as Karl and Trude try to sabotage the friendship between Ruth and Miss Singer

This observant and surprisingly funny play lays bare all four characters, each an exception to mainstream British society, while it painfully captures the domestic hell families can create for themselves