Translations, and Mistranslations, in ‘Damascus’

People have a habit of talking past one another in David Greig's plays. Willfully or with the best of intentions, they mishear and fail to hear each other; they misunderstand and fail to know each other. The longings of the human soul, laid bare for acknowledgment, go unnoticed or ignored. In "Damascus," a heart-bruising comedy that is the Scottish playwright's second entry in this year's Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters, Mr. Greig's subject is the failure of entire regions of the...