A Story of Iraqi Women, With a Common Humanity

They are all very different. One is a painter, one a peasant, one a teenager, one a doctor. They have very different histories and views on life. But the woman are all Iraqis, all embodied by Jacqueline Antarmian in the Wilma Theater's production of Heather Raffo's heartbreaking play, Nine Parts of Desire, directed by Kate Saxon.

The play offers portraits of nine composite characters in different stages of their lives, based on stories the Iraqi-American Raffo gathered while in Iraq in the 90s. Their stories contradict and do not point towards a clear ideological point. The play is not pro- or anti-war, but portrays a wide range of experience of which most Americans are ignorant. There are some grisly descriptions of life under Saddam, but their current situation is dire as well.

The most thoroughly developed and complex character is Layal, a painter who both collaborated and defied Saddam Hussein's regime, earning a plum job as curator of his art museum but painting female nudes and memorializing victims of his regime. Her role in post-Saddam Iraq is unclear.

Another character, an ex-patriot Iraqi living in London, most clearly expresses her ambivalence towards the war. "The war was against all my beliefs, but I wanted it," she said, and many fault the Americans for not toppling Saddam after the 1991 Gulf War. Some tell stories of horrifying cruelty, but some have lives that are in some ways not so different from our own.

At its best, Raffo's writing is both poetic and wonderfully authentic-sounding. They speak as if to an outside interviewer, in this case the audience. Each woman has her own voice- both in her language and in Antaramian's flexible performance. Sometimes their complaints begin to run together, and a few moments sag, but for the most part the text is captivating in its naturalness and authenticity. Antaramian give each woman her own look and sound, and it never becomes confusing.

The Wilma design team puts in some stellar work, particularly set and costume designer Anne Patterson and lighting designer John Stephen Hoey. The complex, multi-level set, including a small pool representing a river, creates a particular zone of the stage for each woman, which is emphasized by the lighting.

The play falters only when it strays from the authenticity it seems to effortlessly possess. Sometimes Raffo's text becomes a little too florid, particularly in the very beginning, and she seems to need a dramatic climax at the end, which feels a bit forced. Saxon's use of some melodramatic transitions is also unfortunate, detracting from the harsh reality the characters inhabit.

Does Nine Parts of Desire add up to anything cumulative? Not really, and when Raffo tries to make it come together, it feels most artificial. Its strength lies in its individual portraits of women so often personified as an anonymous crowd, and we can see what they share without having it underlined for us. The play celebrates the women's survival without judging their actions. They aren't all of Iraq, per se, just a group of women living in a country that to Americans is too often no more than a metaphor.

Nine Parts of Desire

by Heather Raffo

Director: Kate Saxon, Set and Costume Designer: Anne Patterson, Lighting Designer: John Stephen Hoey, Music and Sound Score; Adam Cork, Original Iraqi Music: Amir ElSaffar, Dramaturg: Walter Bilderback.

At the WilmaTheater, through March 12

For tickets and information, http://www.wilmatheater.org or 215-546-7824.