|
9 Parts of Desire
Written and Performed by Heather Raffo
Produced by Next Theatre Company
At MCA Stage (Museum of Contemporary Art)
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL
Tickets: 312-397-4010 or www.nexttheatre.org; $22-$38 (MCA member discounts available)
Thu at 7:30; Fri-Sat at 8:00; Sun. at 2:00 (additional performances 5/10 & 5/17 at 2:00; 5/11 & 5/12 at 7:00; and 5/14 at 7:30)
Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission
Through May 18th
The Human Face of War
Heather Raffo’s one-woman show, now playing at MCA Stage goes beyond the horrors of war to reveal the ancient and tormented soul of Mesopotamia, the land of her father. Set along a river running through the rubble of what was Iraq, a series of women narrate their moving stories creating a tapestry of emotion that is human side of the Iraqi tragedy. Humanity itself is under the brutal siege of war. Helpless and desperate, Roffo’s women struggle to make sense of being in a surreal world, a world gone completely mad.
Fortunately, the American-born Raffo possesses a wry sense of humor that transcends pain to mitigate a bit of the horror as the audience steps through the looking glass into her all-too-real nightmare. Without Raffo’s humor, 9 Parts Desire would be too depressing to bear. Humor or not, it is a dark show. It revolts without freeing rage. There is no happy ending. There is no ending. War goes on and it numbs the soul. The audience is caught in the web of Raffo’s awful world. It is a world that is uncomfortably real and therein lies the artistic success of this powerful show.
9 Parts Desire opened in Edinburgh in 2003 before moving on to London’s Off-West-End and an award-winning 2004 run in New York. The work has been revised for Next Theatre’s production, but remains generally set at the time of the beginning of the current Iraqi war. Some of the time references are confusing as it isn’t immediately clear whether it is the first Gulf War or the present conflict that is being narrated. (It is both.) For war-weary theatergoers, small effort is required to engage, but there is a huge payoff for accepting the invitation to enter the worlds of Raffo’s artists, activists, professionals, mothers, and ex-pats.
RECOMMENDED
Randy Hardwich
randyontheglobe@yahoo.com for comments
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2008
|
