Iraq through women's eyes

In the one-woman show "9 Parts of Desire," currently playing in the Studio Theatre at Santa Rosa's 6th Street Playhouse, nine Iraqi women -- all played by actress Denise Elia -- speak out.

The things these women talk about don't qualify as an evening of light entertainment, but the play is unquestionably an enlightening look a their lives. Repression, rape, imprisonment, injury, squalor, poverty and disease are everyday realities, at least for some of them.

Amid all the sorrow, there are still some funny moments. For example, one character comments sardonically on the "smart bombs" of the first Gulf War, with their highly touted targeting systems.

"How smart can these bombs be," she asks, "if they bomb everybody?"

While some of the women initially seem very similar to one another, Elia soon manages to differentiate them clearly. She particularly excels in her portrayal of the most prominent characters, including a politically ambivalent artist, her younger model, an embittered old activist and an American TV watcher worried about her relatives in Iraq.

Despite minimal costume changes, Elia makes skillful use of posture, vocal inflections and facial expressions to make each character distinct. An Iraqi teenager bounces constantly, unable to stay still. An old woman hunches forward and speaks slowly.

Making her directorial debut at the 6th Street Playhouse, familiar local actress Bronwen Shears, assisted by Elizabeth Craven, makes it easier for the audience to differentiate the various characters, by giving each woman her own corner of the stage.

The eclectic clutter of large and small objects onstage, especially a ragged scaffold in the background, evokes the chaos of Iraq. However, a water-filled pool at the center of the stage is so heavily lined with bulky sheets of thick plastic that it's more distracting than convincing.

An original score composed by musician David MacNab, Shears' husband, underscores the transitions from character to character with changes in theme and style.

At two hours, the play is long for a solo performance but satisfyingly thorough in its exploration of life among Iraqi women. Created and originally performed at its Edinburgh debut in 2003 by Iraqi-American actress and author Heather Raffo, "9 Parts of Desire" is based on her interviews and encounters with real Iraqi women.

Raffo later took the play to London and New York. National and international tours followed, and the Berkeley Rep staged its own production with a different actress in 2006.

The title comes from a Shia maxim: "God created sexual desire in 10 parts; he gave nine parts to women and one to men." In fact, the play is much more about individuality than sexuality, which is mentioned only in passing.

While the play is undeniably political, it also is even-handed in its content. The horror of life under Saddam Hussein is made painfully clear, and the characters speak both for and against American intervention in their country's affairs.

While this show is not the effortless entertainment some audiences prefer to find at the Playhouse, thinking theater-goers can be thankful for the chance to see live, local performances of this thought-provoking play.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.