Nine Parts of Desire (play)
9 Parts of Desire () is a play written by Heather Raffo. In the original version, a single performer plays all nine characters. Heather Raffo herself has acted in productions of "9 Parts of Desire". Some productions opt to use multiple actors. Joanna Settle directed the play's first productions. Michael Billington of "The Guardian" wrote that the play's "great virtue" "is that it not only deals with the plight of Iraqi women but forces us to confront the moral issues of war." Melissa Rose Bernardo of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "What Raffo unearths, beneath  the aforementioned Saddam-inflicted atrocities, is the universal and very basic human trait of insecurity." Billington added that "The play raises a difficult question, especially for those opposed to the recent war: what should the west have done about Iraq?" Title. The title originates from a statement from Ali that "God created sexual desire in 10 parts; then he gave nine parts to women and one to men." This statement is from a hadith in the "100 Maxims of Imam Ali". Lauren Sandler of "The New York Times" wrote that "The play's emphasis on sex is inherent in its  title." Geraldine Brooks had used this statement as a title of her 1995 book, "Nine Parts of Desire". The only aspect the book by Brooks and the play share are the title. Raffo thanked Brooks for inspiration in the program of the play. Creation and conception. During an August 1993 trip to Baghdad to see family, Heather Raffo visited the Saddam Art Center. According to Raffo, a painting titled "Savagery", depicting a naked woman holding onto a tree, gave her the inspiration to make this play. This painting was made by Layla al-Attar. Raffo was curious about the life  of Al-Attar, and in the play she placed the al-Attar character prominently. Raffo had, for ten years, interviewed Iraqi women from various social backgrounds, and she used this information to write the play. Some women were strangers to her and some were relatives. According to Raffo, "[being an Iraqi] got me in the door" but that the women were more willing to confide in her because she was also an American. In 1998 Raffo declared that she would use this concept as her Master of Fine Arts thesis. As part of the thesis, she did a 20-minute  performance at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California. The final play was created in 2003. Characters. The characters are composites of the Iraqi women Raffo had interviewed. If one actress portrays all the characters, she may wear an abaya differently each time she portrays a distinct character. There were no changes of costume in Raffo's original performance, and instead there was only a difference in how the abaya is worn. In the play Raffo used different accents to portray regional and class differences; at the time she first performed the play she did not know Arabic. The  abaya itself is also used as a prop. The women are, in order: Mulaya, Layal, Amal, Huda, the doctor, the girl, Umm Ghada, the American, and Nanna. Production. The play opened in August 2003 at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. In September of that year, it debuted off west end in the Bush Theatre. From October 2004 to May 2005, it debuted off-Broadway at the Manhattan Ensemble Theatre. Raffo and Amir ElSaffar, an Iraqi maqam musician, created a concert version. This version played at The Kennedy Center. Reception. Magda Romanska of "" wrote that there was a "general enthusiasm  for the play when it was first released. She stated that at the time of the release, There was curiosity about Iraq and Iraqis in the US, at the same time as the invasion was presented to American people as if it were meant to 'liberate' Iraq, and particularly oppressed Iraqi women." The writing of the play occurred before the 2003 Invasion of Iraq but the release happened after the invasion. In 2003 "The Independent" named this play as one of the five best plays. In regards to the 2003 performance at the Traverse Theatre, Billington wrote that "Although Raffo  is a fine actress, her transitions from one character to another are not always sharply defined. But aesthetic niggles pale beside the importance of her subject." Twair wrote that the performance in London in the September 2003 season was ranked among the best five plays in London. Bernardo gave the performance opening on October 9, 2004 an "A-". In regards to a 2004 performance in New York City, Stasio wrote "While a full-cast production might have given this incendiary material a more devastating impact, it's impossible to hear the voices of these women without wanting to line up  to sign their witness book." Stasio was referring to a scene where Umm Ghada asks the audience to sign her witness book. Damaso Reyes of the "New York Amsterdam News" wrote regarding the 2004 New York performance that ""Nine Parts" would be an amazing experience if it contained a full cast, but Ms. Raffo's solo performance makes it even more spectacular. She seamlessly shifts from one character to another and then back again to stitch together a narrative which attempts to give the audience a far deeper understanding of the world of Iraq's women than anything we have  seen before." Hirschhorn argued that the differentiation of the characters "isn’t as clear as it could be, and Raffo’s unrelentingly impassioned portrayal can grow exhausting. Some modulation and subtlety would give the audience room to respond more fully." Geraldine Brooks, the author of the book "Nine Parts of Desire", wrote that "It is resonant. It unpeels layer upon layer of the characters' lives, never reaching for the easy or simple assumptions about who or what is to blame for their predicaments."