Desire at what cost

Nine Iraqi women belonging to different classes of society, living in different parts of the world are affected by one common tragedy – war, Saddam Hussain, Bush and the aftermath. Ira Dubey plays the nine women whose desire to live helps them survive the tragedy, but at what cost?

‘9 Parts of Desire’, a monologue by Ira Dubey, was the first play featured in the ongoing annual Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. The play was an off-Broadway hit, originally written by Header Raffo and has been directed by Lillete Dubey from Mumbai. The story revolves around the lives of nine Iraqi women from different parts of the society with diverse philosophy, occupation and age. Though their lives are different, so are their belief systems. The common thread that unites them is the backdrop of first and second Gulf War.

The original play was a result of 12 years of research by playwright Header, who is an Iraqi-American. Every person has an in-depth character and has been described in a complex yet impactful manner. The characters express their view on the rule of Saddam Hussain and the role of America in the Gulf Wars at Iraq and how common people and the think tanks of the society are affected by it.

Fictional characters based on real-life experiences of Iraqi women were brought alive on stage; the powerful script ensured that fiction and reality were blurred. Not only that, the script has been developed in such a way that the play focused on the universal effect of a war that changes the course of a human life. Even though the protagonist didn’t experience a war like situation, she ensured that the audience ended up relating to those nine characters from Iraq.

The stage design, light and choreography complimented the powerful performance and the background music of the play. The use of ‘Azaan’ and Arabian songs, set the mood of the story. The flow of the story continued with other women’s stories- a pregnant doctor who is also a survivor of breast cancer; a communist who was in jail during war; a teenager who promised to study as she wanted to prove her father was kidnapped during war and that she was not ‘stupid’; an Iraqi girl who lived in America for studies who lost her aunt due to the war in Iraq and so on.

As Ira Dubey played all the characters of the play, her impactful performance left the audience spell-bound at the end of play. Since the play was in English and characters belonged to different countries like London, America and Iraq, Ira switched to different accents and made those characters convincing on stage with her body-language and expression. Though we have seen Ira with a glamorous look in Bollywood movie ‘Aisha’, after viewing her performance on stage, one can easily come to the conclusion, that Indian film industry is yet to explore her talent.