9 Parts Of Desire Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...this is a highly absorbing 90 minutes with equal parts intellectual heft and raw human compassion for a nation’s women caught on the edges of a long and agonizing war."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Directed with clarity and precision by Joanna Settle, Raffo's poetic yet unflinching piece provides unforgettable snapshots of women brutalized by both the Hussein years and the numbing chaos of the current war."

Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...One benefit of Next Theatre Company's joint presentation with the Museum of Contemporary Art of 9 Parts of Desire is that it allows more people to see it in a larger space. Director Joanna Settle and her designers showcase Raffo's amazing performance with Antje Ellermann's set that suggests both destruction and renewal, while the aural jolts of bombs are courtesy of sound designers Obadiah Eaves and Andre Pluess."

Copley News Service - Recommended

"...Raffo’s versatility is an obvious positive in the play. She can shift characters in a split second, but we are still conscious that it is Raffo on stage, displaying her gallery of women with their mix of bravery and endurance. The play is no facile exercise in the triumph of the human spirit. These women face hardship and danger and heartbreak every day of their lives, a condition unimaginable to the audiences watching the play in this country. They are survivors, not heroines."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...Raffo gives a very impressive performance, transforming herself physically and vocally with precision, though emotionally she sometimes seems to be pushing. The play itself is well-structured, inasmuch as the intercutting of the women’s stories reinforces both their commonalities and their contradictions, but her effort to whip the distinct stories into a communal climax feels artificial."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...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."