About a month ago, CNN began running a series of clips showing self-proclaimed Islamic State militants destroying Middle Eastern artifacts. While their motives remain unclear, it does point to an unsettling idea that significant pieces of history are lost or destroyed in times of civil unrest.
Michele Lowe’s 2009 play ‘Inana’ makes its Midwestern premiere at TimeLine Theatre. ‘Inana’ centers itself around an Iraqi museum curator Yasin (Demetrios Troy) and his recent bride Shali (Atra Asdou). Yasin is in love with a statue named Inana and fears that with the impending U.S. Invasion of Baghdad, she will end up in the wrong hands. His fanatic obsession leads him to an arranged marriage with Shali, who despite her servile disposition is smarter than she seems.
Director Kimberly Senior arranges her stage in a way that compliments Lowe’s non-linear script. While the present-tense action of the play takes place in a London hotel room – a series of past events are revealed in vignettes that lead us to a final revelation.
TimeLine has assembled a talented cast of Chicago actors, but it’s really Atra Asdou in the role of Shali on which this show hinges. Asdou is a gifted reactionary actress, every little offense Yasin commits registers on her face, and a single tear hangs in her eyes throughout the show. In many aspects Asdou and Troy’s interaction begins as a comedy of errors, but ends a bittersweet love story. Some explosive dialogue builds in between and the chemistry is thrilling.
The political slant in Lowe’s 90-minute play preaches to a choir whose opinion is now the majority in the U.S. “Operation: Iraqi Freedom” is widely regarded as a debacle these days. This play goes back in time to show us a view from the other side of the lines. We sympathize with a people who knew no other world than Saddam’s regime, people who were actually content with what was. Considering today’s disturbing post-war Middle Eastern climate; a crumbled Syria, and the volatile Iraqi infrastructure, it’s hard not to see the parallels between a sacred statue being guarded from corrupt hands and that of a region destroyed by global machismo.
Through July 26th at TimeLine Theatre – 615 W Wellington Ave. 773-281-8463
