The Denver Post

By JOHN MOORE | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: January 23, 2009 at 9:46 a.m. | UPDATED: May 7, 2016 at 1:16 a.m.

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama offered a new relationship with the Muslim world, hoping to assure millions that “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and respect.”

Interest and respect come only from understanding, which is what makes the Denver Center Theatre Company’s commissioned world-premiere production of “Inana” such an elucidating and welcome small step forward. By introducing us to human and complex Iraqi characters, as opposed to road-side bombers, Michele Lowe’s play wants to smooth the border that separates our nations like a line of sand in the desert.

The DCTC has made great strides in bringing women and underrepresented cultures to its stages, most relevant to Denver audiences being Latino tales like “Lydia.” But while there are only 15,000 Muslims in Denver, there is no culture in the world we need to more fully understand (and de-demonize) right now.

“Inana” continues a dialogue that began with Jason Grote’s “1001.”

But “Inana” is not at all a “Muslim” play. It’s a human story. A political thriller. An epic struggle to preserve a culture. A mystery. A ghost story. Primarily, and most surprisingly, it’s a love story between strangers who eventually morph into a connected whole.

Lowe introduces us to an arranged Iraqi couple on their wedding night in London. Darius (Piter Marek) is an art curator dedicated to saving ancient artifacts from the cradle of civilization just before the American invasion in 2003. His timid bride, Shali (Mahira Kakkar), is sequestered in the bathroom. As Darius coaxes her to emerge, she strikes a sad, elegant and still pose — like a living museum piece.

Their courtship, in effect, starts here; a process that’s interrupted whenever either briefly steps out of the hotel room and back into Iraq, allowing us to see the key moments that brought them here. For example, we see Shali interact with a sister, and, in a powerful subplot, we meet a heroic bookseller-turned- smuggler (Laith Nakli) trying to move thousands of priceless books out of the country at his great peril.

Slowly the play reveals answers to the questions it raises, such as: Why did Darius marry when he so clearly wanted to remain single? Why has he not told Shali they will never return to Iraq? What’s in the suitcase under the bed? Why has she lied to him about her age? Our most poignant answer comes when we learn why Shali has been so reluctant to remove her coat.

It’s a smartly written, quickly paced tale rife with layered metaphors centered on a fictional, 3,000-year-old, onearmed statue called Inana, based on the real, ancient Sumerian goddess of fertility and warfare. Inana is thought to be the greatest statue in Iraq, and Darius must secure her safety before the museums are inevitably plundered. But the Americans are not the only threats to Iraqi culture. Long before the invasion, suggestive books were banned, and any work of art depicting nudity or a living thing was targeted by Saddam Hussein for destruction.

Shali is, in many ways, her own Inana. Her sad story reveals gender-based atrocities akin to those brought to light in Heather Raffo’s “9 Parts of Desire”: An Iraqi woman who unintentionally arouses a man’s primal lust, or one who has her own ideas, is in danger of gross retribution.

The Denver Center’s intimate staging at the Ricketson Theatre is not yet quite as transporting as “1001” or “Lydia,” perhaps because its zigzagging creates awkward transitions that leave one actor back in the hotel room frozen like, well, Inana. Also because, despite its intriguing uses of lights, scrims and music, the play is comparatively grounded in theatrical realism. Mostly because the ending twist comes so abruptly that it’s not yet fully convincing on an emotional level. But one of the great joys of the Denver Center’s new-play development program is that, if they so choose, these offerings can be considered works in progress.

Still, “Inana” is a quick and engaging tale that allows us to consider our “enemy” in new and more humane ways. To consider the infuriating plight of Middle Eastern women. To reflect on the unconscionable desecration of a country’s sacred heritage, severed into pieces like so many body parts. All while escaping into an unlikely but eventually sweet romance.

A telling exchange comes when the naive Shali asks of her husband why Americans so fear the Iraqis. Told Iraqis are seen as a threat to the world, she responds poignantly, “They give us too much credit.”

“Inana” *** (out of four stars)

Iraqi love story. Presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company at the Ricketson Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. Directed by Michael Pressman. Through Feb. 28. 1 hour, 50 minutes. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. $25-$51. 303-893-4100 (800-6411222 outside Denver), all King Soopers or
denvercenter.org.