Noura

C

The program at Playwrights Horizons indicates that Heather Raffo’s (9 Parts of Desire) play about five Iraqi immigrants in New York was inspired by Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. My advice is to forget that fact because the connections between the two plays are tenuous at best. The titular character, performed by the playwright , is a woman approaching 40, an architect back in Mosul, who was uprooted with her husband and son eight years ago by ISIS. As a fair-skinned Christian, she had relatively little difficulty emigrating to the U.S. Her husband Tareq, now known as Tim (Nabil Elouahabi), was a surgeon back in Iraq but had to work in a fast-food restaurant when they arrived in New York. Their highly assimilated son Yazen, now Alex (Liam Campora; Marvin's Room), is mostly interested in video games. Rafa’a (Matthew David; Glamping), a Muslim obstetrician who emigrated several years before them, has been a friend of Noura’s since childhood and is a frequent visitor. As she prepares to celebrate their first Christmas as U.S. citizens, Noura is excited by the prospect of finally meeting Maryam (Dahlia Azama; Veil'd), a 26-year old orphan rescued from a convent bombed by ISIS, whom Noura has been sponsoring. Christmas dinner does not go well. Maryam is definitely not the deferential young woman Noura was expecting. She has already made an important life choice that her hosts find unacceptable and resents the mold they are trying to force her into. The play’s most grounded character, the likable Rafa’a, reveals a secret that he has kept hidden for many years. Tareq confesses to feelings about his wife that he has never admitted to her. Finally, Noura reveals her own shattering secret, one she has hidden for over a quarter century. There are many important issues raised by the play — the difficulties faced by immigrants, conflicting feelings about honoring a past that is forever gone while adjusting to a new life, dealing with nightmare memories of war. finding a balance between community and individualism, and facing the corrosive effects of tribalism, both in Iraq and in the U.S. Some of these are better worked into the fabric of the play than others. I am sorry that the author felt the need to add some melodrama to the mix. I was also troubled by the 180-degree personality change by one of the characters. The actors are good, especially Mr. David. Andrew Lieberman’s (The Glass Menagerie) set, while quite attractive, made little sense to me. Would a woman who can’t muster the commitment to buy a sofa install a massive brick room divider in her apartment? Tilly Grimes’s (The Thanksgiving Play) costumes suit each character well. Joanna Settle’s (9 Parts of Desire) direction is unobtrusive except that I was puzzled by scenes when Noura steps outside for an illicit smoke and we very faintly hear her thoughts. It is a play that, for me at least, did not live up to its ambitions. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.