The characters are composites of the Iraqi women Raffo had interviewed. There were no changes of costume in Raffo's original performance, and instead there was only a difference in how the abaya is worn. In the play Raffo used different accents to portray regional and class differences; at the time she first performed the play she did not know Arabic. "Mulaya" is the traditional name of a woman hired at funerals. She had been forced into having sexual relations with Saddam's sons. The end of the play reveals that Layal has been killed in a bombing by American missile. She is based on an Iraqi artist,
Layla Attar, who died in 1993 after her house was bombed by American missile. Billington wrote that even though Layal is "apparently compromised by her complicity with Saddam's regime" she "defends herself vigorously and, through her painting, brings to life a wide range of oppressed Iraqi women". She discovers that her husband is having sexual intercourse with her best friend. • Lauren Sandler of
The New York Times wrote that Amal "confesses heartbreak and desire in a monologue that sounds more
HBO than how some audiences might perceive women in the Middle East." Before she left Iraq, she was a member of a political party opposed to the
Ba'th Party, and therefore becoming imprisoned for a period. After leaving Iraq, she was involved in many political causes. Romanska wrote that Huda "left Iraq a long time ago, and by now should have adjusted to her new life, but Huda lives in her past, reliving traumatic memories from the old country." She has ambivalent feelings about the
2003 invasion of Iraq. Even though she is opposed to U.S. imperialism, she has a strong hatred of Saddam Hussein. She had treated various injuries related to war. including newborn babies with mutations. Her name is not stated and she is referred to as "The Doctor". The girl describes the death of her grandparents; they were unwilling to answer the door and did not speak English, and a tank killed them afterwards. The name "Ghada" also means "tomorrow" and the character states "so I am Umm Ghada, Mother of Tomorrow. My full name is dead with them." Umm Ghada makes it her singular life mission to tell the world what had happened, and Romanska states that this reaction is typical of trauma survivors; Romanska added that "Her life never returns to normal, as she is unable to function outside of the shelter", Umm Ghada is based on a real person. • Twair argues she is "[p]erhaps the most tragic" character. •
The American - Un-named, has family in Iraq, and watches the news of the war there. Pat McDonnell Twair of
The Middle East wrote that the character "may even be Raffo herself". Romanska refers to her as the "
alter ego" of Raffo. •
Nanna - An elderly street peddler who had lived through Iraq's political turmoil, she sells objects salvaged from destroyed structures to U.S. Marines. The final item she attempts to sell is
Savagery, a painting by Layal. The play indicates in this way that Layal is now dead. Marilyn Stasio of
Variety describes her as a "
Mother Courage-like figure". ==Production==