Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Synopsis

A tiger lives in the Baghdad Zoo. He tells the audience that most of the animals have fled to "freedom" because of the Iraq Invasion, only to be shot dead by soldiers. That night, United States soldiers come to guard the zoo. The tiger, driven by fear and hunger, bites off the hand of Tom, a soldier. Kev, another soldier, shoots the tiger, mortally wounding him. He dies slowly.

Kev finds himself haunted by the ghost of the tiger, who wanders about Baghdad. Due to an outburst while searching an Iraqi's home, Kev is sent to the hospital. Back in Baghdad with a prosthetic hand, Tom pays a visit to Kev less out of compassion for a broken-minded buddy than for a more practical purpose.

It is revealed that the gun Kev used to shoot the tiger was taken from the palace of the late Uday Hussein. Tom wants the gun back so he can start a new life in the United States by selling not only the gold-plated gun, but a solid gold toilet seat. During the exchange, however, the gun falls into the hands of Uday's former gardener, Musa, who is also working as a translator for the soldiers. He is visited repeatedly by Uday's ghost.

The rest of the show involves the living characters interacting with the dead ones as the war happens around them.

Productions

The play debuted at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California, directed by Moisés Kaufman. It ran from May 10, 2009, to June 7, 2009. The creative team included sets by Derek McLane, costumes by David Zinn, and lighting by David Lander. Another production ran at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles from April 14, 2010, to May 30, 2010. Kevin Tighe starred as the Tiger.

A Broadway production opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on March 31, 2011, following previews from March 11. The show played a "strictly limited" engagement until July 3, 2011. Again directed by Kaufman, the Broadway cast featured Robin Williams in the title role, with Glenn Davis as Tom, Brad Fleischer as Kev, Hrach Titizian as Uday, Sheila Vand as Hadia, Necar Zadegan as Leper, and Arian Moayed as Musa. Robyn Goodman, Kevin McCollum, and Jeffrey Seller produced this production along with the Center Theatre Group. The New York Times estimated that Bengal Tiger was expected to cost at least $3 million. The production marked Williams' final Broadway appearance and his only performance in a play on Broadway before his death in 2014. He had previously appeared on Broadway in a stand-up comedy engagement.

Bengal Tiger had its southeast regional premiere at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 11, 2012. In San Francisco the play premiered at San Francisco Playhouse in October 2013 where it received rave reviews.

Response

In reviewing the Los Angeles production, Charles Isherwood in The New York Times wrote that the Tiger "isn’t given any silly costuming, thank heavens, but simply wears tattered clothes" and saying that the show is "boldly imagined" and a "worthy finalist for the recent Pulitzer Prize".

The Broadway production received mixed to positive reviews. The Los Angeles Times called Bengal Tiger "the most original drama written about the Iraq War", but said, "Without an actor of Williams' marquee draw, 'Bengal Tiger' would likely not have made it to Broadway. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that it has . . . But I'm glad that it has found a home in the commercial theater district not only because the work will challenge mainstream theatergoers but because I think it will leave the more sensitive among them profoundly moved."

The Chicago Tribune praised the piece itself, but mentioned that Williams' performance "seems to miss much of the amoral ferocity of the beast (a tiger can be depressed or antic, but he is still a tiger). And a bigger problem yet is that Williams' Tiger is, as things go, not so much the protagonist as a sardonic observer of Baghdad ironies."