Tehran – Tehran’s Iranshall Theatre Complex will be holding Rajiv Joseph’s “Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo” from September 29th.
Nader Fallah directed and produced the 80-minute play, with the cast including Ramin Sayardashti, Alireza Akhavan, Hamed Faal, Saeid Yaghoubi, Mostafa Kheirolahi and others.
The film was inspired by a real-life incident at Baghdad Zoo in 2003 when a drunk American soldier shot a tiger.
Amidst the chaos of the 2003 US occupation of Iraq, Rajiv Joseph’s groundbreaking play reveals both the power and danger of human nature.
In the play, the lives of two American Marines and Iraqi translators are forever changed by their encounters with witty tigers who haunt the war-torn city of Baghdad and try to find meaning, forgiveness and red within the ruins of the city. When he witnesses the inexplicable absurdity of war, Tiger meets Americans and Iraqis looking for a toilet seat made of friendship, red and gold.
In borrowing this absurd situation, the play deeply depicts the madness, hatred and passion that was created by the Iraq War. By making a leap from reality to the world of fiction, it sheds light on reality, and in doing so the breadth of display is part of its appeal.
Rajiv Joseph, 51, is an American playwright. He was named a finalist in the drama of the 2010 drama “Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo” and won the OBIE Award for Best New American Play in his play “Decond the Night.”
The play will remain on stage at the Iranshire Theatre in the Artist Park on North Musabi Street on Talekani Street until October 31st.
SS/SAB