Friday, April 8, 2011

Theater Review: A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams

 Photo Caption (l-r): Robin Williams, Brad Fleischer and Glenn Davis. Photo: Carol Rosegg.
What We Have Here, Is a Failure to Communicate
By Lauren Yarger
It’s a beautiful topiary garden, with plants and animals lovingly sculpted by a creator in whom hope springs eternal. Or it is an Eden gone bad, destroyed by man’s greed, lust and stupidity and overseen by a cruel and uncaring creator.

The scene (designed by Derek McLane) is 2003 Baghdad in Rajiv Joseph’s Pulitzer-Prize nominated play A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo starring Robin Williams in its Broadway premiere, but its message isn’t exactly clear.

Whether we’re witnessing the characters’ lack of ability to understand each other, their futile attempts to talk with God or the playwright’s own inability to get his message across, despite a lot of repetative dialogue, one thing becomes very clear: we have a big failure to communicate here.

Let’s start with the Tiger, played by a burly-bearded Williams. He’s hungry, but the stupid American Marines, Tom (Glenn Davis) and Kev (Brad Fleisher). on patrol in the zoo just taunt him while Tom shares stories of how he looted a toilet seat and a pistol, both made of gold, when he was part of the squad that raided the palace and killed the two sons of Saddam Hussein. He’s going to cash in and live easy when he goes back stateside.

The Tiger finally decides to use a communication technique that will get noticed: he bites off Tom’s hand. Kev shoots the Tiger and for the rest of the play, the animal wanders around the streets in a sort of purgatory pondering the meaning of life and wondering whether he had been wrong to be an atheist. For tigers, heaven and hell simply mean hungry or not hungry, he says.

But what if he was wrong? He had eaten two children, he admits, but he had thought the act was driven by primordial urge rather than cruelty. The regret he now feels brings a need for atonement. He tries to communicate with God by screaming and cursing and demanding to know where he is, but receives no answer. (My guess? God has earplugs in to tune out the bombardment of “F” and other curse words and strong sexual language that dominate the play’s dialogue throughout.)

The Tiger haunts Kev, who loses the gun in a night raid where he is unable to communicate with the Iraqis he’s interrogating (multiple roles are played by Necar Zadegan, Hrach Titizian and Sheila Vand throughout the play). The prolonged scene in which the family screams in Arabic at each other and at Kev is meant to show us how frightening and difficult relations are when we are unable to communicate. What it really does, however, is annoy.

Not much help bridging the communication gap is Musa (Arian Moayed), the creator of the once-beautiful topiary garden at the Husseins' palace, now employed by the US Military as an interpreter. He is haunted by his former boss, Uday Hussein (in a spot-on repulsive portrayal by Titizian), who carries the severed head of his brother.

Uday gloats about raping and torturing Musa’s little sister, whom the gardener had brought to the palace to admire his artistic creations.

Musa, urgently tries to communicate that he’s an artist, not a terrorist, even though he decides to trade the gold pistol for arms and kills Tom, leaving him where, you guessed it, he in purgatory/hell/or whatever this is supposed to be .

At one point the Tiger quips that he knows Dante. Of course he does, I thought not too long after. We’re sitting in one of the rings of hell right now waiting for something – anything positive– to happen in this play. But like those who enter the gate, we are forced to abandon all hope, just like all of these really, totally, unbelievably unlikable characters have.

And I so wanted to like the Tiger. Williams, whose name on the marquis is the primary reason the play has landed on Broadway (though I don’t have a clue how it ended up a Pulitzer finalist), executes the role adequately, but he hardly gets a chance to show what he can do. Director Moises Kaufman keeps him chained. Williams doesn’t sound or move like a tiger. In fact, if the characters didn’t tell us, in between many “F” words, that he was a tiger, we might not know and assume him to be a metaphor for the Iraqi people. Then again, in this play, maybe be is. I'm not sure. While I didn’t expect to see Williams’ trademark humor or improv skills, given the subject matter, allowing this talented actor to imbue the animal with some more personality would have been welcome.

One woman at intermission worriedly asked her companion, “What is this supposed to be? What is he supposed to represent?” She wasn’t alone with her questions. A number of people left either during the show or at intermission (the large number of school children apparently on class trips stayed, however, making me glad that the days of my going to the school and questioning why, of all the wonderful, educational shows on Broadway, they would choose this one, are over since my kids are grown).

Politically correct, the school officials would, no doubt, tell me it’s necessary for children to be broadminded in their approach to different cultures, to question America’s involvement in war, to entertain different thoughts about the afterlife. But is that what this play communicates? I’m not so sure.

The message I came away with was that man is driven by greed, stupidity and lust, that we are in control of our own fate and that eventually we will mess everything up because we’re driven by lust, stupidity and greed. And, by the way, there is no God who can help us out of the cycle whether we’re an innocent child or a vicious tiger.

I just didn't like wallowing around in that depressing message for two hours, however, because I know it’s not completely true. There are many caring people who reach out to and welcome those who are different. There also are a lot of brave – and smart – American soldiers serving in Iraq.

And lastly, there is a way out. The playwright’s story is an old one. It’s found in the fall of man in the bible. Cheer up, though. God does exist and has a plan so we don’t have to stay trapped hopeless in the fallen garden. The happy ending is called the Gospel.

Begal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo plays through July 3 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 West 46th St., NYC. For tickets, call 212-307-4100 or 800-755-4000.

Christians might also like to know:
  • Violence and blood (with some of the coolest special effects for blood I have seen, though)
  • Sexual dialogue
  • Sexual activity
  • Lord's name taken in vain

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2022 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

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I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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