Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

by Rajiv Joseph

The lives of two American Marines and an Iraqi translator are forever changed by an encounter with a quick-witted tiger who haunts the streets of war-torn Baghdad attempting to find meaning, forgiveness and redemption amidst the city's ruins. Rajiv Joseph's groundbreaking new American play explores both the power and the perils of human nature.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, School, War, Fiction, Read For School

71 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

tiger ghost > hamlet's dead dad

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by actual events during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is the ripple effect in action: a play about how one brief moment affects multiple lives.

In comparing dramas dealing with the Iraq War, I’d give a slight edge to Christopher Shinn’s Dying City, but Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is no theatrical slouch. Ghosts, topiary, golden guns – all of these small irreverent details add wonderful atmosphere while never overpowering the plot. Given the modern tendency to let quirky too often overpower storytelling, Bengal Tiger is a nice change. The play poses some interesting questions and Mr. Joseph knew when answers to those questions were needed – and when the audience should be left wondering. Recommended.

[Emma Getz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Haunting and true representation of war and its consequences without showing any actual scenes of war. Warning the dangers of American war and imperialism.

[Abiman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe better in show? Didn’t do it for me 😬

[zz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would have been better to have died young. I am an old ghost!

[Prospero · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We are fellow mastodons in the tar-pit of the afterlife."

Just watched a live performance in Toronto. Solid play.

[Lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not to expect to like this play so freaking much. It's hilarious, but also very tragic. It's my favorite kind of work. Is there a recorded version when Robin Williams was the Tiger in this? This play deals with a lot that I cannot wait to explore in our production. I'm particularly interested how we stage the scenes where Arabic is used. It's just magical.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so frustrating to not be able to immediately watch the best possible iteration of this play on demand right after finishing it. That's how good it is. Dammit, I wanna watch it.

[Will Schmitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play was a really good one overall. My only reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 was for a little bit of an underwhelming ending. I LOVED the first act and felt it was setting up things really nicely. The second act didn’t really follow all that was set up and so I didn’t care for act two as much.
That being said I still really enjoyed it. I felt like the dialogue had a super nice flow that was really fun to read along to. The characters were really unique and interesting. They had a complexity to them that was fun to witness. I thought Kev in the first act was just like Sam Rockwell’s character in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I also thought it was so cool that Robin Williams originated the role of the tiger! I appreciated the use of Arabic within the play and put some thought into the note at the beginning of the play that said the audience wouldn’t watch those parts with subtitles. Overall, a fascinating play.

[Steven Owad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Owad’s Micro-Review #70

A brilliant play about the human cost of the Iraq war. Shortly after Saddam Hussein disappears into hiding, we meet a tiger in the zoo who’s probably about to be eaten by locals. There’s also the ghost of Saddam’s recently killed son Uday, who sadistically terrorizes his own people, and there are his victims and fresh-faced U.S. soldiers, none of whom care about politics or victory. There are bigger issues at play, like surviving, staying sane, and maybe making a dollar out of this insanity. The tiger (Robin Williams) gets top billing as a likeable seeker of the meaning of life, but the real star is the pervading sense of “How in the hell can people hurt each other like this?” This is a brisk, heart-rending story and a very readable script. Nov. 18, 2021

[Lexie Strohschein · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most religious yet anti religious play ive ever read. Amidst the chaos of a crumbling world around them, as an audience member you are condemned to feel something and believe in something. Throughout the play multiple historical figures such as satan and Jesus are referred yet the play ends on a particularly sour note of religion. I could dive into each scene and each phrase to find a pro and a con for either side. But yet even with a more disappointing end, I was still called to believe in the good and maybe that in casing fact is the whole point.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure Rajiv Joseph had a point in writing this play, but damned if I can find it. Gold plated guns and toilet seats, characters getting killed and becoming ghosts for no apparent reason, and a lot of musing about topiary and blaming God for how He chose to make us. Maybe this is philosophical depth to some, but I found it a boring waste of time. As an actor, I would find playing any one of these characters a study in two-dimensiality.

[Jordan Muschler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I liked this more, as I think the play has a great subject and an interesting approach, but I found the ghost approach predictable after a while and I wish they did more with the concept of the tiger being played by a human. Sure the humor would be a lot more apparent with actors portraying it, but it was not enough to overcome shortcomings in the writing and an overextension of the characters and themes - I stopped caring after a while.

[Nick Olwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very meta play that has its moments. Parts are in Arabic, which could be good for some scenes, leaving the audience in mystery of what’s being said, but others it might get confusing/annoying if it’s at the end. Overall very average script with an ending that strives to be great, but kinda falls short in the end.

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

چقدر دلم می‌خواست می‌‌توانستم اجرای زنده‌ی رابین ویلیامز در نقش ببر را روی صحنه ببینم
این متن در کنار در انتظار گودو، تنها نمایشنامه‌هایی هستند که او طی دوران بازیگری‌ حرفه‌ای‌اش بازی کرده
و این دلیل اصلی‌ام بود برای خواندن این متن، با اینکه قبلا دو نمایشنامه دیگر هم از راجیو جوزف خوانده بودم و می‌دانستم که نمایشنامه‌نویس قابلی‌ست

همچنان اما به نظرم بهترین اثر او زخم‌های عمیق زمین بازی‌ست

[Zachary Pareizs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is such a serve. There's a lot here; it's probably one of the most intense plays ever. There's an ache at the center of the play; a bitter, sore bruise that you can't keep from pressing on.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written play that I'd imagine would be excellent with the right actors. A little tough to get through on the page, especially because the characters are all so unlikeable. I'm very interested in reading other plays by this playwright!

[David Records · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and unique, darkest of comedies. Didn’t know until the second act that Robin Williams played the tiger during the Broadway run. Cannot find a copy anywhere to watch but apparently the NYC public library has a copy…

[bananagoy1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is a phenomenal play that deserves a lot more praise than it got in my opinion.

It is something that is phenomenal. Something that inspires my own writing and something so emotional yet funny in its own gripping and powerful form.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play does a lot of things really well - the idea of how the author handles the afterlife is really fascinating. There were certain things about this play that had me laughing, but in a what the fuck kind of way. Overall it was a nice read and I’d recommend it.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[jaylynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, so, so needed

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this play on Broadway starring Robin Williams. He was fantastic and it was great to read it again after all those years.

[Himali Kothari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Baghdad during the Iraq War, it provides an excellent insight into the workings of the human mind.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Distills the folly of the Iraq war, and American Exceptionalism broadly, quite well.

[Anna Noden · Rating 4 out of 5]

So dark and heavy. It made me think and made me sad.

[Laura Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very brutal look at PTSD and war. Not for the faint of heart.

[Shehryar Qazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

spellbinding

[Eliana Lazzara · Rating 4 out of 5]

raviv joseph writes, i read. simple as that.

[Andy Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

F***ing brilliant.