The basic premise of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo prompted a profound reaction in this particular citizen of the planet, who also happens to love theatre. Rajiv Joseph has written a play addressing the cataclysmic consequences of the American invasion of Iraq and downfall of the Saddam regime. This is a topic that’s uncomfortable for many. It’s awkward for those who cheered, engineered and gleefully took part in it. It’s also a thorny subject for the millions who looked away as it unfolded and lazily enabled the horror. The former and current citizens of Iraq undoubtedly have feelings on this matter which run deeper than sporadic discomfort.
There are many whose livelihoods and sanity are invested in either keeping this topic off the table, or muddying the waters. Creative projects which portray perpetrators of war crimes as flawed heroes get the green lights and become part of popular culture. Artistic responses to the ‘War on Terror’ which are more nuanced, or critical are less welcome at the party. Rajiv Joseph centres this story on a starving, atheist tiger, caged in a city consumed by carnage. It is a brilliantly distracting device, which forces us to see the bigger picture. The Bengal Tiger is a Trojan Horse.
In Greek mythology, the deceptive ploy of colossal wooden pony allowed an army to invade the city of Troy. In this case, a philosophical cat is just another victim of war, not a conduit. We don’t know what the Trojan Horse thought, but here’s what a bony tiger, kidnapped from the jungles of South Asia might think, when trapped in a conflict in the Middle East. Unsurprisingly, he’s not happy about it.
It’s an absurd concept, but Rajiv Joseph has embraced it with dazzling skill in this mind-bending play. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo premiered on Broadway in 2009 with Oscar, Emmy and Grammy-winning Robin Williams in the role of the tiger. This current production at Young Vic cast David Threlfall as the tiger. but he fell ill in the opening week. Known to most, as Frank from Shameless, the poor man met woeful misfortune and his sickness spelled disaster.
Kathryn Hunter stepped into the tiger’s paws 24 hours before press night. The mountain that actor had to climb is almost beyond comprehension. How can you compete with a critically acclaimed and much loved deceased actor such as Robin Williams. That was Threlfall’s challenge. Hunter had to read the script from an autocue, for 2 hours and 30 minutes and not allow that handicap to become a distraction. It rested on her shoulders to rescue the show and save the rest of the cast in the process. That is a LOT.
I had no idea of the autocue’s existence until well into the second half, which is a measure of Hunter’s talent. It was an incredible performance in its own right, never mind under the circumstances. She didn’t just salvage that show. She WAS the show and nailed it with spectacular grace. In Joseph’s narrative, the caged Bengal tiger devours the hand of an American soldier and is then shot by his idiot colleague. As the tiger dies, he asks a litany of existential questions, while referencing Dante and bitching about lions. Stage blood should have been seeping through Hunter’s hands as she queried the workings of the universe. After gamely jabbing herself in the stomach to no avail, while delivering her dying monologue, she eventually pleaded, ‘And why isn’t this blood bag bursting?’
Hunter’s despairing question was addressed to God, the audience and possibly the stage manager and props department. It brought the house down. Her impromptu decision to improvise on the spot, and address the elephant in the room, while playing a tiger, who is a Trojan Horse, during a technical hitch, was a moment of hilarious genius. It might be the best thing I’ve ever seen on a stage. Give that woman all the awards.
Hunter is supported by an amazing cast. Patrick Gibson plays Tom, the soldier whose hand is eaten by the famished tiger. His character has also stolen a gun made of gold from a Hussein residence as the US military ransacked it. It’s complex and grim to behold, but Musa, the Iraqi interpreter (Ammar Haj Ahmad) is then forced to translate when Tom returns to war with a prosthetic hand and wants to be wanked off by an underage Iraqi sex worker. He needs her right hand, because he doesn’t have one, Musa’s discomfort at finding himself in a culturally offensive, ethical nightmare was handled with perfect pitch by Ahmad. He delivers a heart-breaking show of Herculean restraint and patience. Musa’s forbearance under pressure is enraging to witness. When he finally snaps, the consequences for Musa exist only in in the realms of nightmares.
In his Young Vic debut, newcomer Sayyid Aki is a jaw dropping sensation as the ghost of Uday Hussein. Essentially, he’s a pantomime villain, revelling in unparalleled excellence at torture and cruelty. It is a satirical masterpiece. Aki hands the audience comic relief, while escalating the revelations of his crimes. Eventually, one has to stop laughing. Uday Hussein was real. His evil is well documented. The question we failed to notice, until it was far too late is, ‘What’s so funny about rape and torture?’
The young woman sat next to me, reviewing the show for an Arab publication, also happened to be Iraqi. I’m certain her response to this multi-layered scenario was a tad more nuanced than mine. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo isn’t just a provocative and formidable text. Director Omar Elerian and a flawless cast have produced a show that is an entertaining assault on the psyche. The fact that this experience stems from an inescapable chaos of pain is also a howling hunt for humanity’s soul. The Greeks, not only invented theatre, but perfected this dramatic concept a few thousand years ago. Sophocles and Euripides threw down a gauntlet. Rajiv Joseph picked it up and ran with it. That’s not hyperbole, it’s the truth, and this play is not catharsis, it’s a mirror. Go look in it and see if you can find your soul.
Bengal Tiger is at Young Vic until January 31, 2026 – https://www.youngvic.org/
Reviewer: Stewart Who?
Reviewed: 10th December 2025
North West End UK Rating: