Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

About the show

A Bengal tiger lives in 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. Two soldiers are stationed in front of the tiger's den. One soldier, Tom, teases the tiger with food. The tiger, driven by fear and hunger, bites off Tom's hand. Kev, another soldier, shoots the tiger, mortally wounding him. The tiger slowly dies. 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. Kev has seen the tiger's ghost and in turn people think he is going crazy. 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 gold-plated gun Tom was showing Kev when the tiger bit Tom's hand off was taken from the palace of the late Uday Hussein, the son of overthrown Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Tom contacted Kev after he got his hand fixed because he wants the gold gun back. He can start a new life in the United States by selling not only the gold-plated gun, but also a solid gold toilet seat that was also Uday Hussein's. However, during Kev's episode in the home in Iraq when he saw the tiger's ghost, Kev dropped the gun and it fell into the hands of Uday's former gardener, Musa. Musa is also working as a translator for the United States soldiers. Musa is visited repeatedly by Uday's ghost. This is why Kev can't give Tom the gold gun back even if he wanted to. Kev continues to see the tiger's ghost and he believes that the tiger is haunting him because of his previous actions. Kev tries to cut off his own hand to give to the tiger, believing this action will make the tiger's ghost go away. Instead, Kev ends up killing himself while trying to cut his hand off. He then ends up haunting Tom throughout the rest of the story. The rest of the play goes on with the ghosts of the dead characters haunting and talking to the characters who are still alive.