Rosie Goes to See James in NYC at the Big Apple Comic Con
“The Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”
Friday
Most people were there on time at the Richard Rogers theatre - everyone was there by 7.45 - except for Steve and James! The time was moving on and it got later and later until it was nearly 8 o’clock and we were all getting twitchy and then finally there was Steve hurrying down the street towards us. He said their cab was stuck in traffic and he had leapt out of their cab and run the 5 or so blocks to get to us. James would be there as soon as he could - apparently it was the world’s slowest taxi driver! - he already had a ticket, so Steve just fanned the rest out and said “take one” so we all just took one at random and hurried into the theatre.
All the seats apart from two were in one line about 4 rows from the back of the orchestra seating, so we were back a bit but quite high up on the tiers. As it was nearly curtain up time we all just piled into the row any old how, as we arrived, paying no attention to numbers, leaving a seat on the end - and James arrived just in time - so it was easier for him to be there rather than fighting his way into the middle. He looked fabulous in faded jeans and a long sleeved off white t shirt which clung nicely in places giving definition. His hair was still straight (Boo! Bring back the curls!) and slicked back, and he was smiling and looking very bouncy. He sat in the end seat and was saying hello to those nearest and then looked along the row at the rest of us. I leaned forward, gave him a little wave and called out “Hi James”. His face broke into a grin when he saw me and he waved back calling “Hey Rosie!” It was only really about 30 seconds of time to interact before the lights went down and the play started - the time was that tight!
Okay - so I had read reviews and a synopsis of the play beforehand and I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ride to watch. And it wasn’t. There was so much happening - a lot of symbolism and metaphor - there seemed to be metaphors for metaphors in fact! Also, there were quite a few funny one-off lines that caused a lot of laughter. There was one guy on the end of our row who was laughing really loudly and often at things that others weren’t…!
I wasn’t really sure where it was all going and at times had trouble following exactly what was going on. Robin Williams’ part was not that big actually, but very pivotal - he being the tiger of the title.
It came to the intermission and most of us were looking a little ragged when the lights came up as it was not the easiest thing to watch. James did get up and move and went up the steps to the corridor running behind the seats so we could all talk. As we walked I asked him what he would have done differently with it and he immediately threw up his hands and said “All of it! Acting, directing - everything!” and then positioned himself sitting back against the dividing wall and some of us (not everyone came out) gathered round. I ended up standing to James’s right facing him and got a brief one-armed hug as he finished answering me.
James was pissed off and not afraid to say so - loudly! Everything about it pissed him off - but he said it was Art and really great and that was his reaction to it. He declared it was the kind of play that was going to stay with him for years, like an Arthur Miller play. He was so passionate about it and so involved - furious even. He couldn’t really articulate why he was pissed off - but I think it was everything! He was loud and expansive; there was no holding back of his feelings at all. He was almost having trouble getting the words out at some points, as he tried to say what he was feeling - there were lots of hand gestures and running his hands through his hair and across his face. Someone said that they thought the writer was rather beating us about the head with what he wanted you to think - spoon feeding us the ideas, which James agreed with them ( another thing to piss him off!) he declared the writer was a bastard and he did not know what to do with it (the feelings it was giving him)
We had to hurry back as the intermission was ending - I was saying that James should go in the middle of the row this time. - He came up alongside me and put his hand on the back of my neck and was massaging it for a few seconds as we walked in down the stairs. He was speaking to me as he did and I could not tell you what he said as I was a tad distracted by that warm, firm hand! And we went back to the seats any old how and had to find them in the dark and everyone ended up sitting somewhere different!
I ended up one seat away from James this time, which meant I could slide my eyes over and watch him occasionally through the second half. Quite early on, James was provoked enough by something said on stage to call out loudly “NO!” and got shushed by surrounding audience members! He was that involved with it. And as the tension rose in the second half and got even more symbolic and metaphorical, I could hear James’s breathing from where I was. It was loud enough and long slow breaths like he was trying to keep calm rather than let go. He had his head forward in his hands at one point too, not watching - which I think was the part about the raping and murdering of the interpreters sister. Knowing how James feels about violence to women, how mad he says he gets when he sees it on TV or a film, Im not surprised he wasn’t watching and was just trying to keep himself under control. I could feel the tension coming off him even from a seat away. He was so involved in it all. He did look up again and watch after a while although I could still hear his slow, loud breaths.
We made it to the end - though it wasn’t really the end, in that there was no conclusion and no satisfactory tying up of the stories - they just kept on going, like they do in life. The applause was loud and enthusiastic for all the performers - and I can tell you that James can do a really loud piercing whistle through his fingers!
James was then talking away to those near him and didn’t seem that keen to move on until the ushers started to shoo us all out. I ended up alongside James as we walked down the stairs to the foyer and he was bouncing on his toes and still being expansive and pissed off about it all and telling me so - I got lightly showered with saliva as he exclaimed enthusiastically about it being great art! Outside the theatre, we were greeted by Steve (who hadn’t been in the theatre) and although he and Lisa wanted to get going, James of course wanted to keep on talking though they managed to extract him eventually with the promise of cheesecake! It was hugs all round and we said we would see him in the morning and we hoped he would be able to sleep after that. They went walking off down the street, James still bouncing on his toes slightly, obviously bending both Steve and Lisa’s ears about it all!
We all stayed too see the actors come out, as the stage door was right alongside the front entrance - several people got Robin Williams’s autograph and picture - I just tried to grab shots through the crowd. He was very gracious about it all, and looking good though with the big bushy beard he was sporting for his role, people could probably mistake him for a hobo!
Having negotiated a cab back to the Penn hotel for 5 of us (I would have walked but some people were wearing heels!) we wanted to get something to eat so went straight to the coffee shop in the front entrance. Right at the door, we realised just who was sitting at one of the tables with his back to us. Yup - James, with Steve and Lisa (apparently they made really good cheesecake there) Karen and I hung back, saying “Lets not go in there” when we realised and although we would have gone in and sat away from them and left James alone, it turned out they had closed anyway, so the decision was taken out of our hands. We went to the restaurant at the back of the hotel instead and ordered desserts.
I then walked back the six blocks to my hotel at nearly midnight. (It doesn’t bother me too much walking about alone in Manhattan, even at night - I feel safer there than I do in some places in England, that’s for sure.) I had to make notes about the play and what I thought ready for the morning and the post play discussion - and consequently kept on thinking of points which I had to keep writing down all through the night!
OK - so now this is my impressions and thoughts on the play. A lot of this didn’t get discussed the next morning. Some of it did, but those bits I will try and remember for the next bit of my ramble and put them in context. You can skip this if it’s not your thing and there is a good synopsis of the storyline here if you don’t know anything about it.
http://thekomisarscoop.com/2011/05/bengal-tiger-at-the-baghdad-zoo-is-a-fierce-political-statement-against-war/
I’ve since read that the play is based on fact - about the tiger anyway. He was being guarded by the soldiers in the zoo, after nearly all the other animals had been either killed or taken, and when taunted with food bit the hand off one and was shot dead by the other. It was that little news snippet that made the playwright Rajiv Joseph write a 10 minute scene based on it that then expanded into the play.
All the actors were good - particularly the two soldiers and the guy who played Uday Hussein’s ghost in such a creepy but somehow matter of fact way. And the interpreter probably had the hardest part - slipping from a peaceful man to killing, forced to do what he thought he should by the war.
There are no winners in this - no good guys. No one comes out of it well - which is probably the point - war makes people into something else entirely. The will to survive is strong and people will do what is necessary to keep themselves alive. So who is the beast here - the tiger or the humans?
The golden gun that was owned by Uday Hussein is a kind of McGuffin - it seems whoever has the gun has the power and it’s that same gun that kills pretty much everyone in the play - including the tiger. And if they aren’t killed directly by it, it’s because of it. One of the things I thought of afterwards was that the story with the gun was similar to the short story by Rudyard Kipling “The King’s Ankus” from the second Jungle Book. There it appears that the ankus (an elephant goad) is dangerous and kills all who come in contact with it. It is part of a huge forgotten hoard of treasure left underground and guarded by a cobra. Mowgli likes the feel of it, although it is not good to eat so takes it with him. But then he throws it carelessly away and on going back to look at it again, finds it gone and footprints leading away. The trail leads to a body of a man and different set of prints leading away again. These lead to another body and more footprints. Then there are 3 bodies round a fire - one stabbed and the other two poisoned. Mowgli is then convinced the ankus is indeed very dangerous as it kills who ever has it, so he takes it back to the cobra underground and leaves it there to be guarded. And of course - he is right - it does kill, because men in their greed want to own it. The golden gun was looted by one soldier and then it passes from hand to hand, corrupting those who have it. There is also the solid gold toilet seat that was looted from Uday’s palace that has been hidden for safe keeping - it’s going to recover it that that kills another. I’m sure there is a message there too - shit turns to gold and gold turns to shit. Maybe that’s the whole conclusion - war is shit. It’s pretty much what I came up with!
The tiger does what comes naturally to him - to eat or not to eat. There is no morality there; he doesn’t think about who or what he kills, he just needs to eat to survive. So is he in fact an innocent? Is man in fact the best in this as he makes a choice to act like that?
I came out of the play feeling a tad pissed off myself, but I wasn’t sure why! But although it was pissed off, at least I was feeling something - better than apathy. (I think I said as much to James going down the stairs) I have seen good, well made films that are enjoyable but don’t linger in your memory at all because it is comfortable and everything is tidy at the end. This was uncomfortable and messy and asked questions that have no answers and had no definite end. It was like a small snapshot taken out of time - life went on before and will go on after - there are no final conclusions and happy ever afters.
Now over a week later, I’ve thought about it a lot. I think I would like to see it again as I’m sure then I would see far more than on the first viewing, but I’m not sure if I’m strong enough mentally!