A Bengal Tiger At the Baghdad Zoo

Some productions have a more difficult gestation than others, and it would appear Playlovers' A Bengal Tiger At the Baghdad Zoo pregnancy and labour were more fraught than most. Directed by debut director Andre Victor, it is very powerfully acted and the excellent performances make up for any shortfalls in production dressing.

Very simply staged — in a very minimalist style — which may be more accident than design, the lack of decoration has the advantage of throwing more emphasis on the actors.

Katie Toner is fascinating as the title character. Her Tiger is intelligent and cynical and she gives her performance great flair.

Soldiers Tom and Kev are played with great contrast by Cameron Leese and Jaxon George in very convincing performances.

Sam Barnett gives a lot of credence to the role of Uday Hussein, while Sandy De Witt and Natalie Cox are excellent as characters whose dialogue is completely in Arabic. Natalie doubles as Hadia in a very different and beautifully measured performance.

Huge credit must go to Mona Afshar, who was previously Arabic language coach and the sound operator for this production, and who took on the role of Musa at only a day's notice. Mona's barely rehearsed performance in a male, major role was simply amazing, and though unsurprisingly she carried a script on opening night, it was infrequently used and barely noticeable. Mona Afshar is an actress to watch.

Lighting, designed by John Woolrych and operated by Joshua Harris, worked hard to overcome the deficit of set and was sympathetic and well structured. I later realised, that with the sound operator on stage, they were also handling the sound — unpractised but precise.

Congratulations to those who persevered with this production. It was a thoughtful and moving story that was well worth bringing to the stage. It is also well worth seeing.

Kimberley Shaw