Noah Wagner (Tiger), Lee Samuel Tanng (Tom), and Jeff Rolle Jr. (Kev). Photos by Michael Hardy Photography.

What will become of us when we die?

If we live a religious or pious life and/or die a righteous death, do we leave the world behind in peace or do our ties to this place and the people who remain here make the leaving of this world more complicated?

These are questions that will likely never be answered, at least not in any sort of scientific manner, but the ambiguity of life and death lies at the very center of Rajiv Joseph’s seminal play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, currently in a streamlined and impacting production at Long Beach Playhouse’s Studio Theater.

Premiering in Los Angeles back in 2009 before moving onto Broadway in a production starring the late Robin Williams in 2011, Bengal Tiger has stood up to a fair amount of praise and cynicism in the five years since its initial incarnation. This is understandable.

The play is set in Baghdad shortly after the American invasion of Iraq and not only focuses on the ambiguities of life and death but also on the subjects of war, greed, corruption, torture and religion. Oh, there is also a talking tiger who is an atheist (and through most of the play, a ghost), a severed head used as a puppet, a leper with a first aid kit and a coveted golden toilet seat that was stolen from Saddam Hussein’s home.

If all of this sounds bleak or bizarre, it is, but Bengal Tiger is also topical, audacious, and often times, incredibly funny. It is also, if you couldn’t tell from the list above, sometimes surreal and fantastically theatrical in its storytelling, something that both elevates and challenges its own themes and intentions. Ultimately, it is Bengal Tiger’s flights of fancy and unusual theatricality that make it such a singular and energizing play to watch.

The play opens at a zoo in Baghdad where two American soldiers watch over a tiger in its cage. The tiger speaks directly to the audience, telling them that he is originally from Bengal and was transported to the zoo in Baghdad while he was unconscious. The themes of displacement that come up in the tiger’s early monologues are a re-occurring theme throughout the play.

As the two soldiers keep watch, Tom teases the tiger until it snaps and chews off Tom’s hand. Kev, the other soldier, panics and shoots the tiger. The tiger dies from the gunshot wounds but goes on to haunt Kev and express a series of existential quandaries as to why he remains alive in his afterlife.

Angel Correa (Uday), Bradley Roa II (Musa). Above, left: Noah Wagner (Tiger).

This same curiosity fills the afterlives of all of Bengal Tiger’s deceased. There are just as many characters who are technically alive in this play as there are those who are dead. No one in Bengal Tiger stays dead, and just because someone here is killed doesn’t mean they go away. Bengal Tiger’s Baghdad is one that is literally crawling with ghosts. The regrets and brutal actions of all the play’s characters hang round their killers like flies do a corpse.

This all would be rather depressing if Joseph wrote the play without a keen sense of irony and humor. Luckily, Bengal Tiger has both and The Long Beach Playhouse has mounted a strong production of this play all around.

Both of the U.S. Soldiers, Lee Samuel Tanng as Tom and Jeff Rolle Jr. as Kev, turn in fine performances, though Jeff Rolle Jr.’s Kev shows more dimension. Rolle Jr’s Kev turns from brash and arrogant to tortured and back to boyish on a dime and pulls your heart strings right along with it. Lee Samuel Tanng’s Tom is intense and tortured from his second scene on, but rarely does he get the opportunity to show much more than desperation. Still, he turns in a fine performance.

As the English translator and topiary gardener Musa, Bradley Roa II is heartbreaking and thoroughly engaging. His accent is also spot on as is the rest of the cast who were all trained to great effect by Dramaturge and Dialect Coach Ahmed Baagil.

Bradley Roa II (Musa), Caitlyn Cappadona (Hadira) and Angel Correa (Uday).

As Saddam Hussein’s deceased son, Uday, Angel Correa is at equal turns hilarious and blood chilling. Though I couldn’t quite say that he makes us sympathize with his character (such a task I’m pretty sure is impossible), he fills the character in so thoroughly with each eye shift, lip curl and finger movement, that if I were to bump into him in the parking lot afterwords, I’d likely have a hard time separating the actor from character. Correa makes incredibly strong choices all around. His is a beautiful car wreck of a performance.

Lastly, Noah Wagner plays the Tiger, and while filling someone as famous as Mr. Williams’ shoes is no easy task, Mr. Wagner breezes through the role without any backward glancing. He is witty, profound and hard to shake in all the right ways and his timing is invaluable.

Director Robert Craig is the most consistent and valuable director working for The Long Beach Playhouse and his production of Bengal Tiger only furthers that reputation. While there is nothing elaborate or incredibly unique about the theatrical choices that are displayed by this production, there is an undeniable through line and consistency to his interpretation of Joseph’s play. Even the transitions between each scene help to further the plot and keep the audience’s attention. In a play with so many flights of fancy and so much going on at all times, keeping the actors all within the same world and keeping the audience’s focus is no easy task. Craig manages all of this and then some.

Aside from a terribly misguided choice of projections for the topiary trees in Uday Hussein’s garden, there are really no glaring mistakes to be had. All other technical elements including costumes, sound, lighting and the set all do their job to bring the play to life. The sound design (Sean Gray) especially proves atmospheric and alive.

Though the work I’ve seen over the years at the Playhouse can greatly range in its professionalism and all around success, it is almost always when the Playhouse goes for broke and at its most audacious that their productions are the most theatrical and satisfying. Bengal Tiger falls very much into the line of satisfying productions that I’ve seen at the Playhouse. If you see it, it is more than likely to haunt you just as its characters do each other.