Baghdad, Baby! written by Dean Parker and directed by Jon Pheloung is currently playing at the Court Theatre. A humorous yet dramatic political satire, the play takes place in a cafe in occupied Baghdad. Nicolas Kyle plays a young and somewhat naïve backpacker from Napier, who has made it to Iraq in his bid to go “where Lonely planet doesn’t.” The other New Zealander frequenting the cafe is Harry Zinc (Ton Trevella) a poet turned businessman who is in Iraq to sell supplies to the US military. Zinc represents the private contractors profiting from the war. The character is a perfect example of Parkers social commentary.

Claire Dougan has perfected a New England accent for her role as Martha McCarthy, a liberal CNN war corespondent. One of the most memorable scenes has her arguing with an American soldier (Jonathan Martin). While Martha raves about the lies used to take the US to war, and the devastation the conflict has since caused, the soldier, Kilroy, speaks of his home town in Arkansas where the choice people have is join the army, or take a job in the local vinegar factory. Kilroy insinuates that liberals such as Martha have forgotten Americas own working class. The spectacularly preformed scene provokes thought along side an emotional response.

The set featured a number of televisions suspended from the ceiling that throughout the play showed a mix of both real and fictional media imagery of the war, as well as videos made by US soldiers. The show ends with Amir, the “part time” resistance fighter played by David McKenzie, becoming the otherwise unknown Iraqi shot by a car load of soldiers; bathed in a night-vision-green stage light he pleads for his life before the stage goes dark with the sound of a gun shot and the words “ok, he’s down” from the unseen soldier in the video.
Also in the cast was Cassie Baker who played excellently the role of Shirin, the owner of the cafe, also working as a prostitute for US soldiers.

Baghdad, Baby! is as topical is when it was written in 2004, some of the statistics have been brought up to date for this latest round of performances. Director Jon Pheloung described this season as “a final sign off to those years of outrage over the US debacle in Iraq, a very misguided and fatal mission.”
The play runs until September 13 and is well worth seeing if you are in Christchurch.