BABIL "MUD HOUSE" PERFORMANCE TAPS ANTI-CORRUPTION CHORD AND

UNCLAS HILLAH 000036 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KCOR SCUL PINR IZ SUBJECT: BABIL "MUD HOUSE" PERFORMANCE TAPS ANTI-CORRUPTION CHORD AND DESIRE FOR PULIC LIFE ¶1. (U) Summary: The April 24 and 25 performances by the "Mud House" troupe met with the kind of public enthusiasm associated with a World Cup match or a rock concert. The performances were the first since mid-2003 at the amphitheater on the Babylon ruins site that was constructed by Saddam Hussein. The play, entitled "Sense of Democracy" addressed the issues of civil liberties, democracy and corruption, through comedy, and the audience responded enthusiastically. End Summary. A Return of Cultural Life ¶2. (U) The "Mud House" players, a very popular troupe of Baghdad TV actors, put on its second-ever performance of "Sense of Democracy" at the long-neglected Babylon amphitheater on April ¶24. Even though advertising posters only were put up three days earlier, the April 24 performance drew an audience of approximatly 2500 persons. Provincial Council Chairman Kadum Majeed Tooman (a Sadrist) attended, as did the Deputy Governor Iskander Witwit (independent secular). Both sat together with the PRT Leader and other PRT members. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the performance, undescoring the thirst for a public cultural life that was lost in the course of the last five years, as Al-Hillah, a city of 600,000 persons, went from four movie theaters to none. ¶3. (U) Word circulated throughout the city the following day and on April 25 attendance at the performance shot to aproximately 3500 persons -- and with it the intensity of the crowd, which ranged somewhere between a world cup soccer match and a rock concert. The PRT entered the amphitheater that evening to a welcoming roar from the crowd. It was the kind of reception to which PRT members were unaccustomed but not unappreciative. Notably, nearly one dozen women at the performance were without headscarves, an act that would not have occurred less than one year ago. Young men danced before and after the performance celebrating a rare opporunity for Al-Hillah's society to come together in a cultural event without restrictions on freedom of expression. Until recently the protected ruins site on which the amphitheater is located was closed to the public. Anti-Corruption Theme Endorsed ¶4. (U) "Sense of Democracy" deals with corruption by a public official. An Iraqi Lou Costello-like actor has to navigate between an office manager, who wants to kill off rivals and offers of pay-offs, and female co-workers with romance problems. The anti-corruption theme, which was central to the plot, was reinforced prior to the April 25 performance by the newly elected Governor, who gave a brief address to the crowd before the start of the performance. In his remarks the Governor appealed for everyone to help the new provincial government combat corruption. This appeal was rounded out by the Provincial Commissioner for Public Integrity, who gave a much longer speech . . . and received less applause. Outgoing Governor Salim Saleh Mahdi Al-Muslimawi did not attend either performance, although he had earlier indicated that he would. ¶5. (U) Comment: Several Iraqis commented that the sponsorship of the performance had done more than anything else in recent years to boost the public's perception of the PRT. Governor Al-Zargani was clearly impressed with the public response to the performance and on the spot resolved to support the rehabilitation of the amphitheater to facilitate future performances. Would that combatting corruption could always be so much fun. HILLAS