BAGHDAD, May 4: Iraqi actors who once performed underground made their debut Sunday at what is left of the national theatre to put on a play indicting both Saddam Hussein and the war that ousted him.

Entitled They Passed Through There, the piece is a one-hour portrayal of Iraqis, civilians and soldiers, all in their own way broken by war. The characters begin by wandering the stage aimlessly like marionettes, underneath a cluster of military helmets that fall from the sky.

Putting on an even remotely critical play openly would have been unthinkable under Saddam’s iron-fisted rule. But the 20 young amateur actors of the Mordhuh troupe have experience nonetheless.

“We used to put on our plays underground,” adds Samar Kathan, 27. “We didn’t have the right to perform under Saddam Hussein’s regime. It was strictly forbidden,” he explains.

But on Sunday, the company was on stage at the Al-Rashid theatre, the entranceway lies in rubble, levelled by US bombs. Just next door is the former information ministry which was bombarded day after day. The theatre still stinks of soot from the mangled heaps of metal, and the 200 patrons at the play had to grope in the dark to find their chairs. Once seated, there were greeted by more images of war.

The characters on stage rarely cross paths directly as they engage in a dialogue of the deaf in a world turned upside down.

One soldier tries to use a cigarette lighter to read through a stack of books that doubles as a shield against the bombs.

Elsewhere a civilian breaks down and screams upon seeing the deaths of loved ones; someone else guides him away sternly to parts unknown.—AFP