A two-legged Dante-savvy tiger, a couple of young U.S. marines, the ghost of Uday Hussein carrying his brother Qusay’s head in a bag and Uday’s gardener-turned-translator for U.S. troops are the main characters in playwright Rajiv Joseph’s extraordinary new play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, in its world premiere through Sunday, June 7, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

It’s an odd group in a most unusual play. Joseph’s inspiration was a short Associated Press story in 2003 reporting that an American soldier had killed a tiger in the Baghdad zoo that had bitten off the finger of a drunken soldier trying to feed it.

That incident kicks off this philosophical, surreal ghost story covering many topics, one of which is war as experienced through the American incursion into Iraq. Also considered are nature, both human and animal; greed; miscommunication, traumatic memories and being pushed to the breaking point.

In Tiger, Joseph shows a wildly inventive new talent able to synthesize social comment and an almost comic treatment of violence (think Quentin Tarantino) into a riveting package that demands attention during and discussion afterward.

As experienced marine Tom (Glenn Davis) and the newly arrived Kev (Brad Fleischer) guard the world-weary Tiger (Kevin Tighe), Tom brags about the stash he stole in the raid on the royal palace – Uday’s gold pistol and gold toilet seat. His goal is to get home with his treasures intact, hoping to start a new, more opulent life courtesy of eBay.

The younger Kev wants action – until he gets it, when Tom foolishly sticks his hand in the tiger’s cage, where it becomes a kitty snack. Kev kills the cat with the gold gun, then is haunted by the tiger’s ghost.

The translator Musa (Arian Moayed), formerly Uday’s gardener, is haunted by ghosts of his own – Uday, even in death resplendent in a silk Armani suit and fancy shoes, reminding Musa of the depravity power can bring; and of Musa’s sister Hadia, evidence of that lack of morality.

Uday (Hrach Titizian, in a particularly convincing portrayal) feels he’s been misunderstood by the world and wants to get his message out.

Most of these characters will reach a breaking point. The questions are what it takes to get there and what happens next.

Communication is also an issue here – Tom and Kev tend to yell orders at villagers; neither side understands the other (and some of the Arabic dialogue is not translated, to heighten that feeling).

My lone reservation is the way Musa’s story is resolved, in a place and a way that stretches credulity. That surreal piece is somehow more difficult to swallow than a talking tiger.

But Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is a wonderful mélange of comic and serious, philosophical and plebeian, real and surreal, delivered by a superb cast.

Moisés Kaufman (director of I Am My Own Wife and writer of The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency and one of this season’s Tony nominees for best play, 33 Variations) is an inspired choice, balancing comic and tragic elements into a cohesive and riveting whole.

Kudos also to scenic designer Derek McLane, who sets place and mood with an ornate Islamic arch upstage and an ugly, twisted metal cage center stage, and to lighting designer David Lander for his evocative effects.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is the best kind of theater, holding a mirror to some of mankind’s less attractive characteristics in a way that will not allow you to walk out of the theater and forget about it.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo plays through June 7, 2009, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Shows Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Matinées Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. For tickets, call 213-628-2772 or visit www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.