Brits’ weapon of choice: satirical jab at ‘Dubya’

British theatergoers are flocking to a new farce that mocks President Bush as a pajama-wearing buffoon cuddling a teddy bear while his crazed military chiefs order nuclear strikes on Iraq.

“The Madness of George Dubya,” which also mercilessly satirizes British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has proved such a success at a fringe theater in London that it is moving to a larger venue for an extended run.

“As war comes closer, the mood among audiences has changed,” actor Nicholas Burns, who plays Blair, said after a performance. “The audience is actually laughing more, but the tension behind their laughs has grown. People are scared.”

The play, whose title picks up on the Texan pronunciation of Bush’s middle initial, is the only overtly anti-war play that has been written in Britain during the standoff on Iraq. It comes, however, against a backdrop of increasing disquiet among British intellectuals and artists about London’s support for Washington’s hawkish position toward Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Many have been writing poems and open letters or attending anti-war events.

Director Justin Butcher wrote “The Madness” in three days after Christmas -- then rehearsed it in six -- in a fit of pique against the American establishment after he and a friend were interrogated by U.S. security agents on a trip to Romania.

“That was a key influence in my feeling that in the arts scene, we were in need of a wake-up call about the influence of American imperialism in the world,” Butcher told Reuters after a full house had again cheered his play to the rafters. “This is not a racist, anti-American thing. It’s a satirical attack on what the U.S. and British governments are doing.”