In Arabia We'd All Be Kings
Encyclopedia
In Arabia We'd All Be Kings is a dramatic stageplay that takes place in 1990s New York City
, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
in 1999. It chronicles the demise of a group of individuals living in New York's Hell's Kitchen
around the time of Rudy Giuliani
's efforts to clean up the city. Out of work and strapped for money, the lives of these individuals revolve around a local bar and their misguided hopes and dreams.
The play deals primarily with issues of commercialism, hope, and friendship. The New York Times wrote: "Zoot-suited craps players have been replaced by junkies in dirty T-shirts who will do anything for drug money, and the Salvation Army evangelists are now religious nuts who carve up the prostitutes rather than preach to them." Variety
wrote of a 2007 performance: the play "underscores the tragic truth that the human psyche yearns for stability and will eventually accept any remnant of it that can be found."
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
in 1999. It chronicles the demise of a group of individuals living in New York's Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
around the time of Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
's efforts to clean up the city. Out of work and strapped for money, the lives of these individuals revolve around a local bar and their misguided hopes and dreams.
The play deals primarily with issues of commercialism, hope, and friendship. The New York Times wrote: "Zoot-suited craps players have been replaced by junkies in dirty T-shirts who will do anything for drug money, and the Salvation Army evangelists are now religious nuts who carve up the prostitutes rather than preach to them." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote of a 2007 performance: the play "underscores the tragic truth that the human psyche yearns for stability and will eventually accept any remnant of it that can be found."