Persia Is Burning: A Purim Spiel

By Martin Hasan Di Maggio

Welcome to Persia is Burning, a Purim spiel that struts the ancient story of Esther down the runway in full queer, camp, radical-glitter glory-without losing the heart of the megillah.

Purim is, at its core, a celebration of survival, courage, and joyful defiance in the face of hate. It's the story of a vulnerable minority targeted by a violent decree, and the people who refuse to disappear quietly. This adaptation keeps the bones of that story fully intact: Vashti's refusal to be paraded, Esther's rise to the palace, Haman's fragile ego and genocidal plot, Mordechai's stubborn refusal to bow, Esther's decision to come out as a Jew and confront power, and the communal resistance that follows. What changes is the lens.

Persia is Burning unapologetically places drag, ballroom, and queer culture at the center of the court of Shushan. Ahashverosh becomes a shallow, easily swayed monarch surrounded by spectacle and sycophants. Vashti is a sovereign femme who will not dance for the male gaze on command. Aunt Mordy is reimagined as a wise, loving drag-auntie who mentors Esther into her power. Haman is a camp villain whose obsession with control, branding, and respectability mirrors the language of fascism and online hate campaigns. Through these choices, the spiel links the Purim story to our own world: to antisemitism, queerphobia, racism, propaganda, and the old, familiar tactics of those who fear a joyful, diverse, unbowed people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GG7KCT7K
• ISBN13: 9798279219353
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"