Play marks Hussein's 65th birthday

Hussein has not made a birthday appearance for years due to safety fears

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A play based on the life of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will take to the boards this weekend as the country celebrates his 65th birthday.

The play, based on a book widely believed to have been written by him, is just one of the events planned for him.

The legend, built around the man who has taken his country into two unsuccessful wars and who has defied the international community on a series of issues, has manifested itself in national celebrations including a giant birthday cake and a portrait exhibition.

He may have been dubbed as part of an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush, but Baghdad is awash in birthday party celebratory mood.

Photos of him, for example, drape down the outside of two-storeys of the government's Rasheed hotel.

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At 65, many world leaders might be thinking of retiring -- not Saddam Hussein, who says he still has a lot to accomplish.

Monuments to build, like the latest -- the Saddam epic -- which is his own fist killing a snake depicting the United States.

He also has plans for frequent meetings with scientists, and talks to his sons -- the youngest is the head of Hussein's security services while the eldest is in charge of his paramilitary force.

He gives helpful suggestions to other Arab leaders. "I may be exasperating ..." he began one speech to fellow leaders.

That would be an understatement. His latest advice to fellow Arab leaders is to stop selling oil to the U.S. or risk being toppled by their own people.

Assassination attempts

The book that Hussein is believed to have written, "Zibiba and the King," has been turned into an epic play that the Iraqi National Theatre will premiere on his birthday in its biggest production yet. The king, and hero of course, is thought to be based on the Iraqi president.

The book is believed to be an allegory of his confrontation with the West combining romance, patriotism and adventures with frank sexual passages, the British broadsheet newspaper The Times said.

It is not clear whether Hussein will attend the showing. He has not made a public appearance at his birthday celebrations for several years because of fears over assassination attempts.

No matter what his role, in public he is always the hero.

The special portrait collection at the Rasheed hotel captures his many moods. Kurdish dress is a popular theme, then there is the hunting look, and there is the visionary with a backdrop of Jerusalem's al Aqsa Mosque.

In fact, his birthday cake depicts the third holiest Muslim site. No candles but it is surrounded by icing and topped by the number 28 -- the day of his birthday.

The portraits are as close as most people will ever get to seeing the long-surviving Iraqi president. In the portraits at least, he gets only better with age, never older.

-- CNN's Jane Arraf contributed to this report