In a roped-off section of a half-empty cinema, a Muslim mother sits with a group of children, munching popcorn and slurping noisily from an oversized soft drink.
She is marked out not by her head-to-foot black Islamic robes, which cover her face* - this is after all the Arab state of Bahrain *- but by the large and clumpy men's shoes she dangles gracelessly over the seat in front.
Nor, it should be said, do many families arrive at the Seef Cineplex accompanied by a phalanx of twitchy gun guards who diligently patrol the theatre during the main feature.
But then this not your average family on a night out at the pictures. The 'mother' is none other than deposed King of Pop Michael Jackson sporting his latest disguise in a bid to fool his fans.
Not that the traditional female outfit - called an abaya - which the disgraced star has recently taken to wearing, is deceiving many in the tiny oil-rich country that has been Jackson's unlikely home for the last 12 months.
He has become a regular sight in his new get-up in shopping malls, browsing in Mothercare, and, bizarrely, even applying make-up in the ladies' toilet.
All of which is utterly peculiar behaviour even for a man famed for the multiplicity of his eccentricities.
But on the anniversary of his controversial acquittal on charges of child molestation, the weird world of Wacko Jacko is about to get even stranger.
With his career in tatters and facing bankruptcy, there now comes the threat that he could have his children taken off him in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe.
A judge has ordered that secret documents about the couple's 1999 divorce must be made public next month, revealing, it is alleged, that Jackson is not the natural father of his eldest son and daughter.
At the same time the 47-year-old star is said to be planning to marry for a third time and is trying to adopt a Japanese orphan while, the Mail has learnt, threatening to go on the run with his children if he loses the court fight with Rowe.
And if that were not enough, he is being sued by a former associate who claims Jackson is secretly plagued by a serious drink and prescription drugs problem.
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