In The Great Game: Afghanistan, twelve unique stories delve into the history of a complex region of the world, with outcomes and voices that still resonate today.
Image from “Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad” by Stephen Jeffreys. Part of the Tricycle Theatre's "The Great Game." Image credit: John Haynes.Part One: Invasions & Independence (1842-1929)
The saga begins with Bugles at the Gate of Jalalabad by Stephen Jeffreys. After a devastating defeat, four British soldiers struggle with passionate questions about their purpose in a distant land: Are they following God’s will? Spreading civilization? Or just following orders?
Then, in Durand’s Line by Ron Hutchinson, a British diplomat and the amir of Afghanistan engage in a stunning duel of wits. Can the simple act of drawing lines on a map impose order on a “lawless” culture? Or is it folly to forge a nation from paper alone?
Finally, Campaign by Amit Gupta and Now is the Time by Joy Wilkinson examine the legacy of Afghanistan’s first president. Can one man with a glorious vision throw off British rule and create a secular democracy? Or will warlords enforce a new agenda? Questions that haunted history in 1842 continue to resonate in ways we can’t help but hear today.
Part Two: Communism, the Mujahideen, and the Taliban (1980-1996)
A pair of provocative plays, David Edgar’s Black Tulips and Lee Blessing’s Wood for the Fire, burn up the stage as Soviet troops enter Afghanistan. Are the Russians invited guests or invaders? Who is the actual enemy, and where do they get their weapons? As victory proves elusive, the mission – and the meaning of success – must be redefined.
Then, in Miniskirts of Kabul by David Greig, a journalist interviews the country’s deposed Communist leader. Their hilarious and horrific conversation covers everything from hemlines to the Kremlin as the Taliban lay siege to the capital. Finally, in The Lion of Kabul by Colin Teevan, two men hired by the United Nations disappear – and only a midnight meeting can reveal their fate. Two decades of turmoil ignite curiosity and compassion.
Part Three: Enduring Freedom (1996-2009)
America rides an economic boom in Ben Ockrent’s Honey as an anxious CIA operative tries to buy back missiles that landed in the hands of militants. Next, in The Night is Darkest before the Dawn by Abi Morgan, a teacher invites girls to a free school – but fearful families recall all too well the harsh justice of the Taliban.
In On the Side of Angels by Richard Bean, employees of a British nonprofit struggle to retain their integrity while raising funds at home and brokering deals abroad. Then Simon Stephens’ Canopy of Stars captures soldiers in two intense encounters: one with a buddy before battle and the other when he returns to his wife. Has anything changed? What have we learned?
The Playwrights
Stephen Jeffreys - United Kingdom
Stephen Jeffreys' plays include: Like Dolls or Angels for the National Student Drama Festival, adaptations of Hard Times for Pocket Theatre Cumbria and Carmen 1936 for the Tricycle Theatre, Returning Fire, The Garden of Eden and Valued Friends at Hampstead Theatre – winning him the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Most Promising Playwright Awards, The Clink for Paines Plough, A Jovial Crew for the Royal Shakespeare Company, A Going Concern for Hampstead Theatre, The Libertine for the Royal Court - for which he also wrote a screenplay starring Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, I Just Stopped By To See The Man for the Royal Court and The Art of War for Sydney Theatre Company.
Ron Hutchinson - United Kingdom
Ron Hutchinson's plays include Topless Mum and Moonlight and Magnolias – both of which enjoyed critically acclaimed runs at the Tricycle, Says I Says He and Rat In The Skull for the Royal Court and an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's Flight for the National Theatre. In Spring 2009 the University of Missouri, Kansas City premiered his adaptation of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. He is an Emmy-winning feature and television writer whose credits include Murderers Among Us, The Simon Wiesenthal Story, The Josephine Baker Story, The Burning Season, The Ten Commandments and Traffic (USA Network mini-series) and has taught screenwriting at the American Film Institute.
Amit Gupta - United Kingdom
Amit Gupta wrote his first play, Touch, in 1998, which was a winner of the Royal Court Young Writers’ Competition. Gupta has been a Writer in Residence at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre and was profiled as one of Screen International’s Writer/Director Stars of Tomorrow, 2005. Gupta now writes for stage, screen and radio. He has directed a number of plays, Loveless for Channel 4, and last year wrote and directed an award-winning short film: Love Story. He is currently working on feature film adaptations of his Radio 4 play Jadoo and Owen Sheers' acclaimed novel Resistance, which will be shooting later this year.
Joy Wilkinson - United Kingdom
Joy Wilkinson’s writing credits include Fair for Finborough Theatre and the Trafalgar Studios and The Aquatic Ape for the Edinburgh Festival and Worship Ensemble Theater in New York. She recently completed an attachment at the National Theatre Studio, is writing a new play for the Liverpool Everyman/Playhouse and has written a play for the Tricycle’s next season of plays Women, Power and Politics. She has dramatised numerous Agatha Christie novels for BBC Radio 4. She was a graduate of the BBC’s inaugural Writer’s Academy and is now a lead writer on Doctors.
David Edgar - United Kingdom
David Edgar is one of England's foremost political playwrights and has long standing relationships with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. His recent plays include Testing the Echo for Out of Joint, and a stage adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Arthur and George for the Birmingham Rep. He won the Arts Council's John Whiting Award for Destiny, the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Play for his adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, the Plays and Players' Best Play Award for Maydays and the Evening Standard Best Play Award for Pentecost. His book about playwriting - How Plays Work - was published last year, and he is President of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
Lee Blessing - United States
The Great Game: Afghanistan will present the world premiere of Lee Blessing’s Wood For The Fire. Blessing's A Walk In The Woods ran on Broadway and in the West End and was nominated for both a Pulitzer prize and Olivier Award. Blessing's plays have been seen on and off-Broadway as well as in resident theatres throughout the US. Recent openings have included A Body of Water at Primary Stages in New York, Great Falls at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and When We Go Upon The Sea at InterAct Theater in Philadelphia.
David Greig - United Kingdom
David Greig’s award winning work includes Midsummer for the Traverse and Soho Theatres, Damascus for the Tricycle Theatre, Brewers Fayre, Outlying Islands and Europe for the Traverse Theatre, The American Pilot for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Soho Theatre, Ramallah for the Royal Court, Pyrenees for Paines Plough and Caligula and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union for the Donmar Warehouse. His adaptations include The Bacchae for the Edinburgh International Festival and Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, Tintin in Tibet for the Barbican in 2005 and The Playhouse in 2007, When The Bulbul Stopped Singing for the Traverse Theatre and Caligula for the Donmar Warehouse. Greig’s new version of Peter Pan will be produced by the National Theatre of Scotland in April 2010 and his acclaimed adaptation of Strindberg’s Creditors, first performed at the Donmar Warehouse in 2008, will open at BAM later this year.
Colin Teevan - United Kingdom
Colin Teevan’s plays include How Many Miles to Basra? for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Amazonia with Paul Heritage for the Young Vic, The Diver and The Bee both with Hideki Noda for Soho Theatre, Monkey! for the Young Vic and National Theatre, Missing Persons: Four Tragedies & Roy Keane for the Assembly Rooms and Trafalgar Studios, Alcmaeon in Corinth for Live! Newcastle and The Walls for the National Theatre. His adaptations include Kafka’s Monkey which premiered in March at the Young Vic followed by a world tour, Don Quixote for West Yorkshire Playhouse and Svejk and Peer Gynt, both commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland, the latter of which had a revival at the Barbican last year before going on tour. His translations include Bacchai for the National Theatre, Iph for the Lyric Theatre, Belfast and Cuckoos and Marathon for the Gate Theatre. Teevan is an Artistic Associate of West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Ben Ockrent - United Kingdom
Ben Ockrent’s first play, The Pleasure Principle, was produced at the Tristan Bates Theatre in October 2007. In 2008 he developed Khoa San, a new comedy drama series for BBC3/World Productions, as well as Joe Mistry, a comedy series for Hartswood Film and Television and Kidnapped, a new drama series for BBC3/Company Pictures. Ockrent is also currently writing a new comedy series for BBC3 and a new drama series for Channel4/Cowboy Films.
Abi Morgan - United Kingdom
Abi Morgan’s plays include Fast Food for Manchester Royal Exchange, Skinned and Sleeping Around for Paines Plough, Tiny Dynamite for the Traverse, Tender for Hampstead, Splendour - which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000 and Fugee for the National Theatre. Her television work includes My Fragile Heart, Murder, Tsunami – The Aftermath, White Girl and Sex Traffic, the multi award-winning drama for Channel 4. Her film writing includes Brick Lane, an adaptation of Monica Ali’s bestseller. She is currently developing a six part serial for BBC2 and films for BBC Films and FilmFour including The Invisible Woman and The Story of You . Royal Wedding, the drama she has written for BBC 2, will be broadcast in Spring 2010.
Richard Bean - United Kingdom
Richard Bean’s most recent play England People Very Nice premiered at the National Theatre. His other writing credits include The English Game, produced by Headlong, In The Club for Hampstead Theatre, a version of Moliere’s The Hypochondriac for the Almeida, Harvest, Honeymoon Suite, Under The Whaleback and Toast all for the Royal Court, The God Botherers for the Bush Theatre, Le Pub! and The Mentalists for the National Theatre, Up On Roof for Hull Truck, Smack Family Robinson for Live Theatre Newcastle and Mr England for Sheffield Crucible Theatre.
Simon Stephens - United Kingdom
Simon Stephens’ recent plays include the award-winning Punk Rock for the Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Exchange Theatre, Sea Wall for the Traverse Theatre and Bush Theatre, Heaven for the Traverse Theatre and Òran Mór and Pornography for the Edinburgh Festival and Tricycle Theatre. His plays for the Royal Court Theatre include Bluebird, Herons, Country Music and Motortown. His other plays include Port for the Royal Exchange Theatre, for which he won the Pearson Award for Best Play, One Minute for the Traverse and Bush Theatres, On the Shore of the Wide World - which won the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play and Harper Regan, both for the National Theatre. Stephen has co-written A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky which will open at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in May and his new version of Jarry’s Ubu Roi will be staged by Toneelgroep, Amsterdam later this year.
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