The Empire (play)

Last updated
The Empire
Written by DC Moore
CharactersGary, British Lance Corporal
Hafizullah, ANA soldier
Zia, a prisoner
Simon, British captain
Jalander, ANA soldier
Date premiered31 March 2010 (2010-03-31)
Place premieredJerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London
SubjectThe War in Afghanistan
GenreDrama
Setting Helmand Province, Afghanistan,
summer 2006

The Empire is a 2010 play by British playwright DC Moore set during the War in Afghanistan. It was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London directed by Mike Bradwell. The production was critically acclaimed. It won the 2010 TMA Award for best touring production and was nominated for a 2010 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliated Theatre.

Contents

Plot and background

In the Helmand Province during the War in Afghanistan, British Lance Corporal Gary Harris and his Afghan colleague, Hafizullah, are guarding an injured prisoner who is suspected of an RPG attack that wounded one of Gary's comrades. Their assignment is to wait for the medics to patch up the prisoner and then turn him over to the Afghan National Army, who will most likely kill him.

But when the prisoner, Zia, wakes up, he tells them he is not a Taliban insurgent but is instead a British citizen from Newham, not far from Gary's home in Tottenham. Zia claims he was visiting family in Pakistan and that he reluctantly accompanied his uncle's associate on a business trip to Afghanistan, where he was kidnapped by the Taliban and ended up in the midst of the battle.

Gary and his commanding officer, Captain Simon Mannock, are faced with a dilemma. Simon considers sending Zia by helicopter to Camp Bastion. The situation is further complicated when Gary learns that his friend Phipps is dying of his wounds. Gary seriously injures Zia and threatens to kill him, but Simon stops him. When the helicopter arrives, they still have not decided what to do with Zia. [1]

The ending of the play is left unresolved, both in terms of Zia's fate and whether Zia was telling the truth. DC Moore said, "I deliberately wrote the play so that there would be no right answer as to whether Zia is guilty or not." For the premiere production, Moore, director Mike Bradwell and actor Nav Sidhu devised a backstory in which Zia was neither completely guilty nor entirely innocent. They decided that Zia had willingly gotten involved with the Taliban while visiting Pakistan, but had realized his mistake and had not taken part in the attack that killed Phipps. Moore said, "I would actually like different productions to approach it differently (some thinking Zia's completely innocent, some thinking he's absolutely responsible for the death of Gary's mate)." [2]

DC Moore was inspired to write The Empire by two documentaries by Sean Langan about British soldiers in Afghanistan. The focus of the play is not on the politics of the war, but on average young men who find themselves in a tense situation in a war zone. [3]

Premiere

Directed by Mike Bradwell in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs of the Royal Court Theatre in London, the production starred Josef Altin as Hafizullah, Joe Armstrong as Gary, Nav Sidhu as Zia, Rufus Wright as Captain Simon Mannock and Imran Khan as Jalander. [4] After the play's run at the Royal Court Theatre from 31 March to 8 May, it transferred to the Drum Theatre in the Theatre Royal, Plymouth for two weeks from 13 to 29 May, [5] followed by a short stint at the Theatre Local in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre from 2–5 June as part of the Royal Court Theatre's outreach programme. [6]

The set, designed by Bob Bailey, was an abandoned building with rubble on the floor, dust in the air and bullet holes in the walls. The harsh sunlight outside was simulated by lighting designer Jason Taylor, and sound effects including helicopters and flies were created by Nick Manning. [7] A number of critics credited the claustrophobic atmosphere with contributing to the tension of the play. Sarah Hemming of The Financial Times wrote: "In the confined Royal Court Upstairs, the audience can taste the dust off Bob Bailey’s set. A merciless sun streams in through the space where the door ought to be." [8] Maxie Szalwinska of The Sunday Times observed, "So effective is Mike Bradwell’s production in conjuring the swooning heat of the Afghan desert, you may want to pack shades and a fly swatter." [9]

Response

The critical response was very favorable. Karen Bussell of What's on Stage described The Empire as "an intense fly-on-the-wall observation of a difficult 90 minutes in the life of a few people stuck in a room." [10] Paul Taylor of The Independent called it "a brilliantly acute and witty examination of the conflicts of race, class, nationality, and fundamental values thrown up by a morally questionable occupation." [11] Sam Marlowe of Time Out said it was a "brilliant depiction of twenty-first-century tribalism, at home and abroad." [12]

Some critics pointed out weaknesses in otherwise positive reviews. Sarah Hemming praised the performances and the tension of the immediate situation, but felt the play became "a bit clumsy and heavy-handed" when addressing larger issues such as "power structures, occupation and the impact of recent conflicts on young British Muslims." [8] Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph likewise commended the acting and the atmosphere but found fault with the "Q&A structure" and thought that "the military class-rivalry feels a touch tendentious." [13]

The Empire won the 2010 TMA Award for best touring production. It was nominated for a 2010 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliated Theatre. DC Moore was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright based on this play.

Radio play

A radio play of The Empire aired on 29 October 2011 on BBC Radio 3's The Wire as part of a series on the theme Conviction, about the consequences of unwavering and uncompromising beliefs. Joe Armstrong, Josef Altin and Imran Khan reprised their roles from the stage production, joined by Ashley Kumar as Zia, James Norton as Captain Mannock and David Kirkbride as Phippy. The story was adapted for radio by DC Moore, including a new opening sequence with Phipps and the RPG attack that was not in the original play. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

History of Afghanistan Historical development of Afghanistan

The history of Afghanistan as a state began in 1823 as the Emirate of Afghanistan after the fall of the predecessor, the Afghan Durrani Empire, considered the founding state of modern Afghanistan. Its history is tied to that of other countries in its region, mostly Tajikistan, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and India. The written recorded history of the land presently constituting Afghanistan can be traced back to around 500 BCE when the area was under the Achaemenid Empire, although evidence indicates that an advanced degree of urbanized culture has existed in the land since between 3000 and 2000 BCE. Bactria dates back to 2500 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up to large parts of Afghanistan in the north. Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived at what is now Afghanistan in 330 BCE after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire during the Battle of Gaugamela. Since then, many empires have established capitals in Afghanistan, including the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Indo-Sassanids, Kabul Shahi, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Hotakis and Durranis.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Afghan politician and mujahid (born 1949)

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician and former mujahideen leader. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis split from Hezbi Islami in 1979 to found Hezb-i Islami Khalis. He has twice served as Prime Minister during the 1990s.

Ghazni City in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan

Ghazni, historically known as Ghaznin (غزنين) or Ghazna (غزنه) and also transliterated as Ghuznee, is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategically located along Highway 1, which has served as the main road between Kabul and Kandahar for thousands of years. Situated on a plateau at 2,219 metres (7,280 ft) above sea level, the city is 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Kabul and is the capital of Ghazni Province.

Panjshir Province Province of northeastern Afghanistan

Panjshir is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country containing the Panjshir Valley. The province is divided into seven districts and contains 512 villages. As of 2021, the population of Panjshir province was about 173,000. Bazarak serves as the provincial capital.

<i>Blasted</i> Play by Sarah Kane

Blasted is the first play by the British author Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1995 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London.

Joe Scott Penhall is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play Blue/Orange, the award-winning West End musical Sunny Afternoon and creating the Netflix original series Mindhunter.

Ahmad Zia Massoud Afghan politician

Ahmad Zia Massoud is an Afghan politician who was the Vice President of Afghanistan in the first elected administration of President Hamid Karzai, from December 2004 to November 2009. He is a younger brother of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, the resistance leader against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and against the Taliban. In late 2011, Ahmad Zia Massoud joined hands with major leaders in the National Front of Afghanistan, which strongly opposes a return of the Taliban to power. The National Front is generally regarded as a reformation of the United Front which with U.S. air support removed the Taliban from power in late 2001.

Zia Ul Shah

Zia Ul Shah is a citizen of Pakistan best known for the time he spent in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 15.

Joe Armstrong (actor) English actor

Joe Armstrong is an English actor. His notable television roles include Allan A Dale in three series of Robin Hood, Hotspur in Henry IV, Part I, Ashley Cowgill in Happy Valley and Bairstow in The Village. On stage, he played the lead role in D. C. Moore's The Empire and appeared in the 2011 revival of Flare Path. He co-starred with Maxine Peake in Miss Julie at the Royal Exchange and with Louise Brealey in a touring production of Constellations.

Camp Shorabak

Camp Shorabak is a former British Army airbase, located northwest of the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The camp was situated in a remote desert area, far from population centres.

Afghanistan–Pakistan relations Bilateral relations

Afghanistan and Pakistan border with one another; both have become members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Relations between the two countries have been strained since 1947, when Pakistan gained independence and Afghanistan was the sole country to vote against Pakistan's admission into the UN. Afghanistan immediately armed separatist movements in the nascent Pakistan and made irredentist claims to large swathes of Pakistani territory—which prevented the emergence of normalised ties between the two countries. Further tensions have arisen with various issues related to the War in Afghanistan (1978–present), and with the millions of Afghan refugees who have sought shelter in Pakistan since the start of that war, water rights, the growing relations of India and Afghanistan.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur is the leader of a Pakistani Taliban faction based in North Waziristan. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the militant group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Waziristan, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with Mehsud and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pakistani state.

Judy Upton is a British playwright.

David "D. C." Moore is a British playwright and television screenwriter.

The Great Game: Afghanistan is a British series of short plays on the history of Afghanistan and foreign intervention there, from the First Anglo-Afghan War to the present day. It is organised into three sets of four plays and draws its name from the 19th and 20th century Great Game, a geopolitical struggle for dominance between The British and Russian Empires. The main plays are linked by monologues and duologues giving historical background and verbatim theatre edited by Richard Norton-Taylor from modern figures linked with western involvement in Afghanistan, such as William Dalrymple, Hillary Clinton, Stanley McChrystal and David Richards.

David Folley

David Folley, is an English painter based in Plymouth, Devon, UK. His private studio is located in the north of the city and the public face is his gallery and studio "Discover Folley", situated in Plymouth's historic Barbican. His style of painting has been influenced by Paul Cézanne, Stanhope Forbes of the Newlyn School, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Roger Somville, a Belgium contemporary painter. Folley's interests include "Political theory and the interactions between individual and society", colour deficiency and colour perception.

National Coalition of Afghanistan Political party in Afghanistan

The National Coalition of Afghanistan, is a political coalition in Afghanistan led by Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's former foreign minister (2001–2005) and main challenger of President Hamid Karzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections. Abdullah Abdullah was a close friend of the Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated two days before the September 11 attacks.

The Arg serves as the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. It sits on a 34-hectare (83-acre) site in District 2, between Deh Afghanan and the affluent neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. It has been used by many Afghan heads of state, from Emir Abdur Rahman Khan to former President Ashraf Ghani.

The Pride is a British drama by Alexi Kaye Campbell that counterpoints two parallel love stories.

War crimes in Afghanistan covers the period of conflict from 1979 to the present. Starting with the Soviet invasion of Afganhistan in 1979, 40 years of civil war in various forms has wracked Afghanistan. War crimes have been committed by all sides, though the Taliban have been responsible for the majority.

References

  1. ↑ Moore, DC (2010). The Empire. Methuen Drama. ISBN   978-1-4081-3056-8.
  2. ↑ "Remember The Empire - Remember the ending?", ANLO at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, 15 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-3-15.
  3. ↑ "...There Are No Special Effects and No Scene Changes; Only the Truth", ANLO at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, 18 May 2010. Retrieved 2011-3-17.
  4. ↑ "The Empire at the Royal Court Theatre". Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  5. ↑ "The Empire" Archived 2010-12-01 at the Wayback Machine , Theatre Royal and Drum Theatre Plymouth. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  6. ↑ "The Empire at the Theatre Local", Royal Court Theatre. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  7. ↑ "A Clash of Cultures Provide Drama in the Theatre of War", Western Morning News, 14 May 2010. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  8. 1 2 Hemming, Sarah, "The Empire, Royal Court, London", Financial Times, 11 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  9. ↑ Szalwinska, Maxie, "The Empire", The Sunday Times, 18 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  10. ↑ Bussell, Karen, "The Empire (Plymouth)", What's on Stage, 21 May 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Paul, "The Empire, Theatre Upstairs, London", The Independent, 20 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  12. ↑ Marlowe, Sam, "The Empire", Time Out, 14 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  13. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic, "The Empire: Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, review", The Telegraph, 9 April 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
  14. ↑ "New and classic dramas to feature in Radio 3's Conviction Season", BBC Press Office, 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
  15. ↑ "The Wire - The Empire", BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.