The Tricycle Theatre Company’s 12 British and American Plays
Documenting the History of Foreign Involvement in Afghanistan Since 1842

Return to Washington for Two Limited Pentagon Performances

Washington, DC (January 28) – The Great Game, a series of plays on Afghanistan’s history, will return to Washington February 10 and 11 for two day-long private performances presented by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, British Council, Shakespeare Theatre Company and London’s Tricycle Theatre.

The plays will be presented at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Sidney Harman Hall to audiences of policy and decision makers; military and government officials; corporate and private America; and injured service members, veterans and their families.  

The Great Game is a seven and a half hour, twelve-play series from London’s Tricycle Theatre which traces the history of foreign involvement in Afghanistan from 1842 to the present day. The plays immerse audiences in Afghanistan’s history and culture through the eyes of a wide cast of characters -- from foreign soldiers, diplomats and aid workers to local school teachers, Mujahideen, Taliban, and deposed Afghan leaders.

Officers in the Joint Staff’s Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell, which provides advice and support on Afghanistan-Pakistan issues to military leadership, first attended The Great Game’s public performances in Washington in September and thought the plays could serve as a unique learning tool for military personnel wanting to better understand Afghanistan's culture and history.

By raising awareness about the cultural and historical influences of Afghanistan and the warriors who have experienced the physical, psychological, and spiritual trials of combat there, the Bob Woodruff Foundation is challenging attendees to walk away with a deeper understanding of not only Afghanistan but with a renewed commitment to support those who fight and life-long dedication to those who are injured and their successful integration into our communities.  

Nicolas Kent, Director of the Tricycle Theatre, said "We are honored to have been asked to do these performances for the Pentagon. It confirms the power of theatre to engage with contemporary policy issues and spark debate, to educate and to challenge, as well as to entertain."

The British Council, the UK’s international cultural relations and education organization, supported the US tour of The Great Game last autumn. Sharon Memis, British Council Director North America, said “We are delighted that the Pentagon will have the opportunity to see The Great Game. We believe the arts are uniquely capable of providing us with a different perspective on complicated issues like Afghanistan, its history and its people – they provoke strong emotions and empathy in an accessible space.”

“This international collaboration with the British Council reinforces our commitment to support coalition troops,” said René Bardorf, Executive Director, Bob Woodruff Foundation. “Through this theatrical interpretation of the historical dynamics that have shaped the complex cultural influences and traditions of Afghanistan, it is the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s intent to have attendees engage in a dialog about strategy, policy, and education of the public in order to ensure lifelong tangible support for our military families, who have borne the physical and psychological wounds of war,” she added.

The Pentagon performances follow the highly acclaimed US tour last fall, which premiered at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, DC; followed by presentations by the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; and the Public Theater in New York.

The Tricycle Theatre together with the UK’s Ministry of Defence also organized a similar private viewing of The Great Game in July 2010 before the plays left London for the US tour. The UK’s top military commander General Sir David Richards said, “I can tell you that the Ministry of Defence as a whole, and certainly the armed forces desperately want to understand the country well, and this series of plays – if I had seen it before I had deployed [to Afghanistan] myself in 2005 for the first time - would have made me a much better Commander of the ISAF Forces.”

Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, said, “We welcome back to Washington our friends from The Great Game and the Tricycle Theater. I’m so pleased that the Shakespeare Theatre Company is able to offer this significant theatrical experience to members of the Pentagon. We feel that it is our responsibility in the theatre community to not only entertain but to stimulate discussion and inform audiences.”

About The Bob Woodruff Foundation

The Bob Woodruff Foundation provides resources and support to service members, veterans and their families to successfully reintegrate into their communities so they may thrive physically, psychologically, socially and economically.  Through a public education movement called ReMIND.org, the Bob Woodruff Foundation helps educate the public about the needs of service members returning from war — especially the 1 in 5 service members who have sustained hidden injuries such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Combat Stress, including Post Traumatic Stress, Depression and Anxiety — and empowers communities nationwide to take action.   Across the country, the Bob Woodruff Foundation collaborates with other organizations and experts to identify and solve issues related to the return of service members from combat to civilian life and invests in programs that connect our troops to the help they need — from individual needs like physical accommodations, medical care and counseling, to larger social issues like homelessness and suicide.   To date, the Bob Woodruff Foundation has invested over $8.6 million, reaching more than 950,000 service members, support personnel, veterans and their families nationwide. For more information about the Bob Woodruff Foundation please visit www.ReMIND.org

About the British Council

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international non-profit organization for cultural relations and education opportunities. Working in over 100 countries, we build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. In the US, we cultivate long-term links between the UK and US, re-energizing the strategic transatlantic relationship through the arts, education and young leadership networks.

Through our office in Kabul and work with schools and colleges across Afghanistan, we work with Afghans who seek to re-build their lives and a stable society. We are training two-thirds of the English language teachers in Afghanistan – 33,000 instructors who previously did not have access to new teaching materials due to limited internet access and travel restrictions. For more information, please visit www.britishcouncil.org/usa.

About The Tricycle Theatre

During the last 30 years, the Tricycle has established a unique reputation for presenting plays reflecting the cultural diversity of its community; in particular Black, Irish, Jewish, Asian and South African works, as well as political work. Its building, in the London Borough of Brent in North West London, comprises a 240 seat theatre, a 300 seat cinema, a Gallery, cafe/bar and various painting and community studios.

The Tricycle has premiered many African-American plays, including six plays from August Wilson’s decalogue chronicling each decade of the 20th century.  It has also produced other African-American work by Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Alice Childress, Steve Carter, Lynn Nottage and Michael Henry Brown. Its production of The Great White Hope transferred to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Notable examples of plays from the Tricycle stage which have transferred either to the West End or Broadway or both include: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Kat and the Kings, Stones in His Pockets, The Price, Guantanamo and The 39 Steps.

In addition the Tricycle has an unparalleled reputation for responding to contemporary events with its ground-breaking Tribunal and political plays. Productions include, Half the Picture: The Scott Arms to Iraq Inquiry, The Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, Srebrenica, The Colour of Justice: The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and Justifying War: The Hutton Inquiry, all of which have been subsequently broadcast by the BBC, reaching audiences of more than 34 million people worldwide. In the last 18 months the productions of Bloody Sunday, Scenes from the Saville Enquiry and Called to Account: The Indictment of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair for the Crime of Aggression Against Iraq – A Hearing have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

In 2010, as well as touring the USA with The Great Game, the Tricycle launched a 9 play festival looking at the representation of women in political life: Women Power and Politics.

During the last decade, the Tricycle received the Evening Standard Special Award for its pioneering work in political theatre, the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement, as well as six other Olivier Award nominations for Tricycle productions, and most recently the 2010 Liberty Human Rights Cultural Award. For more information, please visit http://www.tricycle.co.uk/.

About the Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s innovative approach to Shakespeare and other classic playwrights has earned it the reputation as the nation’s premier classical theatre company. By focusing on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced, the Company’s artistic mission is unique among theatre companies: to present theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their work through a 21st-century lens. The Shakespeare Theatre Company endeavors to be an important resource to an expanded national and international community—as the nation’s premier destination for classic theatre, as a training ground for the next generation of theatre artists and as a model provider of high-quality educational content for students and scholars. For more information about the Shakespeare Theatre Company, please visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.

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Contact

Samantha Yale, 202-588-7838