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The Tricycle Theatre is to perform its production The Great Game: Afghanistan for The Pentagon at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Sidney Harman Hall, for two performances only. The two trilogy days - presented by the Tricycle Theatre, The Bob Woodruff Foundation, British Council and Shakespeare Theatre Company - will be performed to audiences of policy and decision makers, military and government officials, service members, veterans and their families.
The Great Game: Afghanistan received its world premiere at the Tricycle Theatre in April 2009 and after a critically acclaimed season, returned to the Tricycle for a limited run the following year. In Autumn 2010 The Great Game: Afghanistan embarked on an US tour beginning at The Shakespeare at the Harman, Washington, DC; followed by presentations at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis; Berkeley Rep; and The Public Theater in New York. The Tricycle Theatre together with the UK's Ministry of Defence organised 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."
Nicolas Kent, Director of the Tricycle Theatre, said "We are honoured to have been asked to perform our production The Great Game: Afghanistan 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 organisation, supported the US tour of The Great Game : Afghanistan 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: Afghanistan. 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 enforces 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.
Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, said, "We welcome back to Washington our friends from The Great Game: Afghanistan and the Tricycle Theatre. 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."
