The Empire (play)
| The Empire | |
|---|---|
| Written by | DC Moore |
| Characters | Gary, British Lance Corporal Hafizullah, ANA soldier Zia, a prisoner Simon, British captain Jalander, ANA soldier |
| Date premiered | 31 March 2010 |
| Place premiered | Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London |
| Subject | The War in Afghanistan |
| Genre | Drama |
| 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.
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.
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)."
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