Photo Flash: THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN At Tricycle Theatre

The Great Game: Afghanistan - a festival exploring Afghan culture and history through twelve plays, a five day film programme, a ceramic exhibition and discussion sessions returns to the Tricycle Theatre for a limited run from 23 July until 29 August 2010 with a press day on 31 July.

Following the run at the Tricycle, the production will embark on an American tour from 5 September - 19 December 2010, visiting The Shakespeare at the Harman, Washington, The Guthrie at The McGuire Proscenium, Minneapolis, Berkeley Rep at The Roda, The Freud Playhouse, Los Angeles and The Public at The Skirball, New York.

Directed by the Tricycle's Artistic Director Nicolas Kent and Theatre Director Indhu Rubasingham, assisted by Rachel Grunwald, The Great Game: Afghanistan will present the world premiere of a new play by Lee Blessing, alongside the plays premiered last season by writers Stephen Jeffreys, Ron Hutchinson, Amit Gupta, Joy Wilkinson, David Edgar, David Greig, Colin Teevan, Ben Ockrent, Abi Morgan, Richard Bean and Simon Stephens. These plays will be accompanied by three monologues by Iranian writer and documentary maker Siba Shakib and verbatim pieces by the Guardian's Security Editor, Richard Norton Taylor, to reflect the present situation in Afghanistan, taken from interviews with American and British Generals, Afghan politicians, US and British politicians and contributors to the Obama review on the Afpak policy.

All plays will be presented in repertoire throughout the festival. Designs are by Pamela Howard and Miriam Nabarro, lighting is by James Farncombe, with sound by Tom Lishman.

Part Three: Enduring Freedom 1996-2010

Honey by Ben Ockrent
While civil war rages, a lone CIA agent realises the dangers of American disengagement. He's found an 'in' to persuade Commander Masoud, the Lion of Panjshir, to help them get back into the game. But with the Taliban closing in on Kabul, will it be enough?

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.

The Night Is Darkest Before the Dawn by Abi Morgan
The widowed Huma is trying to re-open her husband's school following the American bombing and 'liberation' of Afghanistan; however she needs to persuade six more girls to attend. But Behrukh's father is more concerned with his opium crop and who will harvest it.

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 includingThe Invisible Woman and The Story of You . Royal Wedding, the drama she has written for BBC 2, will be broadcast in Spring 2010.