Blood and Gifts
World premiere at the National Theatre, London
September 2010 to 14 November
Blood and Gifts by American writer JT Rogers is an epic political thriller, which spans over a decade of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, taking the viewer from the mountains of Pakistan to the epicenters of power in Washington DC. We meet CIA operative Jim Warnock on his arrival in Pakistan (1981) as he is to try and halt the progress of the Soviet army in Afghanistan through secret alliances with an Afghan warlord, and the Pakistani and British secret services.
Jim finds his allies through the enemies they have in common, but as the current situation in Afghanistan tells us, times change and so do enemies. Seemingly, the only thing that does not change is our inability to learn from history. Rogers captures this through the daunting irony of portraying the bond of trust created between an American and an Afghan who is later to become the subject of the 2001 US invasion.
Rogers attempts to illuminate the difficulties faced by the decision makers, and urges his audience to question if they really would have done things differently. Through American, British, Russian, Pakistani and Afghan points of view, he succeeds brilliantly in exposing the complexity of events and the futility of the protagonist’s naïve wish to do good. The road to hell really is paved with good intentions, particularly in this environment of constantly shifting loyalties.
Perhaps this is when Blood and Gifts is at its very best—in portraying the tragedy of human action in a web of conflicting interests and issues too big for us to understand. The strength of the script is supported by stunning performances, particularly that of Lord Owen as Jim Warnock, and also to the credit of director Howard Davies. An almost consistent balance is struck between humor and the magnitude of the issues at hand, although one may question the mujahideen’s (Muslim fighter) actual obsession with American pop songs.
In this sense, much of the brilliance of the play lies in its reluctance to place blame or “educate” its audience. With the benefit of hindsight, the consequences of the actions portrayed really do speak for themselves. Instead, what shines through in this play are the relations between people—a CIA operative, a Russian spy, an Afghan warlord and their respective personal struggles—and the politics behind the decisions made. Through a subtle portrayal of the motivations behind these men’s actions, the worrying connection between public and private spheres is exposed.
This is an ambitious play, which succeeds in illuminating the basic human aspects of tremendously important historic events. Thought provoking, entertaining and moving, Blood and Gifts reminds its audience of parts of human existence which a newspaper article can never capture.
Eva Prag - London-based researcher in international relations.
