Acute, witty and painful, 'The Empire', first perfomed at the Royal Court in 2010, explores some of the lengths humanity is stretched to under the circumstances of war. The scene is an empty room in an abandoned compound in Helmand Province, in the blazing heat. Gary, a British soldier, guards an injured young prisoner suspected of being a Taliban fighter. Hafizullah, Gary's Afghan colleague whom he has graciously christened Paddy, smokes hash and tries to follow Gary's sarcastic, seething English. Gary wants answers, Hafizullah just wants to make it through the day and the newly awakened prisoner thinks there has been a big mistake. Surrounded by intense heat and violence, the characters' moral codes are tested to the limit as The Empire dissects the politics of occupation, home and abroad.