Blood And Gifts is set in 1981. As the Soviet army burns its way through Afghanistan and toward the critical Pakistani border, CIA operative Jim Warnock is sent to try and halt its bloody progress. Joining forces with a larger than life Afghan warlord, and with the Pakistani and British secret services, Jim spearheads the covert struggle.

The ferociously dedicated group of men are tied together by a common enemy, but, as the brutal chaos escalates, clear political action becomes impossible in the face of mutual suspicion and shifting loyalties.

Blood And Gifts is an epic political thriller that sweeps from refugee camps to mountainous tribal regions to the corridors of power in Washington DC.

Blood And Gifts was seen at the Tricycle theatre as part of its 12-play cycle The Great Game: Afghanistan. It now comes to the National Theatre where playwright J T Rogers’s previous work The Overwhelming was staged. His other plays include Madagascar and White People.

For more about Blood And Gifts at the National Theatre read the First Night Feature.