The Kite Runner: Theatre Review

Full disclosure: I haven’t read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. An international bestseller with a panoramic vision taking in the 20^th century history of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to the rise of the Taliban, the book charts the troubled relationship between wealthy Pashtun Amir and his Hazara servant Hassan. 

Documenting the fall of carefree days in the ’70s where western values were allowed to sit alongside more traditional beliefs, to a world where kite flying and music was banned by religious edict, The Kite Runner swells with ambition.

To translate this ambition and epic scale to the stage is no mean feat but this production unfortunately fails to make the artistic leap. It is a classic example of book desperately trying – and failing – to be a good play.

The biggest issue is with the amount of narration to the audience by Amir, from how he feels about betraying faithful servant Hassan, to what kind of fog they get in California after the family flees Afghanistan. Events don’t only happen, we are told they happen just in case we miss it. At one point it felt like we could have been given page numbers to the book.

All this of course is fine in a novel where dramatic incidents can be interspersed with expository prose, but there are no such hiding places on the stage. The play is simply being asked to do too much and take in too many episodes of Amir’s life from boyhood in Kabul to marriage in the US, and we lose sight of the central relationship at the centre of the drama.

That aside, the play is full of humour and warmth – when the family does manage to make it to America, Amir’s father Baba (a notable performance by Dean Rahman) is worn down by its pace, caustically reflecting that ‘even the flies are pressed for time’.

The amount of ground covered in the play is impressive, if a little head-spinning: Amir is shown to be a bright boy with literary ambitions, one who disdains sports but excels at kite flying. But at heart he is a coward and when Hassan is beaten up by a local bully, it is too much for Amir and he schemes to have Hassan and his father sacked from the household. The guilt of his betrayal carries with him to the US, and it is only when he returns to Kabul to search for Hassan’s orphaned child that the realisation of what he did becomes clear to him.

The performances are solid: Stuart Vincent lends Amir the right amount of naivety and self-absorption, while Yazdan Qafouri as Hassan retains the doleful expression of someone who understands how life is arranged to elevate some and crush others.

A final note: although this reviewer found the production lacking, it is clear from the audience reaction to the show that the book and its portrayal on stage are held in high regard.

The Kite Runner is at The Lowry, Salford from 7 to 11 May 2024.