Almost twenty years ago, when Oprah Winfrey convinced a nation of women to read all her current favorite books, Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, a moving coming of age tale of survivor’s guilt and redemption, became an international sensation. Inspired by news that the Talaban had banned, of all things, the simple joy of kite flying in his native war torn Afghanistan. The story he spawned from that a hit novel launched a successful career, as well as a 2007 movie version and a Broadway run of this play in 2022, adapted by Matthew Spangler, which evolved into this national tour.
The New York critics were inexplicably harsh on the piece (who am I kidding, any of my usual readers know of my hate/hate relationship with the snotty Broadway critics who are mostly inadequate writers who seem to hate the arts, so….why?), and this touring company was a moving if excruciating tale of friendship, family, brutality, death, classism, cowardice, guilt, second chances, and, eventually, redemption.
At the heart of the story is the friendship of two young boys from Kabul, Amir, (Ramzi Khalaf, who portrays Amir from childhood to adulthood) and the son of the family servant Hassan (Shahzeb Zahid Hussain), a Hazara boy, who are victims of discrimination and persecution in Afghanistan. Amir and Hassan, a year apart in age, bond over kite flying, a simple activity that sets the stage for a whirlwind of a story that spans decades and continents, coming full circle by the end.
Life takes Hassan and his traditional, no-nonsense father Baba (Haythem Noor) on a journey. The boyhood friends are torn apart by a brutal, violent crime. When Soviet Russia later invades and takes control of the country, Hassan and Baba escape in an oil truck to the culture shock of 1980s San Francisco, USA, where Hassan comes of age within the Afghan community. In this new country, the formerly wealthy Baba, penniless in this new land, concocts a new business venture of buying items from local yard sales and selling them for a profit at the local flew market, where many immigrant Afghans have booths. There he meets a fellow refugee Soraya (Awesta Zarif). Years later, after he has attended San Jose State University (graduating with a degree in creative writing), married Saraya (where they encounter infertility issues), and become a successful novelist, he gets a life-changing phone call from his father’s friend Rahim Khan (Jonathan Shaboo) with news from the homeland and an opportunity to rectify the biggest regret of his life, which has haunted him from his boyhood. Traveling back to Afghanistan, he encounters familiar faces and situations he never expected to have to relive, but finds a way to salvage his past sins and right every wrong from his childhood.
Spangler’s play has an unusually long running time for a non-musical (close to 3 hours), but the story takes so many twists and turns and 11:00 surprises that it’s a virtual soap opera across three generations and two continents. (Spangler’s adaptation is meticulously faithful to Hosseini’s novel.) On top of that, Spangler chooses to utilize Amir as an audience narrator for the entirety of his storytelling, hosting us along from vignette to vignette that is dramatized. This long use of exposition is a risky technique that could have backfired, but in massive praise of Khalaf, who is an exceptionally easy presence and engaging actor to spend nearly three house with as our guide, and Director Giles Croft who navigates the story and Khalaf fluidly through the event packed and convoluted story, the audience does not feel affected by the length of the evening. It actually comes full circle into a sense of relief and gratitude after the harrowing and often violent events of his homeland that have made Amir a tortured and grieving man his entire life. If it takes three hours to cleanse us all of that guilt and suffering, so be it.
The entire ensemble cast of actors do an solid job of assisting Khalaf on his enthralling storytelling. Of special note are Noor as an authoritative and aristocratic Baba who loses everything including his status and his manhood upon translocating to America, without ever giving up hope. Zarif as the lone female company member, is a strong addition as a modern second generation Afghani woman who exercises the options she has in America that she would never have had under the Talaban regime. But the standout supporting performance is Hussain as young Hassan and a dual role in the second act, who is victim to all the most unspeakably heinous violent crimes of the story, and gives a compelling performance to anchor the narrative, and even Amir’s character, upon.
Technically, Scenic and Costume Designer Barney George does an admirable job of creating more with less. His simple, unassuming unit set of a backdrop configuration of picket fence-like projectiles transforms back and forth to city sky lines to city slums with the assist of clever and detailed projections designed by William Simpson and dramatic lighting by Charles Balfour to help choose locations. In addition, Cultural Advisor and Dialect coach Humaira Ghilzai and Tabla Artist Salar Nader add an additional depth of cultural integrity and admirable authenticism to the feel and sound of the production, especially with large blocks of dialogue spoken in Amir and Baba’s native Pashto dialect.
This heart wrenching and eventually heartwarming story of life, trauma, loss, and redemption is only at the Kennedy Center one week, and scheduled opposite the much higher profile national tour of Funny Girl in the Opera House. It would be a shame to have this fall to the side miss this incredibly moving tale, regardless of if you know the story well (thanks, Oprah) or not at all (me). Sometime art comes in abundance. Take advantage of those times.
All photos courtesy of Bekah Lynn Photography
Running Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes with one intermission
The Kite Runner plays through June 30, 2024, in the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at (202) 467-4600 or purchase them online.