The Healing Power of Forgiveness: In The Kite Runner, coming to Knight Theater May 14 & 15, redemption saves a man consumed by guilt

Although set primarily in 1970s Afghanistan, The Kite Runner has universal appeal.

Its major themes – friendship, fathers and sons, forgiveness – cut across cultures. Yet the global success of the 2003 novel shocked its Kabul-born author, Khaled Hosseini.

(Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner)

“For much of [the book], the protagonist was cowardly, self-involved, covetous, needy, dishonest, unethical and infuriating,” Hosseini wrote in Literary Hub last October. “Meanwhile, the characters who were actually noble, true and just fell to the worst fates … Not the ideal formula for a bestseller.”

Yet, in the U.S. alone, the book has sold more than 7 million copies.

After reading it, playwright Matthew Spangler, who teaches immigration studies, contacted Hosseini to ask about adapting the story for Broadway. His script closely adheres to the source material. The show – which Variety called “a heartbreaker” and “so uplifting, it’s worth the pain” – comes to the Knight Theater May 14 and 15.

The story spans two decades, two continents and concerns childhood friends who are torn apart. The “uplifting” part comes in when, years later, one friend seeks redemption for his act of betrayal.

Hosseini was working as a doctor in California when he wrote the book he hoped would show readers there’s more to his homeland than war and drugs. While there is beauty in the story, there’s also a heaviness to it.  

“The play comes with trigger warnings,” said Giles Horne, assistant stage manager for the Broadway tour. “There’s gun violence, sexual assault, language, graphic storytelling.”

‘It rips your heart out’

Horne was touring with Six when he learned about The Kite Runner tour. “I read the script in the back of the tour bus – and wept,” he said. “It rips your heart out.”

He’s learned more about Afghanistan’s rich culture from a cultural advisor hired to educate the cast and crew on the story’s backdrop. Horne said it’s “an honor to share the story with American audiences.”

(The Kite Runner National Touring Company - Photo by Bekah Lynn Photography) 

Audiences often react to the play as Horne did. “There are audible gasps; there’s audible crying,” he said. “It strikes a chord with people. It’s an eye opener that’s beautiful, but heavy.”

When not on the road, Horne lives in New York. But he grew up in Gastonia and served as a Junior Ambassador for the Blumenthal from 2010 through 2012. “Coming back to Charlotte with this show is pretty special,” he said. “The Blumenthal was a pivotal place for me. It’s where I first fell in love with Broadway.”

Friends torn asunder

At the heart of The Kite Runner are two adolescent best friends.

One – Amir, a child of privilege and the story’s narrator – moves to the U.S. but can’t escape the memory of his failure to defend his kite-running partner, Hassan, from a vicious bully.

The adult Amir is consumed with guilt. So, when he gets a call from someone who says cryptically, “There is a way to be good again,” he embarks on a dangerous trip, on the eve of the American invasion, into Taliban-controlled Kabul.

The same actors play their characters as 12-year-olds and as adults. And they do it without a change in wardrobe, hair or makeup, Horne said. They change their tone of voice and mannerisms.

(Shahzeb Zahid Hussain (L) and Ramzi Khalaf (R) - Photo by Bekah Lynn Photography) 

He described the set as “minimal,” but said “cool stagecraft and beautiful projections help the audience imagine the setting,” whether that’s a field in Afghanistan or a market in California. Music helps conjure a sense of place, too. Salar Nader held Broadway audiences spellbound with his tabla playing, and he’s part of the touring company, too.

The tabla consists of two small drums of slightly different sizes that produce an almost haunting sound. (It’s perfect for a story about a man haunted by memories of his own wrongdoing.) The tabla player uses his fingers and palms, moving in different configurations, to create the rhythms of a musical genre prevalent in Afghanistan, India and nearby countries.

(Salar Nader - Photo by Bekah Lynn Photography) 

The show is directed by Giles Croft, a British playwright and theater director, who Horne said told the cast, “Stay true to the material. Just tell the story without embellishing or overdoing it.”

When a story is as inherently dramatic as this one, hamming it up is unnecessary. Redemption is powerful enough on its own.

(The Kite Runner National Touring Company - Photo by Bekah Lynn Photography)