Adapted into a stunning stage production that has already mesmerised audiences across the UK, The Kite Runner will transfer to the Wyndham’s Theatre from Wednesday 21 December.
The Kite Runner, published in 2003, was Khaled Hosseini’s first novel. It became an instant bestseller across the globe and has since been published in 70 countries, selling 31.5 million copies in 60 languages.
The story follows Amir, a young boy from Kabul, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father’s young Hazara servant. Set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime, The Kite Runner charts a friendship that spans cultures and continents, as one man journeys to confront his past and find redemption.
Hosseini said: “The Kite Runner is a story that appeals to very powerful, universal human emotions, it transcends its cultural setting, its geographic parameters, and speaks about universal human experiences – brotherhood, being a father, being a son, friendship, the desire to be a good person and be able to look at yourself in a mirror with a sense of self-respect.”
The cast will be lead by Ben Turner as Amir, perhaps best known as Jay Faldren from BBC1’s Casualty. He said of the show: “There’s something almost Shakespearian about this story, the things it deals with are so big. It’s betrayal, revenge, redemption. We all make mistakes, we can all look back and think I shouldn’t have done that. This story embodies that. On stage, the story can’t help but suck an audience in. You can hear a pin drop and weeping in the audience. People are obviously deeply affected by it.”
The Kite Runner will open at the Wyndham’s Theatre from Wednesday 21 December 2016 for a strictly limited 12 week season, following Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Harold Pinter’s classic power play, No Man’s Land.