Kite Runner comes to life at New Rep

by Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer 

New Rep's season opens with The Kite Runner, an adaptation by Matthew Spangler, of the popular novel (and later movie) by Khaled Hosseini.  I will confess that I have not read the book nor seen the movie.  The play centers on Amir's journey growing up in Afghanistan in the 70s and his experiences both in his home country and later as he and his father flee to the US.  The play has both a young and an old Amir, whom we often times see together, and it is through his/their eyes that the audience is taken on a journey showing differences in class, religion, and a juxtaposition of war-torn life and escape against a new life in the US.  

We see Amir as a young boy playing with Hassan, who is the son of Amir's father's servant; the two spend all their time together.  It becomes clear that Hassan is incredibly loyal to Amir and would do anything for him.  The boys compete in kite competitions with Hassan as the kite runner.  After one competition, there is an incident in which Amir secretly witnesses something terrible happening to Hassan and does nothing to stop it.  This incident is one that continues to haunt Amir for many years as he searches for forgiveness and to free himself of secrets.  There are a few moments in the story where it almost lost me – where I found it was just too much – however, they were few and in the end it, it worked out and seemed believable.  

New Rep has assembled a very strong cast under the nuanced direction of Elaine Vaan Hogue.  There were quiet moments where you can feel the whole audience is deeply involved in the play.  In addition, there were some rather beautiful moments including the scene with the kite flying where the space is used very effectively, bringing some of the action out into the audience.  There were some violent scenes, and I felt myself being worried for the character, not being worried for the actor – I comment the violence designer, Robert Najarian.

Overall this was a very solid and moving play.  I found it even more timely that opening night was on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11.  These are issues that are still in the public's mind and it was thrilling to see this story brought to life in front of me.