University of Portsmouth: First Year Diary

April 2018- Part 2: 'The Kite Runner' Play

The week after I came back from Easter, I went to see the touring production of the stage adaption of Khaled Hosseini's 2003 novel 'The Kite Runner'. I enjoyed it very much.
I have read and analysed the book quite considerably, considering I studied it as part of my English language and literature A-level. However beyond that, I thought that it was one of the best books that I have ever read.
Without going onto details about the plot, I just want to say that I felt that the stage adaption was very faithful to the source material from the novel, much more so than the 2007 film directed by Marc Foster.
The production played out key scenes from the film, narrated by the main protagonist Amir, mainly using passages taken directly from the novel. Underpinning this was a tone of traditional Afghan music, which played live throughout the performance, aptly performed by someone dedicated to that role. The production also started in this way too, to create a certain atmosphere whilst the audience was filing into the auditorium at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.
The play didn't shy away from mentioning some of the more sensitive plot points, but engaged with them in a tasteful way, so I wouldn't say it was necessarily harrowing, which is a good thing for a piece of live entertainment.
Overall, I'm glad I went to see 'The Kite Runner' , and seeing the play bring me one step closer to my intention of eventually consuming the story in all its different formats. I've read the book, I've seen the film and seen the play, but I am yet to read the graphic novel or the illustrated version of the novel itself, along with any other existing versions I may have missed out, which I believe, as with every iteration I have witnessed so far, will bring a whole new dimension to the story of Amir and Hassan, which will doubtless go down in history as a timeless classic.