The European stage première of Khaled Hosseini’s spiritual sequel to The Kite Runner is now at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and last night I was lucky enough to go along to the press night to see how it fared up in comparison to The Kite Runner which had me feel every emotion humanly possible and left me telling everyone that it was my favourite theatre production of the year.
We arrived, took our seats and admired the fantastic stage scenery. We were in Kabul and ready for the show to start.
The production begins with a catchy song about how beautiful Kabul is and we begin to get to know Laila (Sujaya Dasgupta) and her family before tragically she is left orphaned after a shell bombs her home.
It’s now 1992 in an Afghanistan ravaged by war, orphaned Laila (who at this point is still only 15 years old) is left alone in an increasingly threatening world, a scene is set as we are told of the horrors women can expect if they are not ‘protected’ by a husband . Her older neighbour Rasheed (Pal Aron) finds her in the rubble, nurses her back to health and is quick to open his home and takes Laila as his second wife, much to Mariams annoyance. Mariam (Amina Zia) is Rasheeds first wife who also was only a child when she was married to Rasheed, her life story stirs many emotions throughout this play.
As the Taliban take over, life for all of them becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, and the two women find themselves unlikely allies.
The production puts you on a roller-coaster of emotions. At one moment you can be laughing “She’s sturdy, if she were a car she would be a Skoda” – Rasheeds description of Mariam and “You can be the Iceberg” – Aziza (Lailas daughter acted by Shala Nyx) to her brother when he wanted to join in with her acting of the Titanic scene. And the next moment you can be squirming in your seat as Laila has a cesarean minus anaesthetic as the Taliban had stopped use of such items. And at various points, your eyes fill with tears but I don’t want to spoil the whole play. I want you to go and watch it and fall in love with it like I did.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a story of love, strength (in numbers) and resilience.
I could watch this production again and again.
The acting in this production was great and it is hard to single out one particular person as being ‘the best’, they worked as a fantastic team. But, if I had to choose, it would be a close call between Amina Zia (Mariam) and Sujaya Dasgupta (Laila) who together formed the perfect unity. Acting in a way where you could feel in your bones, the feelings that they were portraying.
The lighting for the show was fantastic, but you do not expect anything other than this when Simon Bond is in control. He is the man behind the lighting for Penguins, The Hundred and One Dalmatians and Jekyll and Hyde, among many more. Another firm favourite of mine is international award winning designer Ana Inés Jabares-Pita who was responsible for the design of The Lovely Bones. Ana has gone above and beyond for this show again.
Every one responsible for the creation of this production deserves praise.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is playing at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until 18th May 2019. For more information and tickets please find them here on The Reps website: https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/a-thousand-splendid-suns.html#event-datesTimes
Disclaimer: I was invited along to the press show and have written an honest review in return.
Photographs provided by Birmingham Rep – taken by Pamela Raith Photography