The Kite Runner

by Matthew Spangler (Adapter), Khaled Hosseini

I became what I am today at the age of twelve. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a mud wall on a frigid winter day in 1975 . . . looking into a deserted alley. It's wrong what they say about the past, about how you can bury it, because the past claws its way out. I realize I've been looking into that alley for the last 26 years.

Afghanistan is a divided country on the verge of war and two childhood friends are about to be torn apart. It's a beautiful afternoon in Kabul and the skies are full of the excitement and joy of a kite flying tournament. But neither Hassan or Amir can foresee the terrible incident which will shatter their lives forever.

Khaled Hosseini's first and international best-selling novel has now been adapted into a stunning stage adaptation by Matthew Spangler.

Genres: Plays

100 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2016

About the author

Matthew Spangler is an award-winning playwright and director. His adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner received five San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, including Best Original Script and Best Overall Production, and has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, and the UK. Some of his other plays include The Tortilla Curtain, adapted from the novel by T. C. Boyle; Albatross, based on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which was produced off-Broadway; Together Tea, from the novel by Marjan Kamali; and A Paradise It Seems, based on John Cheever's short stories. He is professor of performance studies at San José State University in California.

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The richness of Hosseini’s characters and world building are almost entirely stripped away to deliver only the hard gut punches of the original plot. It is still affective storytelling given that it is a novel adaptation into a stage play, but I can’t help that too much was left with the director and actors to fill in the gaps that the playwright should have done himself.

Much of what makes The Kite Runner impactful is the relationship between Amir and Hassan, and while the playwright should dedicates its first half to building such a relationship, the second half rushes the relationship’s development and consequences to justify the final moments of the play.

Nonetheless, this is a difficult piece to adapt that the playwright executed fairly well. Though this adaptation focuses only on the plot points that make the story beautiful, it is easy to imagine a dedicated cast coming in and adding muscle to the bone.

[Jana Schleis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written story. Took me a bit to get into but again well written and impactful.

[Meghaa Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kite Runner Play Script adapted by Mathew Spangler based on the novel by Khalid Hosseini. Khalid Hosseini
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I wanted to start reading play scripts and screenplays. While I Google and don't search anymore when it comes to books I still choose walking into a book store. There is nothing that comes close to the calling of a book or the discovery of one in person walking from aisle to aisle, shelf to shelf, pile to pile. I read this book by Khalid Hosseini years ago and it stayed with me vividly. I also saw the movie and it once again touched the deepest parts of my soul. So when I decided to read a play script and walked into Title Waves for a book to call out, the last thing I expected was to see this one in a lower shelf of an obscure corner. Knowing a story and then reading its play script is such an enriching experience. From the science and art of writing one to the finer nuances of Mathew Spangler mentioning what kind of music, how many beats, the movement of the ensemble, this book has compelled me to visualize the stage and the characters with such vividness. The circle needs to be completed and I hope I get to see this play at some point soon!

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

holy everything, would love to see this staged 🥺

[ijwcnmx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tried to conjure Ali’s frozen face, to really see his tranquil eyes, but time can be a greedy thing--sometimes it steals all the details for itself.‼️

Yes indeed,” the old beggar said. “We used to sit and talk after class. The last time was on a rainy day just before final exams when we shared a marvelous slice of almond cake together. Almond cake with hot tea and honey. She was rather obviously pregnant by then, and all the more beautiful for it. I will never forget what she said to me that day.”
“What? Please tell me.” Baba had always described my mother to me in broad strokes, like, “She was a great woman.” But what I had always thirsted for were the details: the way her hair glinted in the sunlight, her favorite ice cream flavor, the songs she liked to hum, did she bite her nails? Baba took his memories of her to the grave with him. Maybe speaking her name would have reminded him of his guilt, of what he had done so soon after she had died. Or maybe his loss had been so great, his pain so deep, he couldn’t bear to talk about her. Maybe both.
“She said, ‘I’m so afraid.’ And I said, ‘Why?,’ and she said, ‘Because I’m so profoundly happy, Dr. Rasul. Happiness like this is frightening.’ I asked her why and she said, ‘They only let you be this happy if they’re preparing to take something from you,’ and I said,
‘Hush up, now. Enough of this silliness.”

For you, a thousand times over!

Strangely, I was glad that someone knew me for who I really was; I was tired of pretending.

Hassan returned the smile. Except his didn’t look forced. “I know,” he said. And that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

I thought of Rahim Khan and the little note of support he had written me after he’d read my first story. And I thought of Hassan. Some day, Inshallah, you will be a great writer, he had said once, and people all over the world will read your stories. There was so much goodness in my life. So much happiness. I wondered whether I deserved any of it.
Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.”

his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase.💔

Then I realized something: That last thought had brought no sting with it. Closing Sohrab’s door, I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father’s remorse. Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.

That’s how children deal with terror. They fall asleep.😭

winners won📌

Amir and Hassan. The Sultans of Kabul.🤌

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to read a novel turned into a play, especially when the novel is so incredibly rich. Spangler gets most of the key scenes and many of the original lines, but I wonder if this story is too full for a play, even one with as many scenes as this one. I see Spangler's keen efforts at walking the audience (and ensemble) through much of the interpretation, since some of them may not have read the original novel. So, understandably, many of the stage directions and lines are on the nose. It takes away from the reader's experience of it. Of course, he had to make some hard choices re. which key scenes to keep vs. not. There are the obvious hard-hitters -- the absolute necessities to paint the character and story arch, but man. The scene I missed the most was the one of Baba walking with slow dignity to ask for Soraya's father's blessing for his son.

Too much of the development is clipped and quick. Too much relies on single lines of text and some ensemble movements and music. Some of the modern musical suggestions felt a bit disorienting to me, such as "Brown Eyed Girl." I didn't read the Soraya-Amir love story with that tone.

The pivotal heart-wrenching moments lose so much in this adaptation, but I respect Spangler for attempting it. What a challenging task. I imagine it's still a powerful experience to watch it on the stage. Reading it on paper is a quick enterprise -- seeing it on stage for about 2hrs would likely be more emotionally compelling. Still, I look forward to learning from him this summer.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great adaptation of the book. A heartfelt narrative complemented with carefully crafted text, resulting in an emotional spectacle performed on stage. Worth a read if you have seen the film or read the novel, but in my opinion, the play seems to capture the raw essence of the story more thoroughly and is considerably more efficient.

[Oda Jensberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traumatizingly beautiful. 10/10 would read again <3