Review: The Kite Runner at The Lowry “will leave you in tears of joy and hope”

The Kite Runner will have you gasping and crying with tears of happiness and sorrow. 

The Kite Runner follows Amir, a young boy in Afghanistan during the 70’s and his relationship with his friend Hassan. We go through their life together and then a tragic incident separates the two. It is based on the book of the same name written by Khaled Hosseini. 

The stage is set up with a backdrop of San Francisco and has a screen which plays different animation. When you walk in, Hanif Khan is playing music, and it sets the ambience very well. He is playing drums that originate from South Asia and I have never felt more at home. The music is my favourite part, with it having traditional drums it made it sound like we were in the Middle East. Khan was sat down throughout the performance and played when needed. When the kites were being flown, the ensemble would come out and use racket noise makers to emulate the sound of wind, and I thought that it was really inventive. They have two kite looking wings that drop down and sometimes display animations to further the story or give a visual representation of what is being told on stage. 

This play had a lot of intense moments, and I was gripped to my seat, itching closer to the stage to hear better. The performances made these moments significantly more intense. A personal favourite of mine was Yazdan Qafouri who plays Hassan. Hassan is a very optimistic and bright soul and Qafouri brings it to life so much so that I am already attached to him ten minutes in. There is an innocence to him that makes you want to protect him. Stuart Vincent who plays Amir on the other hand, has a very different outlook on life than Hassan. The two push and pull their differences and their outlooks on life throughout the play and it showcases the different mindsets of children. Vincent leads the play with his narration which was very similar to the book passages with a good few changes. Every time he narrates, he is a confident speaker, and he is older telling us about his past, and he gestures with his hands but whenever he is back to interacting with the cast, he becomes closed off and shy. This is a detail I loved because it shows his development as a person and the man we will see later on in the show. 

Giles Croft directed the show and I think he did an amazing job! The story held up throughout and I followed along easily. Whenever Vincent would narrate, he would stand in the corner of the stage and the lights would fade ever so slightly to bring the attention onto him. It was a creative way of doing so as Vincent moves to re-join his cast-mates after he is finished. 

The Kite Runner is an emotional piece, full of joy and sorrow and it will have you leaving the theatre in tears feeling hopeful. 

The Kite Runner is playing at The Lowry until 11^th of May, and you can book tickets here.