Khalid Hosseini 2007 novel earned widespread critical acclaim when published and was adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma in 2017. Unlike his first book The Kite Runner which had a West End run in 2017 and focused on male friendship and Father- Son relationships, this extraordinary story is focused on the relationship between two women in the highly oppressive regime of Afghanistan in the not too distant past. It is an incredibly moving and powerful story that is educational and shocking to the Western eye as it exposes the truths behind the headlines of the Taliban regime. It will make an immense film if it ever makes it to the screen, but in the meantime, you should go and see this production at The NST Southampton as it brings real understanding about a culture that it is hard to believe or understand.
It takes its title from a poem about Kabul which describes the beautiful idyllic city which is beloved by the characters but now worn torn and being destroyed by terrorists and bombings. The central character is Laila, played with an intelligent and understated calm by Sujaya Dasgupta who is orphaned of her more western family in the war and taken as a second wife by the more traditional and fervent Rasheed (Pal Aron). The harsh relationship between the two of them and his first wife Mariam, isolated after 18 years of marriage to him forms the basis of the story as war and totalitarian religious state engulfs their homeland. The indignities and oppression the two women suffer creates a strong bond between them that it hard not to be moved by.
