Arena Stage: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Wow.  That would be a good place to start.  If you're familiar with the novels (there are only 3) of Khalid Hosseni, (and even if you're not, you might still have seen the one that was turned into a movie, "The Kite Runner"), you would know that his work is both epic in its story line and expansive in its historical and cultural presentation.  The next logical thought would be, how on earth can that be done well on stage?  I have the answer: in Ursula Rani Sarma's lyrically woven adaptation of "A Thousand Splendid Suns".

From the very first instant that the lights come up and individuals appear dragging long carpets laden items of personal importance across the stage in opposite directions, you know this is not going to be an easy story.  In fact, it is a very difficult one filled with tragedy and cruelty and sorrow.  If it were not for the exceptional humanity of the two women at the heart of the tale, it would be unbearable.  It is the bond they forge and the courage they display that transforms all the injustice and evil into something exquisite, something with meaning, something transcendent.  There was an after-show Q & A with a couple of members of the cast moderated by an Afghan specialist from the history department at Georgetown University.  He began the conversation by asking those of us who remained to shout out a single word characterizing our immediate feelings at the end of the show.  I shouted "resilience".

Hosseni lives in San Jose, California.  Although he did not adapt the story to the stage, he did work closely with the playwright.  The entire collaboration was underwritten by the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco where it was premiered in 2017 and the Theatre Calgary in Manitoba, Canada.  That production went on from San Francisco to play in San Diego, Seattle, Calgary and Toronto.  This production is basically a continuation of that run with both members of the original cast and others who joined along the way.  All of the actors have heritages tied to the Middle East and South Central Asia from Lebanon to India including Afghanistan.  Not surprisingly, all were also new to me.

The central triad around which the story is framed are Rasheed, an educated cobbler who rescues a neighbor's teenage daughter after her home is bombed by the Russians and her parents are killed in 1992.  Her father was a professor and she is also well educated.  Rasheed has watched her grow up and sees her as a worthy prize.  He then manipulates her into accepting his marriage proposal and she becomes his second wife.  Mariam is his first wife who was the bastard child of a wealthy cinema owner in Kabul, her mother having been a servant in the man's home.  She is now older and barren, and Rasheed is ready to move on.  Laila, the fifteen-year-old with dreams of escaping with her parents to Pakistan to reunite with her childhood sweetheart until the Russian bomb hits her home and changes everything.  The story cover 20 years moving from the Russians to the Mujahideen to the Taliban.  The two woman grow from being rivals to inseparable advocates and friends (another audience member at the onset of the post show discussion shouted out "sisterhood") even as their husband grows more and more despotic.

A riveting story is worthless without actors up to the task.  Each and every member of this ensemble were, and to choose one as more talented than another is not possible.  To single out the performance that I found most compelling as a matter of personal opinion with no disparaging thought to any other?  This I can do.  Hend Ayoub in the role of Mariam.  Her performance in some ways was the most essential to the telling.  She knew how to be just enough in every moment so that moments that mattered more rose to the top of the crest in the ebb and flow of each character's energy within the plot.  Because she did not simply create an arc rising steadily toward her final scene, but rather a succession of ever more intense moments like waves landing a beach before an impending storm, she was able to  deliver a culminating moment for her character that literally took my breath away!  I have to honor that with a shout out.

I see a lot of new theatre.  I'm becoming more familiar with certain playwrights.  I generally like experiencing something fresh and innovative, even if a lot of what I see never fully rises to the pinnacle of excellence.  This production of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" shines over and above anything I've seen in a while.   It's brilliance really does deserve the word Excellent.

Laila and her mother packing for the escape, unaware of the pending tragedy.

Recovered from her injuries, Rasheed forces marraige upon Laila as his first with Mariam looks on.

The birth of Aziza, deepens the hatred that Mariam feels toward Laila until a pivotal moment with Rasheed and the tables are turned, a new bond is born. 

In a flashback, Mariam recalls her fathers last visit.  As she dreams of a closer relationship, he plans to sell her off to the cobbler, Rasheed.

In a failed attempt to escape, the two woman look for a stranger to help them.

A moment of levity with Laila, the now teenage Aziza, Mariam and Zalmai (Laila's second child).  The scene where she is forced to endure a Cesarean section to birth Zalmai without anesthesia in a women's hospital was so visceral, I felt nausea to the point of pressing the palm of my hand against the base of my throat to suppress the urge to wretch.