Casting announced for A Thousand Splendid Suns at Leeds Playhouse

Roxana Silbert, who directed the critically acclaimed European Premiere of the play at The Rep in May 2019, has returned to helm this new production. She said: “I’m honoured to be revisiting this beautiful adaptation of A Thousand Splendid Suns, one of the final plays I directed at The Rep before I ended my tenure as Artistic Director in 2019. This is a new production in response to the evolving challenges women face in Afghanistan – and sadly even more urgent and necessary today than it was six years ago.”

The cast for this new production is: David Ahmad (Babi, Mullah Faizullah Zaman and Militiaman), Rina Fatania (Mariam), Kerena Jagpal (Laila), Jonas Khan (Rasheed), Jonny Khan (Tariq, Wakil and Driver), Noah Manzoor (Zalmai and Wakil’s Wife), Peyvand Sadeghian (Nana, Fariba and Doctor), Tahir Shah (Jalis, Abdul Sharif, Interrogator and Militia Man) and Humera Syed (Young Mariam, Asia and Nurse).

Joining Roxana on the creative team are: Set and Costume Designer Simon Kenny, Lighting Designer Matt Haskins, Sound Designer Clive Meldrum, Composer Elaha Soroor, Movement Director Kuldip Singh Barmi, Fight Director Rachid Sabitri, Fight Director Jessica Hrabowsky, Casting Director Helena Palmer and Assistant Director Massi Safa.

Khaled Hosseini’s international best-selling novel is the powerful story of three generations of women discovering strength in unity and finding hope in the unlikeliest of places. Set in 1992 in an Afghanistan ravaged by war, an orphaned Laila is left alone in an increasingly threatening world. Her older neighbour Rasheed is quick to open his home and takes Laila as his second wife.

Rasheed’s first wife Mariam has no choice but to accept her younger, and now pregnant, rival. 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. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, love grows and sustains the human spirit even during the hardest of times.

Playwright Ursula Rani Sarma said: “This play is about the immense strength and endurance of women and how they can survive tremendous suffering to keep those they love alive. It is also about how even in the darkest of times and places, love can grow and sustain the human spirit beyond all pain and hardship. It’s about friendship and loyalty, courage and selflessness, grief and violence. What the play has to say about love, endurance and survival is very much worth listening to for a contemporary audience. There is beauty and strength at the heart of A Thousand Splendid Suns, and I feel so proud to be part of its evolution from novel to stage.’”

A Thousand Splendid Suns plays at Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse 28 May-14 June. Tickets are available here.