Joan Marcus
Perhaps the makers of The Kite Runner (to October 30, Hayes Theater) would be horrified to think that the message of their Broadway show aligns so closely to the homophobia and poisonous prejudice—“groomers,” “pedophiles” and the rest of it—issuing forth from Republican and right-wing mouths of late. But perhaps they wouldn’t be horrified; after all, right there in front of us, they proudly present a gay psychopath who is also a rapist and pedophile and the villain of their show. What a dream night out for anti-gay bigots they have created.
We do not know much else about Assef (Amir Malaklou). The producers of the show—adapted from Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel set in 1970s Afghanistan and America in the 1980s and near-present day—simply make Assef extremely terrible. The manifestation of this evil is his sexuality, which the play inextricably ties to his perverted violence and villainy, which—like a lot in the play—is not discussed or made clear, but still bluntly exploited for plot purposes in this obnoxious production.
The play’s offensive shallowness is exacerbated when considering the present-day plight of LGBTQ Afghans, either trying to stay alive following the Taliban’s takeover or desperately trying to escape the country for their lives.