A Thousand Splendid Suns breaks Rep’s box office records

Birmingham Rep’s stage adaptation of A Thousand Splendid Suns has broken box office records to become one of the venue’s highest attended drama productions ever.

Based on Khaled Hosseini’s gripping and powerful novel, The Rep’s sell-out production was hailed “an essential piece of modern theatre” (What’sOnStage) and “a triumph of theatrical storytelling” (Best of Birmingham).

A co-production with Nottingham Playhouse and Leeds Playhouse, it received rave reviews from public and press and daily standing ovations when it opened to Birmingham audiences on Fri 11 Apr, with over 19,000 audience members coming through The Rep’s doors during its 3-week run.

The production then went on to play to audiences in Leeds and Nottingham, attracting more than 14,500 and 10,000 audiences at each venue respectively.

In total, therefore, the production, which was made here in Birmingham by The Rep, has been enjoyed by over 43,000 people across the UK.

Set in a war-torn 1992 Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns is the unflinching story of survival, resilience and strength of human spirit.

It is just one of a number of recent Rep productions that have embodied the theatre’s commitment to bringing South Asian stories to its stages, with other recent productions including Marriage Material, Community, Bhangra Nation and Tartuffe.

Birmingham Rep chief executive, Rachael Thomas said: “The audience response to our production of A Thousand Splendid Suns was incredibly pleasing for us, with every performance sold out and our waiting lists at maximum capacity.

“Our aim at The Rep is to tell stories that are relevant to all the people of Birmingham, and we were thrilled that this production resonated so deeply with our audiences and garnered such wonderfully positive comments after every performance.

“We attracted a lot of visitors who had never previously been to The Rep, many of them afterwards telling us how much they had enjoyed the whole experience. 

“As a producing theatre, our hugely talented team built everything in the show – from the beautifully painted set, to the props and costumes - in our own workshops here at The Rep.

“This production really proved that The Rep is a theatre for the whole city and all its residents.”

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