On reading Matthew’s adaptation of The Kite Runner, I was struck by how he’d captured the essence of the novel whilst fashioning a platform for an exhilarating piece of ensemble theater. I knew that, with the right creative partners, it was a story that I could turn into a work that would have great impact in Nottingham, the city in which I worked and a city which has become home for many migrant communities (including Afghan) over the last 100 years. I had no expectation that the production would last more than the eight weeks of the initial run, yet 11 years later, we’re embarking on our 10th iteration. That success is a testament to Hosseini’s brilliant novel, the excellence of Matthew’s adaption as well as the conjunction of the originating creative team’s talents. Less happily, it is also evidence that world events continually reinforce the importance of telling the most human of tragic of stories: persecution, cruelty and flight.