Outrage over US play about Afghan 'dancing boys'

When it comes to theatre and filmmaking in the West, portrayals of Afghanistan often don't go beyond women in blue burqas and men carrying AK-47s.

But in 2017, two Americans attempted something unconventional. Lyricist Charlie Sohne and composer Tim Rosser created a musical about a subject even Afghans would consider too sensitive and unsettling - "bacha bazi" or "boy play".

Bacha bazi is a practice whereby wealthy, powerful older men buy and keep adolescent boys - known as dancing boys - for entertainment and sex. The boys are trained to dance seductively at male-only parties and often sexually abused.

The Boy Who Danced on Air told a love story between a 16-year-old boy, Paiman, and another young boy caught in the same bacha bazi practice.

The musical mostly made a good impression on theatre critics; it was called "courageous, thoughtful and beautiful". One review, in the New York Times, called the subject matter "troubling" and said Sohne and Rosser had "taken the challenge of difficult source material too far".

Fast-forward to 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic forced theatres to close, and The Boy Who Danced on Air joined many other productions on online streaming services instead. But, unexpectedly, the move provoked a wave of outrage and criticism from Afghans living around the world, who, learning of the musical for the first time, accused it of romanticising child sexual abuse and child rape.