Ahmed and the Feather Girl (2016)

“Every night now, he dreams of feather girl. She flies to him, places feather in his hand.”

Our first original adaptation, ThirdSpace (then Windmill Young Actors) was lucky enough to be given permission by Jane Ray to adapt her beautiful novel about youth, friendship, and survival.

Old friends Tanushka Marah and Gina Kawecka joined forces to direct performance of Ahmed and the Feather Girl for 2016’s B.Fest. With Gina lending her writing talent to the script work, the novel’s story came alive on stage with depth and beauty!

The Ahmed cast during performance

As a wholly original adaptation, with no pre-existing script, the writing process was highly collaborative between performer and creative team. The actors’ interpretations of their characters influenced the script in big ways: in order to fully explore the story, Gina ran a series of workshops with the young actors. The young actors had great fun creating fuller characters around the book and took to the themes brilliantly. It offered a richly creative platform for the young actors to discuss and explore their own youth and identities.

Ahmed, portrayed by Zeb Anderson, with the rest of the cast.