The Firebird

Saikat Majumdar

For ten-year-old Ori, his mother’s life as a theatre actor holds as much fascination as it does fear. Approaching adolescence in an unstable home, he is haunted by her nightly stage appearances, and the suspicion and resentment her profession evokes in people around her, at home and among their neighbours. Increasingly consumed by an obsessive hatred of the stage, Ori is irrevocably drawn into a pattern of behaviour that can only have catastrophic consequences. Political bullies, actors, hairdressers, set boys and backstage crew make up the world of The Firebird, a visceral exploration of a young boy stumbling into adulthood far ahead of his years.