Firebird tells the excruciating tale of a fourteen-year-old girl named Tia who we see groomed into a Asian sex ring and brutally abused. Tia, played by Callie Cooke, is lured into the car of AJ (Phadlut Sharma) after meeting him in a local kebab shop. We painfully watch AJ tease and poke at Tia’s emotions and insecurities, expertly manipulating her to come to a party with him. Many men rape her, many times. She is gang-raped and sexually exploited for money and to repay drug debts on a regular basis. She is plied with alcohol and locked in a room with only a bloody bed. I must stress that although this is not acted out on stage, the play is still very explicate and deeply distressing. Watching her exploitation is painful; this play is not entertainment. The abuse she suffers is almost unbearable to watch and I witnessed many of my fellow audience members physically pulling backward in their seats struggling with the sight of what is displayed in front of them in such an intimate proximity.
Phil Davis has crafted a masterpiece – repulsive and abhorrent though the subject matter is, it is still a masterpiece. It is truthful and unapologetic in its words and the events are relayed skilfully. This really is phenomenal writing. Cooke is exceptional in her role as Tia, the depth and complexity of the character remaining intact through the outwardly confident exterior of this young girl. It is detailed and brave work by the recent Arts Ed graduate. Sharma plays AJ with delicate intensity. This is outstanding and challenging work and Sharma is able to subtly display the weaknesses and vulnerability of this character as well as the obvious menace. Tahirah Sharif plays Tia’s only friend Katie, another young girl who is also vulnerable, though not yet taken by the same fate as her friend. Sharif has wonderful energy and a youthful spirit that suits her character perfectly, aptly displaying the charming and enthusiastic traits that had been once present in Tia.
This play is practically faultless. The writing is exceptional, the direction is outstanding and the delivery by all three actors is quite incomparable. The only thing wrong with this production? Its audience. As I sat there with waves of grief and horror coursing through my veins at what I had just witnessed, I was saddened and disappointed that the people who need to see this play will probably never get the chance. We exit the theatre and discuss a new and exciting play at the bar with a drink and go back to our comfortable lives, perhaps a little more aware but inevitable unchanged. This play has the potential to change a young person’s life completely, and I write that with absolute sincerity; it is superb, honest and brutal, but will those in desperate need of seeing this play ever get to see it? Painfully, I confess, I doubt it.
Firebird is playing at Trafalgar Studios until 19 March. For more information and tickets, see the ATG Tickets website. Photo: Robert Day