This delightful show has everything you could want for intergenerational audiences looking for meaning in relationships and hope for our futures. Designed to easily tour schools and theatres, with a set that easily adapts to the story’s needs, Feathers should be a favourite for many seasons to come.
Eight puppets made entirely from reclaimed materials carve through the space in a classic narrative following an individual’s ‘quest for belonging’. The fact that the individual is a human-sized ferret with a major identity issue immediately sets audiences up for a journey that is both ages old and acutely contemporary.
The characters are all Australian birds except, of course the ferret called ‘Feathers’. Each has been constructed by the highly skilled team of Bryony Anderson (Lead designer) Mads Hillam, Gretta Jean and Danny Miller.
The detailed construction in both the large ‘Feathers’ and ‘Patsy’ the powerful owl, and smaller scaled puppets, two pink cockatoos, the lyrebird, a great white egret and a bee eater, support the focus on individuality, personality and deep respect for the immense diversity of life forms.
Even the more stylised and deliberately ‘cute’ featherless ‘Duck’ has such a wide range of movement capability that it can carry its important support role throughout the show. The variety of textures and detail in articulation is a study in the relationships of form and movement.
Feathers: the humans
The humans behind these puppet’s performances are also the key to this finely tuned and clearly structured work.
Noah Casey has really developed his skills in bringing each creature to its personal version of life, while Genevieve Butler’s physical comedy background exudes from inside the title role puppet.
‘Feathers’ loose and buoyant fur, constructed of mesh and 1,700 pieces of recycled T-shirts with a yoga mat hidden in his tail for extra bounce, emphasises every nuanced stage of his search and willingness to please.
Directed by Sam Routledge, they are joined on stage by the strong presence of Jem Nicholas as bird watcher with a slight nod to the khaki Irwin family as narrator and voice performer. Also essential are the hidden team members, assistant stage manager and performer Louise Stubs, and Olivia Vermey off-stage on vital sound cues.
The performances are tight and generous drawing the audience into the on-stage world through their flexible use of the simple set with minimal props.
…and the audiences’ feedback? The two five-year-olds each side of me were engrossed throughout and clearly understood and explained the lessons ‘Feathers’ learned in his quest, while the rest of us left with a stronger belief in humanity. Thank you again Terrapin.
Feathers was performed at the Theatre Royal in Hobart from 2 to 4 October 2025. It will be performed in Launceston’s Theatre North on 7–8 October October 7-8 and Deloraine’s Little Theatre on 9 October 2025.
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