Hope amid worsening racism - explored at CFT
For its stage adapter Nick Ahad, one of the loveliest things about the book The Boy at the Back of the Class is that it is a book which gives him hope – at a time when he feels quite pessimistic about the way things are going with racism in this country.
Based on Onjali Q Raúf ’s book, Nick’s version of the piece is in Chichester’s Minerva Theatre from Tuesday, February 27-Friday, March 1, directed by Monique Touko.
“It's a book about friendship and kindness but as soon as it was announced, the number of teachers that got in touch and the number of parents who got in touch just saying how much the children loved the book… it was incredible. Onjali is like a rock star to children because of this book and I think it's the fact that the children love it so much that gives me hope for the future.”
There used to be an empty chair at the back of the class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He’s nine years old but never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets. After learning he has fled his own war-torn country, Ahmet’s classmates have The Greatest Idea in the World – a magnificent plan to reunite Ahmet with his family. The result is an unexpected and often hilarious adventure, all topped off by a terrific twist.
“The book came out in 2018 and the people at the Rose Theatre, Kingston we're looking for someone to adapt it. They had read a previous play of mine and they liked the kind of style that I was writing in. I read it and I had a clear idea of how I would like to adapt it and some very specific ideas that I wanted to do. And they liked my vision.”
Nick’s production opened in Kingston earlier this month: “I think the writer has done something really amazing with The
Boy at the Back of the Class. It feels like she should not have to do this but the fact is that she humanises refugees. Refugees have become a problem and a political football but what she has done is reminded us that every refugee is a person. We're so used to hearing about them as statistics and as problems but she has humanised the whole thing in a way that is really important.”
And at a troubling time, says Nick, a second generation Bangladeshi-british: “When I was growing up I experienced a lot of racism. I grew up in the north in quite a poor community in a place in West Yorkshire and
I experienced a lot of racist abuse. I just saw it happening around me. I do feel like there are enormous parallels now with what was happening when I was growing up in the early 80s. The levels of intolerance and hatred feel now like they were when I was a kid. It feels that things have slipped back massively. Not so long ago and I will leave you to work out what it was, but back in 2016 there was a big vote... and the following day a group of blokes drove past me and started chanting at me which wasn't something that happened for a long time. I had grown up seeing that as my reality, and now it was happening again. It felt like we were improving for a long time and then suddenly very much we weren't…”