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I'm so happy to be here at the Foundling Museum today, talking about Hetty is making me realise
Hetty is going to be on the stage. Hetty Feather is a little spirited foundling child who's
brought up with very strict rules. Hetty is a bit of a rebel and eventually all sorts
of exciting and amazing things happen to her. I'm bringing one of Jacqueline Wilson's most
loved characters to life. Children and families who have read the story they have their own
vision of Hetty and their own interpretation. So it is quite daunting. Sally is a extraordinary
director, I can't wait to see what she's down with the play. Hetty has a natural theatricality,
as soon as I read it I could imagine it on stage. What's fantastic about Hetty Feather
is that it's got huge heart. I think fundamentally it addresses the need we all have for a sense of belonging.
The story is one of poverty but out of that is springing Hetty's fantastic spirit,
she's got this brilliant 'I can get through anything' spirit.
The umbrella of the whole thing is this circus world, Hetty aspires to perform in the circus, and that
gives us a fantastic concept for the style of theatre that we're going to tell the story in.
So this is the rehearsal room and this is our rig that we have that the moment which
is a smaller version of what we'll have in the real thing. We're a week in now and we've done a lot of circus
skills work, a lot of climbing and swinging through hoops. This is juggling, we've got
ring work, and these are silks which you climb up and slide down and you can make cocoons in them as well.
The idea is to bring the music on stage, get as much of the cast playing instruments.
It's going to be a brilliant family piece of theatre that's going to have
an enormous heart. This story in particular really does tackle themes that relate to everyone,
so I really would be encouraging everyone to come along and see it.