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Hetty Feather
Birmingham Rep
***** THERE
are some productions where you just need to be there as words don’t
exactly conjure the theatrical magic that’s on display. Hetty
Feather, the stage adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel, is once such
outing. It is an overloaded display of invention, skill and artistry yet
never once does it feel as though it is contrived. Indeed every
idea flows so well you wonder at the editing process brought into being
by director Sally Cookson and her team, whose constant stream of
solutions in effectively bringing this Victorian tale to life is a
triumph in theatre production. Hetty's story
begins with her recounting her childhood years as a product of a stern
orphanage system and her quest to find her true mother. Through the two
hours
Perhaps the
starting point is Katie Sykes’s setting of a circus arena complete with
ladders, ropes and climbing points which all provide the framework on
which the story is told. They all become the upstairs of rooms, the
boughs of an oak and the arena for the circus itself. The cast work over this high rise playground is flawless, exhibiting great feats of physicality all while delivering their lines. Phoebe Thomas as Hetty and Nicki Warwick as Madame Adeline They then
effortlessly transform themselves into a myriad of characters from
crying babies to matrons and London street villains, then back into
circus performers and musicians. Phoebe Thomas
is magnetic as Hetty. With her shock of long red locks flowing during
her own acrobatics, she encapsulates wonderfully the growing child
Hetty, with her emerging wonder and amazement for the world and then
turning storyteller again narrating to us her own life. Mark Kane is
Hetty’s wide eyed brother Gideon and like the rest of cast deliver a
host of other characters. Matt Costain is step brother Jem and matron
Bottomly with Sarah Goddard as Mother Peg and Ida the foundling
hospitals cook.
Nicki Warwick
as Madame Adeline performed the majority of the more complex aerial work
and exited like spider man across the gantries at a couple of points
during the show. Nik Howden played Saul the fated young boy in Hetty’s
troubled life. Benji Bower's music is an integral part of the emotion and atmosphere and was performed by Seamas H Carey and Luke potter. The pair master a whole range of stringed and percussive instruments creating the musical atmosphere, folk ballads and sounds effects that punctuate the action. The direction
never patronises its clearly young audience and difficulty issues such
as death and loss are handled in a sensitive yet realistic manner. This may be a
children’s story but just the excellence of pure stagecraft and
performance ability shine through at every opportunity creating a blend
of magic and entertainment that suits all audiences. Jacqueline Wilson’s tale may be formulaic at times in themes and approach to the era, but the reincarnation of it into this inventive high rise spectacle seems to climb to even greater heights than the book could have done alone. To
12-03-16 Jeff
Grant 08-03-16
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