Hetty Feather

Emma Jane Reeves

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781783191765
• eBook ISBN:
  9781783196753
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: British Drama

TREMBLE as she faces Matron Stinking Bottomly.

THRILL as she discovers the squirrel house and Tanglefield's Travelling Circus.

GASP as she endures a night locked in the attic.

QUAKE as she braves the scary streets of Victorian London and CHEER as she overcomes all in the search to find her real mother and a true family of her own.

From bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, the tale of plucky Hetty Feather is brought thrillingly to life on stage by award-winning script writer Emma Reeves (CBBC's The Story of Tracy Beaker) and the Olivier Award-Nominated director Sally Cookson whose many five-star productions include Peter Pan, We're Going on a Bearhunt and Stick Man. With a huge heart, Hetty Feather is a terrific adventure story!

'The play sticks to my basic story, but with many inventive touches that constantly took me by surprise… [it] was a magical experience.' Jacqueline Wilson

ACT ONE

SCENE 1 – HETTY OPENING

A simple, circus-themed set which can be used to create multiple locations. Rigging for aerial work – a hanging hoop, ropes, silks. There are no set changes – performers move items to create locations as necessary. The action flows smoothly, moving effortlessly between the prosaic reality of HETTY’s life and the limitless soaring of her imagination.

The ENSEMBLE enter. They lift HETTY into the aerial hoop. Music begins:

HETTY

Everyone says you can’t remember back to when you were a baby.

They’re wrong. What they mean is, they can’t remember. But I can. I can remember everything…

I remember the moment I was born. Fighting my way out…

I remember when my mother held me in her arms for the first time. I looked up into her big blue eyes – just like mine – and I knew then, that she loved me more than anything in the world.

She did. That’s what matters. Everything that happened afterwards…well, none of it was her fault.

She loved me so much it hurt. She would hold me close and stroke my hair – even though it’s red.

(Sings.)

I will love you all the day
In my heart you’ll always stay
Even if I have to stray
Over the hills and far away…

Say my name. The special name that you gave me. It must have been beautiful, like you – and I’m sure it was blue, like our eyes. Maybe it was…

ENSEMBLE

Bluebell.

HETTY

Bluebell. Or –

ENSEMBLE

Sky.

HETTY

Sky. Maybe I’m –

ENSEMBLE

Forget-me-not.

HETTY

Forget-me-not… Or –

ENSEMBLE

Ocean.

HETTY

Ocean… Maybe I’m …?

ENSEMBLE

Azure.

HETTY

Azure… Or…

ENSEMBLE

Indigo.

Aquamarine.

Lapis Lazuli.

Violet.

HETTY

Or…

ENSEMBLE (IDA).

Sapphire.

HETTY

Sapphire… I know I said I could remember everything, but that’s the one thing I can’t remember. My real name. But it doesn’t really matter. Because when you don’t know who you are, you can be anyone you want to be. And, whoever I am, this is my story.

SCENE 2 – HETTY’S MOTHER LOOKS FOR WORK

HETTY (CONT’D.)

Picture me as my mother.

HETTY gets down from the hoop. She is dressed in a hat and coat and handed BABY HETTY.

Mother did everything she could to keep us together.
(As her mother.)

Please. Have you got any work? I’ll do anything.

ENSEMBLE

Can you scrub? Can you polish? Can you lift? Can you bend? Can you chop? Can you dig? Can ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two