IT received glowing five star reviews in London, has been nominated for an Olivier Award and as the Daily Telegraph put it " Ingenious Hetty Feather gives Matilda a run for her money"!

Now this " amusing, gripping, spectacular and moving" production (The Times)of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather is coming to Southampton's Mayflower Theatre for a limited run from 4-6 March 2016.

Sally Cookson directs a cast including Phoebe Thomas who reprises her role as Hetty Feather. Joining Thomas will be Matt Costain (Jem/Matron Bottomly), Sarah Goddard (Peg/Ida), Nik Howden (Saul), Mark Kane (Gideon) and Nikki Warwick (Madame Adeline). Musicians Seamas H. Carey and Luke Potter complete the company.

Hetty Feather is thrillingly brought to life on stage with circus skills and aerial artistry, original songs and live music by Benji Bower.

ROLL UP and join Hetty on her escape from the Foundling Hospital.

TREMBLE as she faces Matron Stinking Bottomly.

THRILL as she discovers the squirrel house and Tanglefields 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.

Hetty Feather is published by Random House, and the first in a series of books which includes Sapphire Battersea, Emerald Star, Diamond and Little Stars. The series has been hugely successful not just in the UK, but also internationally. It has been adapted as a 10- part television series currently airing on CBBC.

Phoebe Thomas previously played Hetty Feather on the UK tour and at London's Vaudeville Theatre.

She began performing as a child and was nominated for a BAFTA at just eight-years of age for her first ever screen performance. Her theatre, TV and film credits are extensive and include, for stage: The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (Bristol Old Vic), Little Women (Duchess Theatre), Playing Fields (Soho Theatre), Annie Get your Gun (Prince of Wales Theatre), The White Album (Nottingham Playhouse), and Final Judgement (Theatre Royal Windsor). For television her credits include The Armada, Holby City (as series regular Maria Kendall), Death in Paradise, Vera, Outnumbered, Teachers, Night and Day, As If, 33 Carnage Crescent, Booze Cruise, Little Devil, Sea of Souls, Inspector Lynley; and for film, Lady Godiva, Permanent Vacation, Millions, Tube Tales ‘Circle Line’.

Novelist Jacqueline Wilson is one of Britain’s most popular authors, selling over 38 million books in the UK alone. Her most successful and enduring creation is the Tracy Beaker series. In 2002 she was awarded the OBE for services to literacy in schools and in 2008 she became Dame Jacqueline Wilson. In the same year she became the Foundling Museum’s first Coram Foundling Fellow. From 2005 to 2007 she was the Children’s Laureate. Her 100th book Opal Plumstead was published last year. Her forthcoming title, Katy, will be published this year.

Playwright Emma Reeves has worked with Wilson on a number of projects, most notably writing the television adaptations for the Tracy Beaker series.

Sally Cookson (director) is an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic, where her productions have included Jane Eyre (National Theatre), The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Peter Pan, Treasure Island, Aesop’s Fables, Pains of Youth, Pericles, Strange Case and The Visit.

Tickets for Hetty Feather (Friday 4 – Sunday 6 March 2016) are on sale from Mayflower Theatre Box Office tel: 02380 711811 or online at mayflower.org.uk. Ovation Restaurant bookings: 02380 711833