“I feel like I can’t take any of the credit,” Jacqueline Wilson, former Children’s Laureate and author of more than 100 much-loved books, from the seminal The Suitcase Kid to the hilarious Tracy Beaker series, tells Official London Theatre when we ask her how she feels about Hetty Feather’s Olivier Award nomination.
While we’re sure the show’s “splendid team” certainly deserve their dues, we would like to beg to disagree with Wilson on this one.
Hetty Feather sprung to life in 2009 when Wilson published her tale of a red-haired feisty heroine orphan who embarks on an incredible adventure to find a family to call her own. In 2014 its colourful and triumphant story was brought to the stage by Wilson, alongside a creative team including the acclaimed director Sally Cookson, earning both rave reviews and a place on this year’s Olivier Awards nominees list.
We took advantage of the show’s success to catch up with Wilson in the video above to find out how she feels about the nomination – spoiler: the words “very happy bunny” do feature – and why she believes family theatre is so important.
Hetty Feather is nominated in the Best Entertainment & Family category at this year’s Olivier Awards with MasterCard, which takes place on Sunday at the Royal Opera House.
Follow us on Twitter to find out the winners as they’re announced and tune in to ITV at 22:15 or catch up on ITV Player to watch highlights from the ceremony.