A popular British children’s book made into a play, Hetty Feather is about a foundling who searches from infancy through teens for her biological mother. Hetty also relentlessly pursues happiness itself through hard times at the foundling home, a nicer short stay with a foster family, and finally, a hook-up with a travelling circus. What ensues is a Victorian-age family show presented, not created, by Asolo Rep that may appeal to kids seven and (somewhat) up. Plot and its conclusions are clear after an initial quarter hour, but these and the rest will never match reading the same subjects covered by Charles Dickens. Seemingly, the show’s major draw is a fanciful presentation of Hetty and her fellow circus performers in a set full of red ribbon ropes. It’s flanked by huge ladders with such imaginative props as an elephant with ears made of printed publicity fans and a trunk from an air-conditioning tube. Though these might be audience favorites in the U. K., Sarasota has a U.S. Circus capital’s demands. (Could this be a reason to present this show since Asolo Rep says it is doing theater illustrating The American Character: Presenting Our Lives on Stage?) The ribbon ropes remind us that FSU/Asolo Conservatory students lately used same of many colors – as do Hetty and cohorts -- to create the forest of Arden while splendidly handling Shakespearian verse and diverse characterizations. Nothing in Hetty Feather is new or unusual in Sarasota, not even done by youngsters, since our Circus Arts Conservatory (formerly Sailor Circus) trains them, even using the venue for middle and high school gym classes! Circus Sarasota, that’s been playing summers at the Historic Asolo, boasts international trapeze star Dolly Jacobs along with the company’s co-founder Pedro Reise and other illustrious performers. In the home of John Ringling and family, Hetty’s troupe pales in comparison with the myriad companies that winter in Sarasota. It’s true that Chloe Mantripp energetically represents Hetty and that her cohorts double and triple convincingly, if sometimes confusedly as well. Costumes help considerably. The two musicians who introduce the play set the tone nicely and contribute bits throughout. The same can be said of the music, though it mimics the story’s fade-out. I thought the letting out of a couple of huge turds onto the stage at one point not at all funny as it was probably meant to be. It’s the first time I’ve seen two kinds of crap on a stage at the same time.
