Never again will she get the best of me. 
Never again will she take away my freedom. 
And we won’t forget the day we fought 
for the right to be a little bit naughty!

Bit of an away trip for me (and my other half) in a London Theatre Weekend and although I love the local touring productions, there is something magical about being in the West End. The first of our two shows on the trip was Matilda, based on the 1988 Roald Dahl novel of the same name. With music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book from Dennis Kelly, I was eager for this, having enjoyed the film adaptation of the musical a year or so ago.

The story is about a little girl whose parents don’t want her, has magical powers, and then gets sent to school where she faces horrors even worse than home. Many of Dahl’s works have dark themes and Matilda is no exception, with fear, bullying, tyrannical rule and abuse both in the home and from places of authority. But the result is a good one and a message to stand up against these issues and if a person can’t, then always be on hand to help those who are not able to do so themselves.

In the role of Matilda during our visit was Arabella Stanton, outstanding in every department, excelling with Naughty and especially during Quiet. Also starring was Kieran Hill as the terrifying Trunchbull while Lydia White gave a lovely performance in Miss Honey. Deborah Tracey complimented the library scenes with Matilda, adding offhand humour which worked well.

As the terrible Wormwoods we had Ruairidh McDonald as Michael (Telly!) and Amy Ellen Richardson (Mrs Wormwood) who was superb with Nolan Edwards (Rudolpho) during Loud. Then, I must give an extra special mention to Rakesh Boury who was my favourite of the adults on view as Mr Wormwood. Totally commanded the stage and worked the audience well.

Supporting well in the ensemble were Lauren Varnham (The Acrobat) and Sean Lopeman (The Escapologist) with Kane Oliver Parry, Gabrielle Davina Smith, Ronan Burns, Stan Doughty, Karina Hind and Roan Pronk. Ensemble also took on roles of the older children, which is something I hate, adults playing kids (ugh!), but I can understand the use of it. Sometimes.

The rest of the kids, well, they were amazing, as I knew they would be. Sidhant Anand (Bruce), Coco-Lili Hodder (Lavender), Jake Durrant (Nigel), Lilian Guinoubi (Amanda), Elliott Marsden (Eric), Gina Harris-Sullivan (Alice), Kanon Narumi (Hortensia) and Joshua Wahab (Tommy) can all be proud of their performances.

There are some brilliant songs in Matilda that will have you singing long after you have left the theatre: Miracle, School Song and This Little Girl are all superb, and that’s before you get to the amazing When I Grow Up and Revolting Children.

Matilda was directed by Lewis Barnshaw with choreography from Tom Muggeridge. Musical supervision came from Laurie Perkins and Jodie Oliver-Howar (Children). An enjoyable musical, highly recommended and one that afterwards will have you feeling that little bit naughty.

Cheers.

Antony N Britt 

*All photos taken from social media and are not necessarily representative of those performing 1 Feb 2024.