An Magical Evening of Roald Dahl

Tim Minchin’s Matilda revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dares to change her destiny.   Currently a huge box office success in the West End, the amateur performance rights for Matilda are not yet released.  However, Young NOMADS took up the option to get a licence to perform a short version: Matilda the Musical (in 20 minutes) which features five of the main show”s songs: Naughty, School Song, The Chokey Chant, Bruce and Revolting Children, linked by passages and excerpts from the script by Dennis Kelly.

This was a good showcase for the talents of the younger members of the Young NOMADS company which perfectly captured the madcap mayhem of Tim Minchin’s work.

Very much an ensemble production, performed with energy and enthusiasm by the company, there were nevertheless some performances that deserve particular mention.

 Lucy Young as Matilda, Elize Collins as Mrs Wormwood, Theo Lamb (Bruce) and Luke Burrows as Trunchbull.  However, the twenty-two strong cast all gave everything they had.

We did lose some of the dialogue as there was a bit of noise with the cast moving about changing position but that is a minor quibble.  The singing and dancing was obviously well rehearsed and also well executed.  This was 20 minutes of real pleasure and very impressive.

THE WITCHES

The more senior members of the company presented  The Witches by Roald Dahl, adapted for the stage by David Wood.

This is a Roald Dahl’s classic comedic story in which Boy and his Grandmother defeat the Grand High Witch and her followers, who are holding a Conference in an English seaside hotel. Their agenda: the elimination of all the children in the country.  The Witches are nothing like the ones who wear pointed hats and fly on broomsticks—they look very much like ordinary women, which helps their deception.

The prospects for their young victims look bleak and during the struggle Boy gets turned into a mouse. The Grand High Witch and her cronies celebrate their success but reckon without the spark and ingenuity of Boy and his grandmother.

Louis Bloomfield (Boy) though a bit tentative at first soon settled down and gave a really good performance as did Theo Lamb taking on his second role of the evening as Bruno.  Both young actors made excellent mice! Sofia Stavrakakis who played the Grandma also did well and Eloise Burrows showed her metal as Grand High Witch. There was good interaction too as well as much cackling from all the other witches.  In fact the twenty strong cast supported each other well.  I didn’t find it scary but I did find it amusing and entertaining. 

On the staging side there was good use of levels but the many scene changes were not without their challenges and early in the week there were a few technical problems.

This is the first time I have seen either show and I admire and commend the talent and commitment Young NOMADS have and always show under the guidance of their excellent directors.  A great stepping stone to even greater things.

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