Matilda Jr.

Matilda Jr is the story of an extraordinary little girl with extraordinary powers. The daughter of abusive parents, Matilda finds refuge in library books, which she reads quickly, and creates her own stories. Things are no better at school, where Matilda also must face a tyrannical and cruel headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, who believes in Crunchem Hall’s motto: “Bambinatum est Magitum,” or “Children are Maggots.” She finds companionship in her teacher, Miss Honey, who, though well-intentioned, is shy and fragile. Brave little Matilda knows she has to stand up against the adults in her world, and in doing so, discovers her own remarkable powers. Matilda’s bravery teaches Miss Honey and her classmates an important lesson that in order to show people what is right, “sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty.” 

When entering the hall, it had been decorated with alphabet letters, a theme throughout the show. The classroom scenery consisted of a projection onto a chalkboard which included the writing when Matilda is able to move the chalk with her mind. 

The main character, Matilda, was excellently played by Evie Thurwell. She showed the audience just how powerful a little person can be. Her singing was beautiful, and well acted through each song. Evie was perfectly cast in this role. Matilda’s parents, Mr and Mrs Wormwood (played by Benjamin Thirwell and Isabella Orson) were true to the characters, with Mr Wormwood being a dim-witted con artist, trying to con the Russian Mafia. Isabella mastered Mrs Wormwood’s selfishness and disgust of Matilda. 

Matilda was able to share her love of books with the librarian, Mrs Phelps, played by Amy Griffth. Amy displayed Mrs Phelps’ love and intruige into Matilda’s story about the Escapologist and Acrobat played by Isaac Warwick and Violet Pettitt. 

When Matilda finally attends school, her teacher is Miss Honey, played by Evia Grant, who was soft natured and gentle with her students, it’s was easy to see why Matilda took to her so much. Quite the opposite of this was Agatha Trunchball, played by Dulcie A’Lee-Holt. Her portrayal of this character was brilliant, terrifying the audience as well as the children of the school. Imogen Leary played Matilda’s best friend Lavender in such a happy go lucky way, putting a smile on the audience’s face. A stand out moment for me was when Bruce Bogtrotter (Ashley Masson) opened “Revolting Children”. He was clearly loving every moment of it and living his best life! 

All of the musical numbers were performed to a backing track and the stand out numbers were “Revolting Children” and “When I Grow Up”, the harmony during this number gave me goosebumps. All of the cast did a great job in all of the numbers as they are not easy to sing with many numbers having different characters singing over the top of others and tricky lyrics. The chorus numbers were choreographed well by Chloe Ellson and were in keeping with the theme of the show however, some numbers could have benefitted from some easier choreography as it looked like some of the cast were struggling at times to keep up. Chloe also co-directed with Alex Mckenzie. The stage space, scenery and props were used well, all of the cast were confident on stage and clearly knew what direction they had been given. 

The costumes were all suitable for the characters' personailites and context of the show, all of the children had matching uniforms which supported them presenting as a united front against Miss Trunchball. 

At times, it was difficult to hear all of the characters when speaking but this could be more due to the type of venue. I particularly liked the use of the red lighting to distinguish between when Matilda was reciting her own story and the rest of the show. 

All of the cast looked like they were enjoying themselves on stage and gave the performance their all. 

Well done on an enjoyable show, I can’t wait to see what your next show will be. 

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.