Matilda JR

It has been a very interesting experience following your decision to produce the well-known magical story of Matilda where good triumphs over evil. It has been adapted by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin from an original tale by Roald Dahl. Your society has a great reputation for creating brilliant shows in which the young people develop excellent performing skills many of which often move on to other roles. But I think even you were very surprised to have over 80 children turn up to the launch of your show in February and took the brave decision to double cast and therefore all the logistic issues that followed this. You are a fully inclusive company who turn no-one that wants to perform away which in itself brings some unknown problems but you all work hard as a team to overcome anything that is thrown at you and produce brilliant shows that are well supported by your audiences.

As always with your society the experience begins with the front of house team dressed up in academic gown’s. The hall was arranged with an open stage with steps down to the arena and was set up in three areas. Stage left was the Wormwood’s home with settee, tall hat/clothes stand and television. Stage right was set as Miss Trunchbull’s office with a large bookcase with her picture, medals and trophies, one of which I recognised.  This was later modified into Miss Honey’s with more homely features of a teddy, flowers and an image of the Acrobat and Escapologist. Centre stage was set up with some iconic letter blocks spelling ‘Birthday’ with helium balloons and numerous other letters decorating the edges and front of the stage with Matilda centre stage. This was all ready to celebrate the birth of all the different children during the opening number ‘Miracle’.

An additional feature this year was the introduction of a projected image on the back of the stage initially set with an image of Matilda in her well-known stance with the title of the show. Various images added depth they included balloons, school building, classroom, playground, Miss Trunchbull’s cup collection, library, gym, and park behind the swings and magical effects such as the writing on the board.  Just a couple of points to think about, when the writing was appearing on the full screen it was a little difficult to read because of the positioning of some children and take time to ensure the images are promptly projected rather than showing a blank computer screen.

The letter blocks were well used throughout the performance but I especially enjoyed the correct placement of the alphabet during the ‘School Song’ I wonder how long this took to get right?  The school gates were well used by the cast and gave the feeling of a gaol rather than a school which I’m sure is what Miss Trunchbull intended. The Wormwood scenes were delivered in front of the curtain with a trolley being used to show the bathroom for Matilda to demonstrate how she orchestrated the addition of the peroxide to her father’s hair cream. A bookcase was used to show us Matilda was visiting the library and I imagine the same trolley with different covering used for Bruce’s cake and Miss Phelps desk. The swings, which I can imagine were a logistics nightmare, were lovely to see in the parkland and added enjoyment and sensitivity to the rendition of ‘When I Grow Up’. All of the scene changes were brilliantly achieved unobtrusively by the cast and stage crew.

The props used through the performance had been carefully chosen and were correctly used by the cast. The obligatory scooters were ridden by some of the school children and circled the audience in the hall. Bruce’s cake looked delicious and was your player ensured just enough chocolate was on his face, it was a shame his apron wasn’t tied up but he coped admirably and ensured his costume was not soiled. Of course, the largest prop was Amanda who was expertly swung around the stage by your young actor.

The costumes for the children were party outfits and school uniform’s which looked impeccable. It was great to see that time had been taken to add details like correct socks and shoes. Those portraying the adults were well attired as expected but I want to make special mention about Mrs Wormwoods outfit it was totally over the top and fitted the character to the tee. All the costumes were fitted correctly with additional accessories. Time had also been taken with appropriate hair styles.

Matilda JR is performed to a recorded backing track, which was set at an appropriate level, therefore the children who are performing need to be very well rehearsed to ensure they are on point and your Musical Director had obviously spent many hours taking the cast through their paces.  There are so many well-known numbers in Matilda that many of the audience could be heard singing along during and after the show. The performers looked like they were enjoying every moment and produced a brilliant tuneful sound with harmonies.

The lighting was provided both in the hall by spots and fresnels and there was additional lighting on stage. This added atmosphere and mood to the piece just be carefully when using stage lights to illuminate a projected image rather than a backcloth you can flatten the picture for the audience.

To be able to choreograph such a large number of children must have been a feat and a half but I must pass on my congratulations to your team. All those involved in all the different numbers knew where they were expected to be and what steps to take. It was inspired to use the hall floor around the audience to incorporate some movement.

The show opens with the children all dressed up in various fancy dress outfits for their parties. Certain children are standing with wrapped gifts and are accompanied by their parents who extolled the virtues of their children. This was a lovely and well positioned by those on stage with the parents dressed more appropriately with the polyphonic parts of ‘Miracle’ coming across clearly.

We then meet Matilda whose parents certainly don’t share the same view of their precious child. The young actor playing the part was ideal, from the moment she opened her mouth to sing ‘Naughty’. She demonstrated all the facets of the child who didn’t fit in, loves books and uses her imagination to create wonderful stories with a little bit of magic added in. She showed great energy, cheekiness, a sense of justice and the strength to stand up to bullies. On top of all this she had a powerful singing voice and was a talented dancer. An excellent performance.

Eric, Tommy, Amanda, Hortensia and Nigel all become Matilda’s friends and have important lines to sing through the show. Lavender decides she will be her best friend and uses her pet newt to add humour, your player although short in statue did a grand job.  Bruce committed a cardinal sin he succumbed to temptation and ate a piece of Miss Trunchbull’s chocolate cake and was forced to consume a full cake. This was well achieved by your actor who also had a powerful voice. The opening to ‘Revolting Children’ was great. The cook, nurse, Escapologist’s daughter and mechanic were well delivered and Sergei had a clear Russian accent.

The action then moved onto the Wormwood’s house. Matilda’s father attired in his check suit was always on the old-fashioned mobile fixing his motors and trying the next get rich quick deals with the Russians. He created a believable character who certainly had no time for his bookworm ‘boy’ and thought the sun shone out of his son. He kept his accent up and reacted well to his green hair. The young lady playing Mrs Wormwood was hilarious. She had the accent, stance, gestures and was self-obsessed and had no understanding of her intelligent daughter. Her pink and yellow costume with high heels and fantastic wig with flowers certainly added to the character as did her fur coat. Their monosyllabic son Michael timing was great. Mrs Wormwood’s only reason to live was her dancing with Rudolpho whose portrait was placed on her table.  The young man playing the part had the moves and showed comic timing.

Mrs Phelps, the librarian was the only one who seemed to understand Matilda, she was thoughtfully portrayed and loved to hear her stories which lead to the story of the Escapologist and Acrobat which was brought to life with feeling by the your appropriately dressed actors.

‘School song’ was delivered through the impressive school gates and introduced Matilda to the joys of learning at Crunchem Hall.  Luckily, she and the new starters find themselves in a class where Miss Honey is the teacher. The young lady playing the teacher demonstrated that although she had experienced a terrible childhood she really cared for her charges. She had obviously worked hard to create her characterisation and gave an engaging performance, although I did think that she was sometimes a little too feisty when speaking to Miss Trunchbull. You felt the relationship developing between her and Matilda she had a lovely singing voice  ‘This Little Girl’ and ‘When I Grow Up’ were sensitively delivered.

The costumes that Miss Trunchbull wore created her iconic shape that and her monobrow made sure she looked the part. To create the evil headmistress and enjoys making everyone’s life a misery takes a lot of practice. Your player gave a good performance, her height helped and she relished pushing the little ones around. She dispatched Amanda with relish, enjoyed her power over Bruce and the ‘Newt in my knickers’ scene was really funny. Her singing of the ‘Hammer’ with the twirling ribbon was done with energy.

Matilda is a complex show with many well-known songs with harmonies. It needs the whole company to be totally committed with endless energy, brilliant movement, great acting and fantastic vocal delivery. It was obvious that the ensemble had worked really hard to produce a show of such a high standard.

Your team under the direction of your Producer created a brilliant show. Each member of your cast was on point and gave of their all. It just proves that with a hard-working dedicated team you can transform all those children that attended the launch and auditions to a cohesive team.

Many congratulations to all the team at Karnon Kidz without which you wouldn’t be able to produce shows of the standard you do. We had the privilege to watch team ‘Newts’ but I’m confident team ‘Maggots’ were just as good.

Many thanks for the invitation and a great afternoon’s entertainment.

Disclaimer 

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question.  The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance and it is inevitable that his assessment will be affected by that knowledge. 

The NODA Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular, the performance.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre. 

 It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

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