Matilda Jr

There was a full and noisy house in preparation for today’s production of Matilda Jr with many youngsters in the audience, however it was a noticeably attentive audience right from the start. This was probably because the children in the audience could relate to the story that was unfolding on stage and seemed spellbound by the show.

The opening sequence brought out the different characters of the young principals, I loved the way that they all had appropriate costumes to match their characters as they entertained us with the opening number ‘Miracle’. Surrounding them was a good-sized cast of the ‘Kids’ as the programme described them. We quickly met Matilda, well portrayed by Ayda. A good presence on stage, a confident, nicely sung performance, two good renditions of ‘Naughty’. This is a big role including a lot of dialogue, storytelling and singing as well as leading a band of school children, she did all this very well. It is only fair to say that there were two teams of youngsters in the main principal roles so I watched Team A performing and Tessa watched Team B.

Team A, as well as Ayda had some great young actors. A good strong performance from Otto as Miss Trunchball, great characterisation with a good vocal range and a fearsome presence, he gave us two good numbers ‘The Hammer’ and ‘Rebellion’, he commanded the stage. Mia gave a sympathetic performance as Miss Honey; it was nicely played and gave us a beautifully sung ‘This Little Girl’ and ‘When I Grow Up’. This last number was also sung by not only Mia but with the company and was also given a lovely rendition by Thomas as Bruce Bogtrotter with a scene nicely set on a swing. Thomas gave us a great character as Bruce and the cake eating scene was a steal, beautifully set in a classroom with rows of desks. He really looked the part tucking into the cake.

Tessa kindly sent me her comments on Team B.

Matilda was beautifully played by Briony, she had great stage presence and didn't falter throughout the whole show. It's a tough part for a youngster to do and she performed it really well.  The standard of her performance was terrific. Harmony played Miss Trunchbull, a part usually played by a male but her performance was excellent.  She had some great facial expressions aided by the makeup, with very prominent and bushy looking eyebrows.  It was a compelling performance.  Miss Honey was played by Winter, a delightful and gentle portrayal, her voice was perfect for the song and I was privileged to speak to her parents who were sitting in front of me.  They had, apparently, no idea that she had such a beautiful voice. Bruce Bogtrotter was played by Lola and this was another great performance.

There were many roles which were not split between teams, these youngsters gave great portrayals, the bookish librarian Miss Phelps, Natalia. Emily as Lavender, very confident, a green haired Ryan as Mr. Wormwood, a nicely done transformation. A wonderfully cheeky Nigel given to us by Lucas, Isla was unrecognizable as Mrs. Wormwood becoming a sassy blonde bombshell. A confident Flynn as Tommy, nice cameos from Agnes and Freya as the Acrobat and Escapologist respectively. I smiled at Leo’s accent as the Russian Sergio and Harry forever saying ‘Backwards’ in his role of Michael, there are fifteen more named parts and twenty-three youngsters listed as Kids, they all played their roles with enthusiasm. I loved the girl who opened the second half performing in front of the curtain, very confident, was this Emily?

This was a well costumed show, with good direction and well performed choregraphy, tightly performed, the vocals throughout were good. Sound was generally good although there was a bit of noise at one point, off stage right and someone called for a chaperone which I heard in the auditorium.

There were some nicely set scenes, the school room with desks, the backdrop with the swing, the scooters whizzing around stage, great fun. Digital backdrops help so much with scene changes, however there were good props, Library bookcase and rocking chair. The Wormwoods living room, the dressing table for the hair scene (a production where I actually saw the mixing), the gates for the school and the great Chokey cabinet. A cleverly designed cake eating scene, I spoke to Thomas later and said it would have been nice to have had the last wedge as real cake! he agreed. I was pleased to see more boys in this show as some of the girls had encouraged their brothers to come along, well done you.

As a Grandmother sat next to me said, ‘they really did do very well’. Congratulations Nicola, and all the team, keep it up.

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