Matilda Jr

Matilda The Musical JR.

Book by Dennis Kelly

Music by Tim Minchin

Performed by MAD Kids

At Marlborough Village Hall on Friday 8th August at 7.30pm

Directed by Claire Miles

Vocal Coach -Gaby Kavanagh

Choreographer – Charlotte Hodgson

As the audience took their seats, we were greeted with an open stage showing a gorgeous set, cleverly designed, painted and built by the company production team. Two large trucks painted on both sides as book cases and school room along with two smaller trucks painted as bathrooms and used as Miss Honey’s house, all easily moved by the cast and backstage team to allow smooth transitions between scenes. Positioned stage left was the home of the Wormwood’s with two chairs, television, coat stand and sideboard with props. Stage right was set as Matilda’s bedroom with a bed, books, dolls house and bedside cabinet. Large letters spelling out Matilda were placed above the proscenium and differing coloured blocks used to excellent effect as seats and alphabet letters by the cast throughout the performance. The set was also carefully lit with blue, green and purple downlights over the stage area and some haze, which was effective. There was good use of projection on the cyclorama helping to tell the story especially during the scene in Act 2 where Matilda creates her ‘magic’.

With the use of a recorded score the junior chorus blast on to the stage with Miracle producing an impressive sound. The choreography in this number seemed simple but was carefully worked by such a large group. This was a stunning start to the production and the enthusiasm showed throughout by the cast was totally infectious. Most of the fifty-two cast members wore personal mics which were carefully controlled by the sound engineer and with such a large cast was an impressive feat. 

The actor playing Matilda sang Naughty with such confidence and sheer joy, every word could be heard with wonderful characterisation from the get go. Her diction was exceptional, during the dialogue and musical numbers and she totally captivated the audience, especially with her rendition of Quiet which was gentle yet powerful. A very mature performance along with her fellow classmates.

 It is always hard to focus on individual performances but each one shone. Lavender never missed a chance to be funny; Bruce was hilarious eating the chocolate cake and punched out the vocals during Revolting Children.  Nigel, one of Matilda’s closet friends, was cheeky and mischievous with great facial expressions and Eric who starts the show along with Amanda, Alice and Lavender all sang well in their solo lines during Miracle. I really cannot praise the chorus enough and their enjoyment was palpable.

This production was cast very well with a fantastic Miss Trunchball, played by a talented young actor with good comic timing. He looked the part and took absolute delight in portraying her as an ill-tempered, sneering bully with super sarcasm. This is the last production for him with Mads Kids and he should be proud of this performance. It was utterly hilarious and he looked great too in a tightly pulled back wig in a bun, a fat suit covered by a khaki jacket and skirt with belt and large boots and Trunchball’ s gym gear was hilarious.

Also very funny were the Wormwood’s, Matilda’s parents, and brother. Mr Wormwood in his over-the-top checked brown suit and yellow tie and Mrs Wormwood in a gorgeous yet tacky pink ruffled blouse with tight short skirt and gaudy wig looked perfect. Mr Wormwood, played well by this actor, with his crafty cockney accent was vile toward Matilda, destroying her book and yet he managed to achieve approval from the audience with his wit, which is not easy. The actor portraying Mrs Wormwood timed her one liner’s well and was amusing as this self-absorbed, loud, brash character. Both were confident performer with string vocal ability. Micheal Wormwood had very few lines and they were short but each one made the audience laugh as he used a monotonous tone to reply as he stared at his beloved television. 

Miss Honey or Miss Chutney as she is wrongly called by Mrs Wormwood, was delightful with a beautiful voice as she sang Pathetic and My House. Poised and still when the music required it and believably emotional too as the down-trodden, scared niece of Trunchball.  Again, her last show with Mads kids but probably not the last time she will tread the boards, especially with such a gorgeous soprano voice.

Cameo roles such as the character of Mrs Phelps the librarian who befriends Matilda were nicely played. I especially enjoyed the story of the Escapologist and Acrobat which was danced with graceful balletic movement. This brings me to the outstanding choreography produced by Charlotte Hodgson. The use of movement and props was skilfully created during School Song with good use of the skirt area in front of the audience by placing actors there, almost bringing the audience into the action. I loved the use of the alphabet boxes as drums in School Song and I am so glad you were able to fly three swings on stage for When I Grow Up, innovatively choreographed and delightful to watch. The director, Claire Miles, obviously worked hard with this cast to produce an exciting piece of theatre for the audience and her attention to detail gave it polish. As did your vocal coach, Gaby Kavanah, as each actor was confident of the script and musical numbers and made an impressive sound. Credit is due to the wardrobe ladies as the many costumes needed worked well and were right for each cast member.

Without an effective lighting design, the staging is not complete. This design was the proverbial ‘icing on the chocolate cake’.  Matilda Jr still has that dark humour attached to it as it is a little girl’s fight against bullying and her search for parental love, so it is important to show this as you light the scenes. I loved the white moveable spots used to spot the Escapologist and Acrobat as Matilda tells their story.  The clever dimming of lights as Matilda swaps products in the bathroom and during Quiet and then the chokey, under the stage, lit with red backlights and haze.

A huge well done to the backstage crew, production team and chaperones and the set design team too as without them no production is possible. I was delighted to attend MADS Kids production of Matilda Jr and my very grateful thanks go to Jill Clarke, and the front of house team for such a warm welcome. Congratulations to such a talented cast for a lovely production.

Lyn Burgoyne -  Noda Representative for District 5 (East and Mid Devon)

For Iain Douglas

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