"Matilda - the Musical" - Junior

This was my first experience of a production by the talented group of young people of Ripon Youth Theatre and an excellent evening’s entertainment it was. No wonder the 120-seat venue was sold out for all four of its performances.

Emma Caricato in the title role led the cast superbly with a supremely confident performance with which it would be impossible to find fault. Her singing was excellent as was the delivery of her dialogue and it is hard to believe that she is still at primary school; thankfully she appears to be receiving a better education there than did her character at Crunchem Hall. We can be sure that her real-life Head is an improvement on the somewhat odious Agatha Trunchbull, a part which was well played by Theo Bilby who clearly enjoyed being the villain of this piece.  Matilda is something of a bibliophile but the opposite must be said of her parents, the Wormwoods (bibliophobes, perhaps?). Her mother is much more interested in her appearance and Lydia Smithson used every opportunity to let us know this, whilst her father is a rather dishonest car salesman with an obvious distaste for his daughter and a complete failure to appreciate her preference for literary classics rather than the TV programmes favoured by her brother Michael (Harry Mason).  Jamie Tabor gave a fine performance as the dodgy parent who suffers after some of his daughter’s pranks, in what must have been something of a walk in the park for him after mastering the title role in his school’s production of Sweeney Todd only the week before.

Thankfully, Matilda is not without her supporters. As the librarian Mrs. Phelps, Evie Cross proved an avid listener to the youngster’s own stories whilst Natasha Hubbert as the class teacher with the task of handling her (Miss Honey) showed a sweet singing voice and generally a very credible performance as the member of staff saddled with the dual problems of a precocious pupil and a very unsympathetic Head.  Henry Pitt gave a convincing performance in a cameo role as the Russian who seeks revenge against Mr. Wormwood after his deceitful car dealings. Some of Matilda’s fellow pupils also become involved in the action, Lavender with the newt (Kitty Cawte), Amanda Thripp with pigtails so unpopular with her Head (Nieve Young) and the cake-eating Bruce Bogtrotter (William Parkes).  We must also not overlook the characters in her story, an acrobat and an escapologist (Katy Stapley-Hinton and Hadley Marston respectively).  A further 14 youngsters completed the cast and made a good sound in the ensemble numbers.                             

Music took the form of backing tracks which seem to be supplied alongside the licence to perform but these are of little use unless the cast can be properly schooled in learning the sometimes difficult tunes and rhythms.  Helen Johnson, listed as Music Director in the programme but sitting in front of me in the auditorium on the night, told me she would be better described as vocal coach. The production team, Molly Aikman and William Thirlaway, have both learned their craft as former members of this youth theatre and are to be commended on their achievements.  The choreography was effective and the whole thing was well directed with some excellent lighting in the hands of Stu Stocks.  The stage crew of Steve Hibbs and Natasha Stocks had quite a busy time as the action takes place over several fairly short scenes but all seemed to go very smoothly. 

I am not sure whether this group of youngsters is naturally as boisterous as we saw here. If they are we can only admire the team’s patience and perseverance; if not, they are to be congratulated on their ability to extract such superb performances from them.  They now move on to some history lessons as they prepare for Six (Teen edition) in the summer.

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