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| Cambridge Theatre Earlham Street WC2H 9HU |
Matilda - The Musical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Map ©Silvermaze Ltd 2008 |
 Photo ©Tony Reading 2008 |
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MATILDA THE MUSICALRoald Dahl writes books that include a darker side and generally comes up with a solution - albeit magical - that puts the bad (dark) characters in their places. Children and adults love them with good reason. Matilda was turned into a film which appears to have completely missed several of Dahl's salient points (as Hollywood so does) - one of which was normalising Matilda's powers and why she had them. The play does no such thing.
The theme is getting back at hypocritical grown-up bullying by contempt - (not that most of us think for a moment we are doing any bullying anyway.... feels more like defending ourselves doesn't it?) This show can bring the subversive war into the open and do a lot to sort it out to a balanced family in the face of a media that does its best to cause any divide it can. (Not that the press notice this themselves - they just go on sleepily churning out more of the same that seemed popular before - poor things they are told what to say anyway).
The theatre is probably the freest medium of expression around because with art (and the creatives - well named in this case) that comes with the expression is real. Real human perform it on stage then and there right in front of real ole you.
Really - not to miss this one - if you want to sneak out on your own for some sheer fun - try booking only one ticket... you'll be back with the family. STORYMatilda has an irrepressible spirit and impressive intelligence and is at odds with her family who care for neither. She detests the cheating ways of her father and decides to see what she can do to pay him back quietly. She is sent to school and finds much the same there but at school she has a couple of allies (the goodies of course). The story unfolds to see some injustices set right and how it ends is for the performers to reveal.
CHILDREN
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Matilda, adapted from the book itself, is a terrific if spectacular
musical with an enormous cast of highly talented singing and dancing
players divided into two groups - Adults and children. It is a perfect
night out with the children - and a brilliant alternative to the trad
parties that end up costing a lot with the extras - as it takes more and
more to amuse / satisfy chiildren of today.
Furthermore this musical is put forth with humour - a dying art in
hollywood mass production. Tim Minchin was called by the RSC (Royal
shakespeare company) as the perfect fit - well Shakespeare is a major
progenitor and preservative of the famous brit humour that Minchin has
in spades - a cool mix of Aussie and best of Brit. So this is an
original musical and originality these days is quite SOMETHING.