Matilda The Musical - Themes & Story
After seeing a performance of Matilda The Musical on Friday 21st September at The Cambridge Theatre, I was fully immersed in the storytelling, themes and overall moral of the musical.
This adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's novel of the same name opened at The Cambridge Theatre on 24th November 2011. Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and book by Dennis Kelly, the story follows Matilda, a strong-minded young girl with an adult outlook on life, as she navigates her way through the cruel trials and tribulations of school. I was immediately drawn to three key themes - bullying, family values, and popular culture. In the musical, it is the adults who are the instigators of bullying and Matilda the child is the innocent party.
Bullying is a prominent issue today and there are multiple kinds of bullying – including physical and verbal aggression, social exclusion and cyberbullying. The musical encourages the audience members to look at the bully and their inadequacies that drive them to be bullies.
The three villains of the story are Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress of Trunch Hall; and Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's parents who are equally cruel. These characters contrast with those of Mrs. Phelps, the bubbly library owner, and Miss Honey, Matilda's gentle school teacher who becomes a guardian type figure to her.
Matilda is the victim of bullying in her own home. She is mocked by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood for her intelligence and vast knowledge which she gains from books. Mr. Wormwood is a fraud car sales man, portrayed as having little intelligence and who watches television as his form of entertainment. In the opening scene, Mr. Wormwood is disgusted and horrified when he receives the news of Matilda's birth as he expects another ‘son'. He uses comments such as ‘boy' when addressing Matilda, ‘stink worm' and ‘little creep.' He, however, shows affection to his son Michael, a plain and simple teenager and it is clear that he sees Matilda as different and torments her for her difference. This bullying is shown in the scene where he knows that Matilda values reading and he deliberately vandalises her library book as he knows this will upset her.
Mrs. Wormwood equally does not value Matilda and is someone who favours looks over books. In the number ‘Loud' where Miss Honey attempts to highlight to Mrs. Wormwood how gifted Matilda is, Mrs. Wormwood shows that she has contempt for learning. The scene portrays her in a dancing competition scenario with glitz and glamour, which contrasts to Miss Honey's simple and conservative lifestyle. In the first verse of the song Mrs. Wormwood loudly says "Somewhere along the way, my dear, you've made an awful error… You seem to think that people like people what are clever, it's very quaint, it's very sweet, but wrong. People don't like smarty pants what go round claiming that they know stuff we don't know. What you know matters less. Than the volume with which what you don't know's expressed. Content has never been less important.”
Miss Trunchbull is described by Roald Dahl as ‘a gigantic holy terror', a ‘fierce tyrannical monster'. She exerts her authority by intimidating and belittling both teachers and students alike. Her ruling as headmistress is similar to a Victorian public school, using old-fashioned discipline methods. Her biggest form of punishment is putting a child in ‘the chokey' (a dark cupboard) where she threatens to send the children who disobey her ‘rules'.
The scenes that particularly highlight Miss Trunchbull's bullying character is when she publicly humiliates two pupils who are in Matilda's class, Bruce Bogtrotter, and Amanda Thripp. Bruce took a chocolate cake from Miss Trunchbull's office and his punishment is to eat a large chocolate cake until he is almost sick. Amanda has her hair in pig tails which Miss Trunchbull dislikes, so she hurls her into the air by her pig tails as if she is doing a hammer throw.
It is Tim Minchin's music and lyrics that really bring the story to life. They are mainly up beat, which holds the audience's attention, the lyrics are simple and clear and follow the narrative beautifully. In Matilda's solo numbers ‘Naughty', ‘When I Grow Up', and ‘Quiet', she displays a confidence beyond her years. She shows a determination not to let the situation she is in affect her. This is highlighted where she sings the line in the number ‘Naughty', "Just because you find that life's not fair it, doesn't mean that you should have to grin and bear it. If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change." Matilda continues, "If you sit around and let them get on top, you might as well be saying you think that it's okay and that's not right! And if it's not right! You have to put it right!"
Matilda applies action to her words and finds the strength to stand up to Miss Trunchbull whilst remaining rational and nice. Matilda plots to teach Miss Trunchbull and her parents a lesson in the hope they will mend their ways and give hope to her fellow classmates to stand up to bullies. Good triumphs over bad and Matilda gets her reward by being adopted by Miss Honey, where she lives in a supportive and encouraging environment and can reads books to heart's content.
What I learnt from this musical is to embrace your childlike qualities which are to be innocent, trusting and courageous. It also shows that to be different is a good thing and should be valued.
I look forward to returning to this heartwarming musical, it was a delight.
Book tickets for Matilda The Musical London below:
Book tickets for Matilda The Musical UK Tour below: