The cast of Matilda the Musical delighted audiences with their rebellious behaviour, pitch-perfect singing and dazzling choreography, the latter of which was not all down to Rudolpho’s (Rory) fabulous gold lamé jumpsuit.

We’re probably all familiar with the story of Matilda, a gleeful ode to the anarchy of childhood and the power of imagination. Unloved by her cruel parents, Matilda impresses her loveable teacher, Miss Honey (Izzy), who encourages Matilda’s love of reading and learning. But headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, has zero-tolerance for such things, preferring to dish out punishments with as much gusto as she does for throwing things: including pig-tailed children!

There were so many outstanding performances. Evie was a sublime Matilda who enchanted us with her poise and beautiful voice. Mr and Mrs Wormwood, performed by Lucas and Flo, were wonderfully portrayed as the callous, cruel parents, delivering many hilarious moments alongside the frequent rejection of their son and boy, Matilda. Rory also did a fabulous job as Mrs Wormwood's dance partner, Rudolpho, whilst Hanna’s Lavender, the self-professed best friend of Matilda, delighted in her role as newt-in-water-jug-rebel.

Matilda and Miss Honey (we felt Izzy’s acute dilemma in confronting her aunt), wowed us with their harmonizing vocals, whilst their shared nemesis, the formidable Miss Trunchbull, was masterfully portrayed by Chester. Terrifying, intimidating, and utterly confident, Chester left the audience rapt with ingeniously delivered humour and (so I’m told) adlibbing. There are too many laugh-out-loud moments to choose from, but Miss Trunchbull’s entrance on stage allowing the first glimpse of hair, makeup and wardrobe is one of them, and her subsequent struggle to maintain ‘her’ composure when a newt crawled into ‘her’ knickers, were undoubtedly highlights for many.

This is a tale of justice and friendship, of courage and cleverness. So thank you to the ensemble for providing the drama and fear, and the joy of camaraderie and dance. Congratulations to Bruce Bogtrotter (Barney) for his monster cake-eating abilities, to Eric (Nathan), Cook (Oren and Lauwie) and the rest of the cast.

And of course, huge congratulations to Maddy Greenly and Liv Massey for directing, producing and for the choreography in this amazing performance for their Independent Project. The pupils and the whole school community LOVED it!