Touring Underway

The Matilda Tour is officially underway. This is an absolute beast of a production and once performances started it only meant that our rehearsal workload increased, as the child ensemble continued to be honed, our Matildas noted and overall fixes to the show implemented. On top of that, understudies began their work on the principal characters in the show, a number of children also learnt second characters and my assistant, Mike, worked quickly to get up-to-speed with conducting the show.

All in all it was a pretty incessant end to Leicester and, after 15 constant weeks of work on this amazing show, we were all due - and indeed given - a well-deserved week off! We said goodbye to Leicester, to the ingeniously confusing design of Curve, packed the show into trundles & trucks and all headed off in separate directions. Some have jetted to warmer climes, although it seems most just wanted home comforts. I spent half the week at home in London seeing friends and repacking, and the other half - a full Easter bank holiday weekend - with family in Cheshire, enjoying full respite away from showbiz.

Tomorrow I return to it all. The show went down a storm in Leicester. Reviews were glorious and those who work (or used to work) on the original West End production were nothing but positive when coming to see the touring version. The original creatives were especially pleased. Tim Minchin didn't make it for press night, but gave the company such a lift coming to see it a few days later and spending time before & after the show chatting with audience members and cast alike (photo proof above). His positivity was infectious and really buoyed the company through the final few performances in Leicester.

We return, refreshed and raring to go, with performances from Wednesday in Dublin - the Irish premiere of Matilda. We're here for a month playing a sold-out run. We continue to rehearse the children as we move into a different rota and therefore different combinations of kids cast, plus the understudies prepare for a full technical run later in the month. Busy as ever! Happy Easter.