Presented by: St. Peter’s Girls School
Reviewed: 7 June, 2023
Adelaide school musicals have gone from strength to strength in recent years, with additional investment from not only the students and teachers but the schools themselves allowing truly impressive works to be put onstage – St Peter’s Girls production of Matilda is no exception. A cast of thousands, only a mild exaggeration, sees students and teachers work masterfully to pull off every aspect of this technical production, and they do it with joy.
The story of Matilda, an unappreciated genius rising against the oppression (almost) all the adults in her life force upon her, and in that St Peter’s Girls have allowed their cohort to achieve something truly wonderful – incredibly polished music and dance whilst performing the verbose and technical music of Australia’s own Tim Minchin. Not a word was lost amongst the kicks, flips, and tricks – of which there are many! The dance cohort that work throughout the show should be incredibly proud of what they pull off, as should choreographer Kate Burnett and AC Amelie Zacharia Henley. They not only adapt the original work of Ellen Kane, with all its intricacies and difficulty, but also work brilliantly with the entire ensemble of varying ages and abilities – something I also praise of the co-directors Joni Combe and and Katherine Kitching. Using this many students is a daunting task, but they never crowd, moving in and out of the stage and audience to fully utilise the deep stage space.
Madeleine Schroeter is the titular Matilda, and it is as if she’s jumped from the pages of the book herself – precocious to the nth degree, with the voice to match and a mastery over the physicality required of the part. Acting opposite is Zara Blight as demure Miss Honey, with a voice that felt mature beyond her school aged years and a control over dialect that you don’t see in some professional work – to praise these two is to praise the work of musical director Sally Rounsevell. This is a tight set of leads, ensemble, AND student band. Incredible work.
The remaining leading cast are similarly brilliant – Emma Pool is larger than life and manically evil as Trunchbull, Charlotte Norman and Samantha Keough are as vibrantly dim as the Wormwoods – with Aurelia Pyne out-pipping them on the dim stakes as young Michael. Loud and Telly are always crowd pleasers and they certainly are here. Daisy Kennett and Tia Bowering embody their storybook characters with great physicality, as does our librarian Mrs Phelps (Abigail Papps). I wish I could name every single student out there, but special mentions for brilliance to Matilda’s classmates, the incredibly flexible Rudolpho, and the five prefects – each keep the show flowing perfectly until the end.
Matilda is nothing without its tech – from projecting a flying student across the stage, to Matilda throwing a cup with her mind and her ghostly apparition writing on the chalkboard, the investment in this production is clear, as is the hard work of technical director Scott Lorien.
I am happy to say that Adelaide’s schools are fully supporting our next generation of performers, and St Peter’s Girls should be incredibly proud of this show and everyone involved.
Reviewed by Daniel Barnett
Photo credit: supplied
Venue: St Peter’s Girl’s School Arts Centre
Season: Until Friday 9 June
Tickets: From $15
Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1041280
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