Ep #7 - Matilda The Musical special!

Join presenter Zoe Hanson as she chats to Rebecca Thornhill and Ryan Lay about performing in Tim Minchin's musical world, Matilda The Musical! Natalie from St Marks C of E Primary School also sits down with Zoe to chat about The Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Change My Story' scheme and what impact this has on her pupils. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:05

Welcome to Mayflower Spotlights podcast. This episode is all about Matilda the Musical. We're going to be joined by the actual Mrs. Wormwood and Rudolfo from the UK and Ireland tour.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

And to then see Transforce Explore up against a little Matilda. Like it's just that amazing.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

And we'll find out how Matilda the Musical is helping in schools too. It's someone different to their teachers coming in, it's someone like from the industry, it's someone from like real-life professional theatre and real-life sort of Royal Shakespeare company.

SPEAKER_08 0:43

It's so brilliant to have you on. Ryan and Rebecca. Welcome, or should I say, Mrs. Wormwood and Rudolfo. Is that right? That is. Yeah, that is. Have I said it correctly? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rudolfo. So tell us about your characters in Matilda. Well, I'm Matilda's mum, uh, not a very nice mum, uh, a terrible mum, in fact, uh, who's just interested in her ballroom dancing, the way she looks, her hair, you know, the makeup, everything, and very and very excited to have Rodolfo as her dancing partner.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Yeah, so I'm Mrs. Wilmot's dance teacher, instructor, um, with this like big bravado of this like Italian stallion, but deep down he's just a bit of a crook from Essex.

SPEAKER_08 1:33

Um and quite the costumes, I've got to say. Yes. Yeah, we've got the best ones. I was gonna say, that's gotta be a lot of fun, hasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

The snakeskin trousers and the big shoulder pads, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:45

Um, so how thrilling is it to be in such an iconic show? Oh, it's brilliant. I mean, it's never boring. I mean, I've done it quite a few times, a few years, so and you always find something different, there's always something. And then our cast is fantastic, isn't it? Like really strong cast like over over the whole thing. Yeah. Um, yeah. And talking about the cast, so lots of the children, uh or the children's roles, they have four or five different people that will be playing those roles while you're on the tour. Yeah, how does all of that work? So they they've got we've got loads of chaperones and they will look after them. They we have uh chaperones for the home, we have chaperones for the stage, um, and they do all their studies, you know, outside of uh work. Can you believe that? Work. I know young adults work, um, and so they're well looked after, and they they you know they're just so disciplined, aren't they?

SPEAKER_04 2:41

An excellent resident team that look after them in each venue, so they come back and they they get a refresh of the show, and yeah, they're just like amazing.

SPEAKER_08 2:48

Constantly, yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Constantly, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 2:50

Yeah, because I know you know when my daughter watched the show, she's like, Oh gosh, I'd love to be in a show like that. And I said, Yeah, and you've got to do school as well. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so you know.

SPEAKER_09 3:02

So there ain't no lay-in, no.

SPEAKER_08 3:07

Yeah, yeah. Maybe not, I'll think about it. So, had you seen Matilda before you were in it?

SPEAKER_04 3:18

I had actually. I watched the show in London about I'd say maybe about eight years ago. My younger cousin played one of the parts in town, and so I went to go see the show to watch her. Um, and I remember coming up even then, eight years ago, and I was like, wow, what a clever. It's just like I think everyone that comes to see it, and even now, the writing and the story and the choreography, the whole thing is so clever, and it's like you watch it now and you think how they created this from like nothing to this like incredible show that's lasted 15 years, yeah. Even now it's amazing. Um, so I remember coming out of the theatre then and thinking, what a fantastic piece of theatre. And then so when I was like auditioning back last year, uh well earlier on, yeah, well last year now, um, I remember being like, Yeah, this is definitely something I'd love to do. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_08 4:05

Yeah, I think I did see it before because I saw my friend at playing uh Mrs. Wormwood, and okay. Funny enough, a lot of the Mrs. Wormwoods are all mates, you know. So Tiffany was in the house. You're interchangeable, yeah. Yeah, and Tiffany was in town at the moment, is a friend of mine as well, and I've got some friends up for it now, right now as well. So, yeah, so I did see it beforehand, yeah. But I'll tell you what, it you don't always take in everything the first time around. Yeah, and it's not until much later you just go, oh, you know. I mean, I remember sitting there going, Oh, the Escopologist and Agra, I've just got it. Yeah, and and it does take a little time to pick everything up, yeah, yeah. Absolutely, and understanding how everything intertwines. And um when I came to see it here at Mayflower Theatre, I was looking at the set and I realised that all of the letters are spelling out different words from the the show, and everything is so thought out. Is Miss Trunchball the worst, most evil villain ever? On stage, yes, yeah, yeah, most definitely, yeah. Um terrifying. Absolutely that terrifying. I would say up there with the child catcher. Yes, yes, yeah, it's very impressive.

SPEAKER_04 5:20

I think it's also played by Richard, who's this six foot four man. I think the height and like the menacing kind of feel, and the whole show there's a play on opposites, like there's a song in the act one called Loud, and in Act Two there's a song called Quiet, and the whole show is about opposition. So then seeing Chunchful 6'4 up against a little Matilda, like it's just that amazing. I think that kind of really highlights that.

SPEAKER_08 5:42

And I think Richard played Scar in The Lion King. So is he really just horrible?

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Is he quite softly from the really cute little dog with B B, yeah. Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_08 5:58

I have a theory that if you play really awful characters, you sort of get rid of all your awfulness and get it out of it. And so you can just be lovely whatever.

SPEAKER_09 6:12

Just put it in there a little bit more.

SPEAKER_08 6:15

Exactly that. Um, so you're currently here in Southampton until the 17th of May. Um, how's the tour going? How far into the tour are we? Well, we've done nine months. Yeah. It's hard, I believe today is halfway.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

There's a baby. I think today it's half the halfway point. Yeah. Oh yeah. So we're officially halfway through the tour.

SPEAKER_08 6:35

And you become each other's family while you're on tour.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 6:41

I suppose you have to sort of support each other and be family to each other, don't you? And especially with so many children in the cast as well. Um, I know that you were talking about social groups and the running club. Yeah. The running club.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

The coffee club and the knitting club.

SPEAKER_08 6:59

Knitting clubs just started yet. Oh, I love it. It's just backstage. Yeah. I mean, I knit all the time backstage, and so does Scotty. Scotty's started the knitting club. Okay. Uh, and uh, yeah, so that's up and running. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Yeah, no Matilda babies in the nine months, but lots of scarves and hats. I've got so many kids.

SPEAKER_08 7:18

So many knitted mats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's quite funny. You know, Tom Bailey does that knitted. Oh yeah, they've seen the invasion of the thing. Those big massive knitting he doesn't do that. Oh yeah, this could be a whole sideline. Yeah. Yeah. Side hustle. The the ice creams and the uh scarf in the jump in the interval. Now, Mrs. Wormwood's hair it is practically its own character, isn't it? I mean, it's quite I mean the weak wig ladies, bless them, they're forever doing this, you know. Yeah. I mean, they must have their elbows must be exhausted from because it's a lot of hair. It's a lot of hair, and everything has to be individually curled and curled on the wefts, you know, and then the wefts go into the wig, which has also got to be set and put in and then curled as well. You know, and we all have a little go sometimes. So we're backstage, we do the little rolling, we we join in. Yeah. Because sometimes I see one of the girls, Porsche, we're all like, there she's doing it as well. Everybody takes a so they have to put all of the curls in every strand of hair. Yes. And I and I think when when I I would describe it as um Marge Simpson, but blonde. Yes, but but long as well. So so as high as Marge Simpson's hair goes. Yes, there's a lot of height. Um but but this lovely flowing locks um coming down the side there. Do you think that she would like that, Mrs. Wormwood, to be described as that? Oh, yeah, definitely. The blonde Marge Simpson. The blonde Marge Simpson. I mean well, maybe maybe not. Yeah. Maybe something a bit more glamorous. Um when you're playing Mrs. Wormwood, how do you get into character? I know that we were saying about Richard being Miss Trunchball, um, and that he's super lovely off stage, um, but then takes on this character. Is there something that you have to do? Or is it putting the wig on? It's putting the wig on and putting the costume on, and it just immediately she's there. Yeah. You know, she's it's great because it's all a lot of it's done for you. Yeah, and I come from Dartford, so we all talk like that in Dartford. So the accent is not far for me to get to, really. Although it's not really Essex, it's not really anything, it's sort of in the mix, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then because we've got the act, the you're from Essex, I think. Yeah, yeah. And uh because they've got the Essex accent as well. I love a little bit of that put in every now and again. So it's quite great.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

I think yes, it's all of the adding the like the bells and whistles, isn't it? The the costume and the wigs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_08 10:04

It don't it does it for you and the shoes, you know, once you've got your sparkly shoes on and you're all right.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

She can do anything in those.

SPEAKER_08 10:09

Yeah, and I find myself talking like that most of the time. Talking all the time, you go, oh god, I'm there, yeah. Do you fall into that quite a lot? I suppose it's um I used to work over in Spain and I would talk every night like this, and then I would go home and talk to my English boyfriend like this and say, What are you doing? Where are you? Yeah, no, that's yeah, you do that. I find that when I'm in Manchester, yeah, because my family are northern, and it's one's from Yorkshire, one's from Lancashire. And so when I get the Manchester, I'm not like that by the time I get home, you know.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

It's like the rhythm of the Mr. You can't help it, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 10:46

You can't help it. You know, you stay with friends in Manchester, you start talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 10:50

It's mirroring, isn't it? Yeah. And when you have different Matildas, do you find that you play your characters differently as well? Yeah. Do you? Yeah. Because they're all very different, aren't they? Yeah. They're so different. And then you get them in the school, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

And the kids, all of the kids, yeah. Which is like the nice the nice part of it, even though there it's obviously a show that's completely set, there is flexibility and fluidity in that for like the children and also the adults, like any covers or anything like that, that people can go on and have their own kind of spin on this. It's not so set in stone for everyone, which is nice.

SPEAKER_08 11:24

Yeah. And which is your favourite bit? Favourite bit and all favourite bit of Matilda. All favourite song. Oh, my favourite song is When I Grow Up. Um we sing it off stage, and I it's just never boring. I just I love that song. It's so gorgeous. It's just so beautifully written, and it's lovely to sing.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Yeah, lovely.

SPEAKER_08 11:49

It's hard to pick, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 11:50

I do love at the right at the end of the show when we watch Revolting and we all stand in the wings and you see that all the kids, all nine in the classroom, just absolutely giving it beans every night, and then all the adults come on, and I think that's quite a special moment to watch them and all of their elements, definitely.

SPEAKER_08 12:05

And you can feel that the audience is so behind them. You know, I mean they are at the start, but by the time we get to revolting, they're mad, yeah. They're totally clapping. Yeah, yeah. You you're just willing them to just get rid of mesh trunch bars. Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. There's quite a good, there's quite a few numbers that are really good. Yeah, yeah. You know, all the trunch stuff is fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. And then Tessa, I mean, I could listen to her sing every day. Who's Tessa? Who plays Miss Honey? So, Tessa, Miss Honey. Oh my goodness, what a sort of thing. What a voice. What a voice, yeah. Yeah, and in fact, we had Tim Minchin pop in last night. Yeah. I mean, how wonderful is that? So nice. Apparently at four o'clock he went, Yeah, I'm gonna go and see the show tonight. And then popped down and realised it was press night, and then he was sort of in his t-shirt and he was like, Can I have a shacket? Yeah, jacket.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

One of the school blankets. Yeah, did he love that?

SPEAKER_08 13:02

Did he borrow Mr. Wormwood's? Yes. Oh, can you imagine? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yeah, the green target. Nice and subtle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 13:09

Mr. Wormwood as well. Oh yeah, fabulous, yeah. What a character. Yeah. That must be so fun to play. Oh yeah. I mean, he's got a lot of it. I'll just bounce off what he's doing a lot of the time. Yeah. You know, but his character's great. And he has this thing where he he's read it in the book that he's um like a what's it called? Uh not a there's an animal, like a like a anyway, it goes on a little a ratty. It's like a little ratty. There's a description of him being ratty. So Adam does his fluffy thing when he's so that's his character, and that's how he gets his Mr. Mr. Wormwood from it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

With his gold teeth.

SPEAKER_08 13:48

He's very funny. Very, yeah. He is very funny. Yeah. Um, so we have a quiz for you. Now, this is quick fire. Okay. Have you got a quiz? We do a crossword. Yeah, we've got to be a little bit more. Oh, you've got crossword. A quiz being in act two, you're doing the crossword. Yeah, we do crossword. Yeah, yeah, okay, right. Mr. Wormwood, yeah, and Mrs. Phelps. Yeah, and us.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

And us two. I'm not the Carol Vorderman that reads that all the time. Oh no, love.

SPEAKER_08 14:17

And when he's not there, no, it Adam really doesn't like it when I read them out line. Oh no, no, no. Yeah, we're like, where's Ryan? We're not doing that line. Okay, so here we go. What was the first grown-up book that Matilda read? Oh, um. Have you been paying attention? Yes.

unknown 14:39

G.

SPEAKER_08 14:39

Not Lord of the Rings, no, no. No, great equitation. What does Matilda put in Mr. Wormwood's hair oil as a proxide? Bleach peroxide. Yes, it is. Platinum blonde hair dye. Uh the trunch bull puts children in a cupboard to punish them. What's it called? Choke it! Joke it. Oh god, don't do it. Even saying it, I'm like, oh my gosh. Uh during the song When I Grow Up, what is the unique activity that the students do while they're singing? Swinging. Swinging while singing. Swinging while singing. That's sick! I love that. Uh Matilda Hamilton Cabaret and what other musical are the only four musicals to have won seven Olivier Awards. Matilda, Hamilton, and Cabaret. There's one more. Seven. Paddington? Well, no, they haven't. That's well, Paddington's recently, isn't it? Yeah. But it's these questions have been written recently. So you have to be right. Right. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um got to see that, yeah. And your last question. So the nearest ten since opening, how many different actors have played the role of Matilda? Oh, wow. What since opening? 15 years. And in each year you have eight.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 16:11

So 15 times eight.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

Well, 15 times two is 30 times four is 120. 120.

SPEAKER_08 16:20

Oh, you are not far off. That's over 130. Ah, yeah, wow, yeah. Well done. 130. 30, wow, that's incredible. And so the first Matildas will be 15 years old. Oh, I know, we've seen where yes, that's the first thing. I think they actually did a meet and Matildas. Yeah. That must be amazing. Yeah, no, it was lovely. And have the original Matildas from the first show have they gone on to continue beyond today? I don't know. They won the Olivier, yeah. I don't know. They must uh maybe a few of them have.

unknown 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 16:56

Well they made that meet, didn't they? So it was. How old are the Matildas that are in the show? So they go from, well, they were nine when they started ten. Ten, eleven? Yeah. Twelve, yeah, ten eleven, twelve. I mean, we had one one year who was eight, and then turned nine. Ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah, that they're amazing. Yeah, they are. So they're amazing. They really are. So we've already mentioned that the legendary Tim Minchin was in town for the show last night. And actually, he had a question for you. I love that. Is it about the marathon?

SPEAKER_00 17:39

A question for Mrs. Wemwood and Rodolfo. Did the fact that one of the great dancers in Britain was in the house last night make you nervous? I'm talking about me, of course.

SPEAKER_08 17:53

Well, I had a conversation with him about the marathon last night, and he said his knees were a bit dodgy, so um, you know, I think we'll be alright on the dancing front of them.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_08 18:06

Would you teach him? Definitely. Yeah. Any day.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 18:11

I've got to say, um, Rudolfo has the moves. I mean, means like, were you some sort of gymnast as a child?

SPEAKER_03 18:21

I did start dancing when I was younger, but yeah, splits always get a laugh.

SPEAKER_08 18:25

I mean, you've seen nothing compared to what he can do. Oh, really? Yeah, just this little warm-up thing where he lifts his leg and it just holds it here. And he's standing. Uh behind. I mean, it's literally there and past. Yeah. It's the most, I've never seen anything like it. And I keep asking him, you know, when he says, Oh, my leg's not my beautiful legs, and I'm like, please, please, and they just do this, stick the leg up there. That'd be great. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah, well, it's impressive, it is, and especially in that lycra. Yeah, right. Amazing, amazing. And yes, his bum is real.

SPEAKER_07 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 19:04

As I heard someone in the in the audience say in in Leicester, is it padded?

unknown 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 19:12

I love it. Yeah, and he was like, yeah, that was so funny. Ambition achievement. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because if you do that, it's quite funny. So for the dress rehearsal, we had some schools come in to watch, um, and they've got a couple of questions. Um would you like to take those on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, okay. We've got to get this right.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Just an intro first to them because they wanted to say hello.

SPEAKER_06 19:38

Okay, so I'm Naya, and my favourite bit was the um the scooter bit, where you all went round in the circle of your scooters. I'm Ellie Jane, and my favourite bit was um when Matilda dropped down from the ceiling. It was the children.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

And now I'm dying.

SPEAKER_06 20:08

How does um how do you eat the quick the cake that fast?

SPEAKER_08 20:15

I can't tell you. Yeah, because see the all these things are secret. This is a trotter entirely know myself. Yeah, yeah. Um but I've got an idea, but Miss Trunchbull makes Bruce Bogtrotter eat the entire cake. The entire chocolate cake after he stole one slice. And she makes him eat it and she forces him to eat it. There is a big burp at the end. It's one of those things, isn't it? That um that was one of my questions was how does he eat that chocolate cake night after night? I mean, he eats a certain amount. Yeah, I'd say lucky him, yeah. It's a secret we can't tell you. I I'd give it a go, I reckon. Yeah, right. Oh, definitely. Well, we love cake. Yeah, yeah. We'd have no problem. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Oh fine, can't finish it, pass over to see.

SPEAKER_08 21:17

So, in answer to the question, probably pass it to the wind to everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:23

How do you dance like that?

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Oh, that's very sweet.

SPEAKER_08 21:29

Training. Yeah, training, yeah. Or natural.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Yeah, lots of practice. Yeah, we had a what was it, five weeks of rehearsal in London? And then four weeks of tech when we got to Leicester, and then yeah, constant rehearsals, just looking after yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 21:43

Yeah. Yeah, it's full on. Well, and it's not easy either. No. It's not like it's not a it's not a sort of flowy kind of game. So it's very specific and spiky. Like so is it it's Latin American. Is it salsa? What do we what do we describe? Salsa, yeah. We do a bit of salsa. You do more. What is it called Chicardas? Chicago. Chicardas. Yeah, they do a few of those. So we had a child the other night when when you kiss Miss Honey. It always takes a little while to sort of go, you know. So there's a lot of that, which is quite funny. There's language that come in unusual bits that you don't expect, you know, it sort of throws you a little bit. And that energy that must come from the audience. It must be very different, you know, rehearsing in an empty theatre and then coming and performing and getting that energy back from the audience.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

Yeah. And that's how it stays fresh as well, as you were saying earlier, that kind of the audience reaction always is different every night, obviously, because it's a completely different different set of people. So that always keeps you on your toes and keeps it interesting and things.

SPEAKER_08 22:52

Yeah, it's literally square.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Just relishing in it, just for a second, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:02

How do you do the splits? That's funny.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Very apt, yeah. A lot of stretching. Um stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch.

SPEAKER_08 23:11

Have you always been able to do the splits?

SPEAKER_04 23:14

I started dancing when I was about eight, and then I went to a school in London where I used to do academics in the morning and vocational studies in the afternoon at Itale Conti. And when I was in my year in kind of year eight, it was kind of the trendy thing to be able to do the splits. So I vividly remember being in kind of year eight and thinking, like, I really want to be able to do the splits and sitting in the splits every day until eventually I'd like to touch the floor, and then I was like, Yes, I can do the splits. So yeah, it's kind of the trendy thing to do when I was at six.

SPEAKER_08 23:41

So think of the splits first slides too. Can you? Yeah, because I I was the same with you where it was a challenge, and when we were in jazz, I would be in second, and my teacher, Jackie Bristo, would go, Oh, somebody help Rebecca at the back, please. Because you'd have to you'd have to slide through. That was the thing, wasn't it? And I used to go up and over. Okay. So that took forever. So I found myself every day sitting here the other day. I still do it now, but only because you just have to. Yeah, you have to, yeah. Because we do a drop in it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

I always do the splits before we go on for the scene, just before we enter. I always do the splits as like a pre-show number ritual just to make sure it's still there. Just the middle terms. Yeah, then we shake each other's hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 24:23

We shake each other's hands before we go on with the day. There we go. I love this. Is there ever a worry that you can't get out of it?

SPEAKER_04 24:31

Luckily no.

SPEAKER_08 24:32

Because I think I think that's the uh scary thing. That's the crew, the crucial piece. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Standing back up after it. So if you didn't actually hit the floor with the splits, then you might be okay to still get up.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

Yeah, luckily that's I swing my back leg around and then stand up. Yeah. It all happens quite quickly, so you don't have much to think about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 24:52

I mean, there are moments, we've had our moments, haven't we? There's been a few times that it hasn't quite gone to plan. Oh, yeah. And you need to tell us more. Oh well, with the it was I don't know, that was about a month ago, wasn't it? The twist thing.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_08 25:06

And we do the little we do a twist thing, which is really tricky to.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

And fast, isn't it?

SPEAKER_08 25:10

And really fast. It twiddled, and I had my heel and it got caught in the skirt. I mean, there's nothing you can do. So it was wrapped in skirt. But I had my heel up here, you know, it's quite high up. It's not a normal position. Yeah, yeah. And then we go into the next bit. We know each other very well because we we just like, I mean, we know we're gonna do this, but we're going. So we did the next bit, we did the kick thing. Then eventually it came out, and then I thought, I'll do the splits, why not? And you were right, because it was like, we haven't got time for this, we've got to get to the next one. Oh, so I went for the splits, and of course he wasn't there, so I'd literally hit the ground. And my first thought was like, How do I get up?

SPEAKER_07 25:47

Yeah, but you did, so we did it, but we know each other so well that we just we can tell, can't we? We still do, yeah, yeah, yeah. How long did it take to learn your lines? It doesn't it uh doesn't oh I'd known them for years.

SPEAKER_08 26:06

Yes, but uh so for me, uh you you put the the other person's lines on the on a tape and I talk to the tape until it becomes natural. Okay. Yeah, so I guess well I don't know. I'm quite quick at learning lines, so probably a couple of days, and then once you've filtered it in, maybe a week or something. Because you're doing it, you do it over and over again for the rehearsals, so it kind of cements them in, doesn't it? Yeah. I mean I've done pl plays with a hell of a lot a lot of lines, so yeah. Get used to it, get used to it, yeah. Yeah. Luckily, as you get older, it still stays. That's the point. We used to be able to do it. Well, I suppose I suppose it's like a sort of muscle, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you're using it all of the time, that gets stronger, and you're you know, so you're able to retain those lines. I mean we all go wrong, couldn't you know? I did one the other day, so did you? Literally. Again, let's find out. I said I said instead of saying more, I said less, I said more, and then of course that just threw my and it was a more less than in you know you could see I was looking at Miss Huddy's going, talking making sense of this in the next bit, you know. We've all had them, she's had those minutes. We're like Ms. You know, we've all we've all done it.

SPEAKER_07 27:25

Everybody's you know, you have you been a victim of that.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 27:30

How long did it take to put on your costumes? Well, we're good at quick costumes, aren't we?

SPEAKER_08 27:36

I say five ten minutes, five, ten minutes. Oh, though I do have tight gate, which is at the quarter. So I start off with four pairs of tights. Four pairs of tights? Four pairs of tights. Are you absolutely bored? I think I think it's because I took a mic out of my friend who was in a show we did, and she had to put two pairs of tights on, and I didn't have any. And I used to go, oh what a shame. And then I got this, and then I they gave me four pairs of tights, so I took a picture of the tights and sent it to my friend, and I went, karma. So I have uh a shiny pair of tights, yeah, a blue pair of fishnets, a pink pair of fishnets, and then a normal pair of tights over the top to hide them all for the first scene, and then you take off that. You lose weight during the show. Very tight, you know. Yeah. That's why we have the dinner in the second act. Yeah, of course, ready for the next show, the photo. Otherwise it's like it's not. If it gets allowed, we're like yeah, so then the rest goes on quite easily. Yeah, easy. You you have a more quick change.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

In the opening, I quick change into Rodolfo and then back out of Rodolfo into Sporty Dad, and that literally happens in about 25 seconds. And then when I get back into Rodolfo for Loud, I come off from the playground scene and then have about a couple of minutes to get into Rodolfo. But there's always an army of people, so got someone from wardrobe, two people from wigs, someone from sound. So you basically just stand there and it's like a car wash is shh and then you just turn around and off the back.

SPEAKER_08 29:03

That's a great way to describe you stand, yeah, we'll do. Yeah, it did be quite good, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_09 29:13

Yeah, yeah. Excellent.

SPEAKER_08 29:14

Perfect. Thank you so much. I've thoroughly enjoyed talking to you and found out loads about it. Probably more than you should have done. Yes. Yeah, we'll check that out. But thank you so much. We absolutely love the show, um, and best of luck with the rest of the tour. Thank you so much, Natalia.

SPEAKER_05 29:42

Change my story. Sometimes I'll be a little bit naughty.

SPEAKER_08 29:49

It's so brilliant to have you here, Natalie from St Mark's School in Shirley. So you guys are part of the Change My Story initiative with the RSC and Mayflower. So tell us all about what Change My Story is about.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Uh so we've taken part in both sort of tiers. So I've been in charge of sort of the drama side. So we we chose Matilda for our school production and then sort of found out about this through the Mayflower. So it's it's a great way of us doing it. Where I've had two days of CPD with the Mayflower with uh some people from the RSC, kind of workshopping different ways of uh kind of opening up the story and the text to the students, getting them to kind of take some ownership, getting them to kind of make it theirs, sort of with the change of my story, make it their own, getting them to have some input with how we stage the show and how we stage different scenes. Um, so they're they're having their input, so they're they're part of the whole thing, not just standing on stage where we tell them to.

SPEAKER_08 30:47

So, what do they do then? Which bits of the story might they be able to change, or which bits can they have input in? And in in what kind of ideas are they putting in there?

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Um it's more so the lead characters, I think partly just because the confidence, if they've got the leader, then they're they're the ones who are confident to kind of run with it and do their own thing. Um but if we've done a bit of kind of character sort of exploration, looked at kind of the different different kind of versions and different interpretations of a character, and then they seem to kind of find their own that they sort of connect with more, and then they they do more on stage sort of naturally in a rehearsal, they deliver their line and straight away it's it's it's there and it works and it makes sense rather than me having to pull it out of them and go, well, try saying it like this, try moving like this, try doing this, and it just yeah, they they do it much more kind of fully and much more naturally because it's come from them rather than me telling them to say it this way and do this movement. Well, I suppose it's understanding the character rather than reading from the script. Exactly, exactly, understanding the character rather than just the words on the page.

SPEAKER_08 31:46

And St. Mark's was one of the very lucky schools that came to the open dress rehearsal of Matilda. What was that like?

SPEAKER_02 31:55

What was how amazing was that experience? They they loved it, they were absolutely buzzing. Um we're close enough to walk to and from, so the whole walk home they were still singing and just talking about it non-stop. Um, yeah, I think for a lot of them that don't necessarily get the opportunity to go to the theatre because we've got a really high percentage of disadvantaged pupils in the school, and so they might have that interest in the theatre and the interest in performing arts, but they just don't get the opportunity to go outside of school because it's it's not always affordable. Um, so yeah, being able to bring them to kind of to see a show at all of any sort of professional standard is incredible, and they were just buzzing like the the energy and the colours, and they they really kind of got into it. Um again, I think those that have kind of got the lead roles they were really buzzing each time their character came on stage, and they I think I think in our next rehearsal. Yes, I think our next rehearsal on Tuesday is going to be a lively one. Um because I think they're all just gonna be full of these new ideas and things for their characters. Um they were they were singing along through the finale, they got some clap, they were very proud of themselves, they got some clapping going through, I think it was groups. Um yeah, just the whole experience, being like them being able to access the theatre and see it. And I kind of put it to them before that you know, if everything goes brilliantly, then you've just seen the show. And if if there are bits that are being tweaked as we go, then you've had that insight into a professional dress rehearsal. So either way, a real win-win. And I think bar a couple of sort of sound levels going up and down the few kind of lighting sort of states that we could see being tweaked, it it was just it was it was like seeing the proper show on opening night. It was it was incredible. So again, and also I think a real kind of inspiration for our students that like that's their rehearsal, that wasn't even a full show, that was their rehearsal, and that's the standard. Um a great kind of inspiration, great kind of example for our students.

SPEAKER_08 33:38

And that must be such an incredible experience to have as well. So not only coming to see the show, but seeing a dress rehearsal and seeing those technical pieces going on at the same time and knowing that you're there for wow, this is incredible to it feels so alive, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah, and I think even little things that I don't think would even cross their minds sometimes, like seeing kind of the light and soundboard kind of out in the auditorium, kind of in their sight, whereas normally that's sort of tucked away at the back, yeah, and they might walk past it, but they're oblivious. Yeah. And actually seeing that there, a few of them were asking me about that and kind of the scale of that and how big that is and how many controls and things there are for the for the tech team to to work with. Uh, yeah, so kind of the insight from from all sides is yeah, incredible. They were they were buzzing the whole way home. I bet.

SPEAKER_08 34:28

I bet.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

So was I.

SPEAKER_08 34:30

Um so what does a scheme like this one from the RSC, a Mayflower, what does it mean to those children? What do they get from it?

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Again, for a lot of them, so for the drama side of things, it's that access to the theatre that they might not get otherwise, and then again that insight into something like a dress rehearsal that they certainly wouldn't normally get, even if their parents can bring them to the theatre. Um that sort of side of things, just providing opportunities that they don't perhaps get otherwise. Um, because that we've got a huge number of students, like I say, who are sort of disadvantaged and they might have the most amazing talent, but because they can't afford to go to a dance class or a theatre group or whatever, or afford to go to the theatre, they might just sort of slip under the radar and never really get to explore it, which is is quite a sad thought. Um, we also took part in the creative writing side of things as well. So one of our English teachers came along to the CPD Day. Um, and again, he said the response in English lessons doing the creative writing task has just been phenomenal. So, again, a book that they might have read as a child and they might kind of have some awareness of perhaps, but actually the chance to kind of look at that in a different way and kind of write their own scenes and and yeah, sort of make it their own, I think. Again, with characters that they did already know, being able to put their own take on it. I think the response he said has been really incredible. Um and again, we've got someone from the RSC coming in to do some live readings of those. Um, and there's there's not enough room for every student to take part, unfortunately, but apparently some of those have asked if we can film it and share it because they just want to be involved somehow because yeah, they they really, really loved it. Um and again, I think for them they some of them they might not know what the RSC is, but if they do a bit of Googling or even if we tell them, then the fact that it's it's someone different to their teachers coming in, it's someone like from the industry, it's someone from like real-life professional theatre and real-life sort of royal Shakespeare company is is yeah, I think it's again it's a really nice sort of role model for them and a really nice insight that they just wouldn't get without programmes like this.

SPEAKER_08 36:25

Why did the school decide to put Matilda on?

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Um originally because I uh so I joined the school in September and we were looking for a musical um for me not knowing the children obviously when I first joined, but wanting to get things up and running quite quickly. And so honestly, we picked it because it was going to be fairly easy to costume in school uniforms, and it was gonna be fairly easy to sort of to set a stage with a lot of it set in a classroom. So honestly, originally that was the logic behind it. Then a network meeting with drama teachers found out about this project, um, and yeah, so yeah, it had to happen after that.

SPEAKER_08 37:02

So we've heard about the Illuminate Teacher Conference. Tell us what that is and and what it does.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Uh so it's it's a teacher conference, it's yeah, it's a conference for all drama teachers, sort of right across kind of the south coast and sort of the southern region. Um so we have we quite often have smaller network meetings where you perhaps meet with some local schools. Um the conference was an opportunity for people to travel in from much further afield, so a great opportunity for us as teachers to kind of network and meet each other and share ideas and share best practice, um, but also then for us to kind of get some insight and some CPD from from again, like from professionals in the industry, people with much more experience or people who are working professionally with a theatre company. Um, and the other thing that I really enjoyed was the fact that we kind of got to be the students sort of thing. We got to take part in the workshops and do it practically. Um which I obviously, if we've come into teaching and drama teaching in particular, we're the sort of person. We like getting in and having a go ourselves. So rather than just kind of sitting around a table and discussing best practice, actually to have a go and to work with these sort of the professionals and um and yeah, get hands-on and have a go at their their ideas and their methods is I think is invaluable as well. Um, and again, I think we then naturally kind of feed off that and we enjoy that more, and then we take it back to our students probably better as well than just sort of reading about it or going to an online meeting or something.

SPEAKER_08 38:18

Well you understand it more, don't you? Yeah. If you've taken part, if you've experienced something, it's very different to reading about it. Absolutely. Once you've felt that, then you you take something different back. Yeah, it's really valuable, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 38:30

And I think being in the students' shoes as well, you know how they when you then somebody throws something new at them, you know how they're gonna feel because you've just been in that trying that new sort of thing for the first time.

SPEAKER_08 38:39

And this isn't the first production that St Mark's have worked on with Mayflower. Um what was the other one?

SPEAKER_02 38:46

So we took part in uh sort of a workshop and performance um project with Red Shoes in Matthew Bourne's New Adventures. Um so again, we had some people from Matthew Bourne's New Adventures come into school. They ran a workshop with some of our year eight and nine students, um, where they got a chance to learn some of the repertoire from the show and do some creative work there, kind of again sort of making it their own and having their own input and turning it into kind of a group piece within St. Mark's. Um and then we came to watch the performance at the Mayflower, um, which again an entirely new thing for a lot of our students. Dance at the moment in St. Mark's is within PE, it's it's not its own subject, so it's not it doesn't get an awful lot of attention. So I think for those that do have a keen interest in dance opportunities like that, coming to see a show that is purely dance and getting a workshop that is is very dance-based, um, again was really, really popular. Um some students who I didn't expect to sign up but signed up and were amazing, and the the workshop was two hours long and no one stopped for the entire duration. They were all just on the go the whole time, no one, no one even, I don't think even occurred to them to to ask to step out or sit out or anything. Um and then again, sort of a few of those who I perhaps wasn't sure what they'd make of the show because uh from what I know of the students, it perhaps wasn't I wouldn't I wouldn't have thought it was their cup of tea, but actually again the feedback that kind of it's not something they've seen before, it's not something they go in would perhaps rush to see again, but they still really enjoyed it for what it was, and it was it was really different, and yeah, they still found it really whether whether they loved it or not, they found it really interesting, just kind of a different style of theatre and a different style of performance than perhaps what they've studied in drama at school.

SPEAKER_08 40:20

Yeah, fabulous. And um one last question. When you grow up, what do you want to be?

SPEAKER_09 40:27

Oh it might be a stun happening here, but but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Um well actually when I was told I want to be a vet, which couldn't be much couldn't be much further from a drama teacher. Um but here we are.

SPEAKER_08 40:43

Oh perfect, thank you so much for me. Thank you, thank you very much for having me. This podcast is presented by me, Zoe Hansen, the podcast lady, and produced by Owen Noon, Rebecca McKillop, and Kelly Clark from Mayflower.