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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 APRIL 2022 7 THEATRE The saviours and villains of Matilda the Musical Masquerade's production of Matilda the Musical brings together some of Malta's best actors who will give life to the villains and heroes in Roald Dahl's timeless story MATILDA the Musical tells the story of a little girl who uses her extraordinary intelli- gence and the power of teleki- nesis to change her destiny, but beyond Matilda's story is a tale of good winning over evil. It would be easy to focus on the evil characters in Matilda, so cruel are they to the little girl, but characters like Miss Honey balance them out per- fectly. Although Miss Honey's name describes her perfect- ly, there is more to her than sweetness. "I admire her quiet determination," shares Rachel Fabri of her character. "Many victims of abuse like she was end up feeling worthless and helpless. However, some turn adversity into something pos- itive. In the end, Miss Honey gets what she wants while help- ing others achieve what she be- lieves is right." Another bright light in Mat- ilda's life is the librarian Mrs Phelps, who is the first person to ever see the girl's true po- tential and to foster it. "As an avid reader, I feel that libraries and librarians are an important part of passing a love of read- ing to younger generations," says Katherine Brown, who will be bringing the kindly librar- ian to life. "Libraries allow us to explore new books even if we don't have money to spend, and the knowledge that librari- ans can offer is invaluable." On the opposite side of the spectrum are two of the nasti- est characters ever invented by Dahl. One of them is Matilda's own father, Mr Wormwood. He is a criminal and a terrible par- ent. "Unfortunately, he doesn't have any redeeming qualities, but it's definitely not his dress sense!" jokes Alan Paris, who will be playing the unsavoury character. "He would like to think that it's his hair, which is ironic, incidentally, because I'm playing the role! Luckily, I'm being well coiffed for it!" Miss Trunchbull is the other villain, and she is as despicable as they come. Although Trun- chbull is a female character, the role in this musical is tradi- tionally played by a man. In the Masquerade production, it will be Thomas Camilleri who will be terrorising little children. "It has been great fun working on the nuances of Miss Trun- chbull's character," Camilleri shares. "Children are such great crea- tures, so it's actually really fun to be playing a character who is so entirely repulsed by them. The writing, both Roald Dahl's and composer Tim Minchin's, is so deliciously evil that utter- ing every single word is a pleas- ure." Matilda is also bringing joy to the cast and crew for differ- ent reasons. "I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole rehearsal process and I cannot wait to be back on stage!" confesses Paris. "To be able to perform in front of an audience is always an ab- solute privilege, especially with this uber-talented lot, and even more so after the past couple of years. Doing so in a full-scale musical in a large theatre is a bonus. I'd say we're coming back with a bang!" Whether familiar with Dahl's book or not, Matilda the Mu- sical is sure to entertain audi- ence members of every age, and it boasts over 90 awards as proof. "People should come and watch Matilda because it's a fun, engaging and interesting story," says Brown. "Everyone involved in this show is ded- icated to making it the best performance ever, and we want everyone to love it as much as we do." Matilda The Musical will run between 16 and 30 April 2022 at the Mediterranean Confer- ence Centre, Valletta. Tick- ets can be purchased at www. showshappening.com. Further information is online at www. masquerademalta.com. This project is supported by Arts Council Malta. Rachel Fabri as Miss Honey Thomas Camilleri as Miss Trunchbull