Matilda

For a special birthday treat in 2016, we went to see Matilda the Musical. For my birthday, that is, and we got a babysitter. Frankie was not quite old enough to appreciate the deliciously revolting children and all the nuance of Agatha Trunchbull. But the soundtrack was on high rotation since then, and she grew to love the songs and especially the character of Matilda.

I had thought we might go to see it with her this year, perhaps in London or wherever we can catch it on the worldwide tour. But little did we know, that the tour had already reached Lusaka.

Well, perhaps Tim Minchin and the copyright team might not quite know about this particular production. The Barefoot Theatre of Lusaka adapted the story to local conditions, adding 2 extra wives to Matilda’s family, a Bonanza slot machine addiction rather than Bingo, and a breakout hip-hop dance session in the middle that truly rocked the house.

Many of the expat families that we have met through Frankie’s school were also packed into the old style raked theatre. The aisles and spare seats were later filled with kids from some of the compounds, who were able to see the show as an early Christmas present. The audience whooped it up, and shuddered appropriately under the glower and bluster of the slightly militaristic Trunchbull. If you ever needed proof that Roald Dahl is universal – bingo! Or ‘Bonanza!’.


The show's about to start


Excitement is building with our own revolting children




When I grow up....

The 'Trunchbull Impersonators Club'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birds of Zambia – a comprehensive review and development of a novel digital identification tool

Image
Background Ok, you can forget about all the fancy books concerning birds of Southern Africa. Yes, including Roberts Birds of Southern Africa , which while it claims to be the ‘most comprehensive single volume handbook on the African continent’ is…well…a little too comprehensive and doesn’t adequately explore the birds of Zambia. Aspinwall and Beel have admirably dedicated a book solely to Zambian birds in ‘ A Field Guide to Zambian Birds not found in southern Africa ’. However, their illustrations leave much to the imagination and don’t provide readers with quick, accessible tool to identify birds. For years ornithologists have therefore been desperately calling out for not only a definitive text on Zambian birds but for a modern method to rapidly identify birds of Zambia. In this prospective, observational study, we set out to characterise birds in the landlocked African country of Zambia and develop a robust digital pipeline for rapid and accurate bird identification. ...
Read more

'Tis the season!

Image
A close friend from Melbourne informed me of big purchase he recently made. I won’t mention the actual figures, but the words ‘extend’ and ‘mortgage’ were used and the price tag made me gasp. Keep in mind though, he made this purchase for his daughter, and it is almost Xmas, so we shouldn’t be too judgmental. He of course bought a mango. Inner city Melbourne has its boutique organic green grocers, home delivered vegie boxes and the mandatory big supermarket chains stocking fruit with plenty of food miles. Lusaka is actually not too dissimilar…except for the mango prices….but we’ll get to that later. It seems that having ‘a farm’ is pretty common here. Whether that be a small plot big enough for some vegetables (usually at least maize), a bigger enterprise employing farmhands (usually including maize) or a hobby farm on the outskirts of Lusaka for those with the kwatcha, again often with maize. I have the impression that many people rely quite heavily on a good maize crop....
Read more

Triangulation

Image
The pig from 'Peg + Cat' - a Canadian animated kids show with frequent geometric themes - may have missed his true calling as a road traffic policeman in Mugabe-era Zimbabwe (it's nice to be able to write that last bit with a hint of the past tense). At least he would have brought a little operatic enthusiasm to the role. One of the catchphrases that echoes through our house at high volume: 'I love triangllllles!!' Our preparation for our Christmas road trip to Bulawayo involved getting familiar with a dizzying schedule of fines ('No Driver's Licence: $20'; 'Headlights causing dazzle: $15'; 'Spit in or from vehicle: $5' - bargain!), and ensuring we had adequate fire extinguishers, safety vests, car jacks and matching tyres to satisfy the pernickety fine collectors that have been a fixture of car travel in the country. Fines in Zim are big business. One news report I read earlier last year, indicated a projected 60 million USD of rev...
Read more