Lights, camera, action for Suthers School students’ first full musical

Students are preparing to stage a secondary school’s first musical.

Students at the Suthers School, Fernwood, will soon be taking to the stage in Matilda The Musical, based on the Roald Dahl book.

The school didnot had the space to put on such a large-scale production at its temporary base at Toot Hill School.

However, it will soon be lights, camera, action for the 33 pupils involved in the production at the new school site.

“It’s incredible. We’ve been wanting to do it for so long,” said Nicole Friend, one of the producers.

“We have been waiting for our space to be ready so that we can use all the specialist equipment.”

The school performed a mini musical in May 2019 using a rented space.

But for many of the children, this will be the first time that they will be able to show off their talents to friends and family.

Nicole said: “I think for the children, it’ll be the first time that they will perform to a live audience.

“A lot of them will have come up from primary school and have never done anything like this before.”

“The children are so excited and they are all very committed.”

Nicole was originally unsure about how pupils would feel about the musical, despite the school’s focus on extra curricular activities.

“I wasn’t sure how much people would get involved with it,” she said.

“We like to do things that people want to see and everybody wants to see a musical.”

Inspired by Roald Dahl’s book of the same name, Matilda The Musical tells the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life.

Nicole and her colleagues applied to Musical Theatre International to secure licensing of the script and music.

“As soon as it came up, we knew that we wanted to do Matilda straight away,” she said.

“It’s a great one for costumes and it’s a great one for music. The kids are basically playing themselves.”

Matilda The Musical will be performed at the Suthers School on Wednesday, March 9 and Thursday, March 10, from 7pm.

Tickets can be bought from the school’s reception.