Children who work in West End shows

[GunpowderGelatine]

Tonight I saw Matilda in the West End, which was fabulous - but it got me thinking about how things work with children performing in the West End.

There were about 8 children plus the Matilda actress who all sang pitch perfectly, remembered often complex lines word-perfectly (especially Matilda who had so much dialogue), had great comic timing, complex dance moves and some impressive gymnastics skills - one even got swung by her "pigtails" by Miss Trunchbull like in the movie and barely flinched - Their talent was mesmerising and they can't have been more than 10 or 11! I know that several actors play the same character on rotation, there are 4 girls playing Matilda I believe.

Out of morbid curiosity does anyone know how it works with things like school - do they get time off to rehearse? The play finished at 9.30 - aren't they tired or do they just do the odd night?! Do parents stay with them in rehearsals? How do they find these kids - private schools or are they regular kids who just audition? Or are their parents often actors?! What are they paid? Do they often go on to have careers in theatre as adults? Are the adults working with them DBS checked? Are there laws around children working in theatres? How long are their contracts? How do they find the time - I bought a programme and it didn't have huge amounts of info about the kids but the Matilda tonight plays netball too when?!

The educator in me was thinking "this is a safeguarding nightmare" 😂 sorry for all the questions, I was watching agog at these kids and think they must be another species entirely 😂

I wondered much of the same after watching Matilda!

I used to teach a boy that was in the lion king and a girl who was on a tv show. The boy was given an hour a week off and the girl a morning a fortnight. I believe the parents answered an audition advert

There are fairly stringent regulations round children in entertainment.
They're looked after by chaperones who have to be licenced by the county council.
They can't spend longer than a certain length of time, depending on age, in the theatre and have to leave the theatre by a certain time. If it's term time they have to do 3 hours of schooling.
Contracts for children are usually around 6 months.
Some of the children will be stage school, but a lot are just "ordinary" children who probably do dance and possibly singing/drama too.

My son’s classmate was in Matilda in the west end. He had time off school for rehearsals.

There are lots of safeguarding laws, including how many hours they can work, backstage chaperones, education etc.

Following as was thinking the same watching Annie!

Its not "morbid curiosity" it's just being curious!

I'm sure they are given extra lessons and homework to help them with what they miss and I bet a lot of their weekends are dedicated to it too.

My neighbours son acts in west end shows. He does go to a theatre group but he auditions on his own (meaning not as part of his theatre group).
He goes to regular school but I know he has not gone on holiday with the rest of his family (his dad stays behind) because of work.
There are strict rules about child performers about how many hours they can work and safeguarding. Most children do not continue as adults in the profession as it is not very secure. Theatre work doesn’t pay loads.

They are paid but not brilliantly.

I think there are 4 ‘squads’ for Matilda so they do a quarter of the shows each.

They get some time off from school but this is usually minimised and if it needs to be a lot they get tutoring for a min of 3 hours a day.

They will be a mix of stage school and independent school pupils with the odd state educated child thrown in.

The more successful a child is the more likely it is they will be at a stage or other independent school.

I work in 'theatre land ' ( but not west end) in our panto
There will be at least three different cast so the children don't do all of the performances and they are very strict with hours on stage/ rehearsals

There is a great book by Jo Hawes called 'Children in Theatre'.

We have absolutely no drama/singing talent in this house and I have no idea how I stumbled across it but I found it a fascinating read.

The children themselves need to be licensed by the local authority as well. It's all controlled - but id imagine private schools can decide to be more flexible with time off than state so probably easier if your child is successful to privately educate.

Let's hope it's not morbid curiosity!

Yes, really strict rules protecting the kids. There's at least one thread on here for parents of kids who have auditioned for Matilda, School of Rock etc. I think maybe under extra curricular?

I used to teach a very successful child actor. I don't remember him ever having a day off though.

My friends daughter does Panto and as others have mentioned they do have different teams of children so they rotate the child cast. They don't get paid much.

I know a little bit about this. Often the kids are quite a bit older than they seem - they love small children. For instance the role of Matilda is supposed to be a 6 year old but the minimum age for licensing (being given 'permission' to be in a show, through local authority child employment laws) is 8 and sometime stye Matildas have been as old as 12 (but small in stature and 'undeveloped').
There is an audition process every six months. It is rigorous and the child and family have to be massively committed - a ten week rehearsal period, no holidays whatsoever being taken during that time and either a needing to live within a certain distance from the theatre so can get home at night.... It's an amazing opportunity but a hug commitment...

sorry - HUGE commitment or occasionally the lead roles are housed in a kind of foster family.
There is rigorous Child Protection in place for child performers - schools give their permission - i would say most kids are state school but i could be wrong about that.
Most kids have probably done local panto and or numerous singing/dancing classes to get to the standard required but they are well drilled during the rehearsal process.

I know someone who has a child performing in the west end currently. The school are incredibly supportive and have given the child the time off very willingly. The child works in rotation and spends the entire week they are rota'd onto schedule at a theatre school in London to ensure they are still receiving an education. All in between rehearsals and performances. I'm in awe of them and their child to be honest. What an amazing opportunity!

Depending on the show they have stipulations about how far the children live from the theatre. Sometimes they will stay in a flat with the chaperones for short periods of time (I work in theatre, friends who are chaperones).

I've got friends who are older than me who started off as child performers in Les Mis, and know young people who had incredibly successful child musical theatre success who went to pursue other performing interests.

One of the things about working on a show with children is that it's quite arduous as they are always in rehearsal and children's cast change happens so often. That makes it hard for the other cast and staff as normally you'd do cast change once a year, with kids it's a lot more often.

Well, they have to be, @joyful, otherwise a West End audience who’ve paid some ludicrous sum for a seat get a Billy Eliott who sounds like a cracked record. It’s the same in top cathedral choirs with boy trebles.

The kids know it’s coming, though — they see the older/faster-developing ones being retired ahead of them — and they’ve all absorbed the fact that the show must go on. A friend of mine was a ballet dancer whose career was ended by an injury during a performance, and as she was semi-conscious with pain (badly broken leg) in the wings, the dressers were ripping her costume off to put it on her understudy who went on thirty seconds later, finished the run, and had a stellar dance career, while my poor friend had to deal with everything she’d ever worked for being over before she was legally able to vote...

Not on stage but on TV.
A girl in my daughter's class has just made a 40 (mini) episode TV show.

A call was put out on our school FB page (amongst others) asking for kids who fitted XYZ criteria. Ordinary old primary school
She was off school for 6 months, and was driven to location at 6am each morning, had lessons and shooting in a day, then driven home. Very little social life.
And she looks VERY young for her years- is 11 but looks 8, and is v small.