to boycott Matilda the musical on principle because it gives one of the few great female acting roles to a man.

[Bodicea]

There are so few great female characters as it is and there especially aren’t many that aren’t the pretty young thing, token love interest role. It has really annoyed me.

I can actually understand it. Miss Truchball comes over as a very masculine figure, great physical strength. I can’t see that you can easily find a female actress playing it so convincing without loosing the whole idea behind the character.

The play is good, I don’t like the book at all (I don’t like Dahl’s books) but the play gave it another dimension.

We recently watched Much ado about Nothing as a student performance and Hero, one of the main female characters, had been recasted as a male gay one. It was a great play despite the twist.

And I am somebody who prefers plays as close to the original source as possible and I would still recommend it.

The play didn't come first.

Jailnotjay ok so it isn’t one of the greats but it is still a missed chance and it is still a decent non-typical female character.

YABU

Going down that line means that acting becomes a dead profession only people with "authentic" experience can be in a role - its what kiboshed the Scarlett Johanson trans role. Drama needs to be able to use dissonance and contracts to subvert or reimagine our world. Its sort of the point of art & culture, surely?

The fact that its obviously a man in the role allows the play to have a strong anti-patriarchy narrative and makes Matilda all the more inspiring - both my daughters picked that up very quickly.

You will also miss out on some cracking tunes and a very clever set design.

The man playing the role is excellent. Do you have a problem with the Dame in pantomimes too?

You're seeking offence needlessly.

No it is not a pantomime, it's a musical and a brilliant one.
If you boycott it you are missing out. The show is fabulous and Miss Trunchbull and the male actor who played that role was fantastic. He was brilliant and extremely funny and was the best character in the show.

Ah I see, there was a different musical in 1989.

Do posters saying it isn't a pantomime only think they are for Christmas?

It is a fairly stereotypical pantomime,: musical, comedy, family entertainment, often including a "fear factor", usually taken from a well known story (Dahl in this case rather than a fairy story), often including social commentary and satire.

They aren't Christmas stories. They have just become a Christmas tradition. But that isn't all they are!

I thought this about Annie. Miss Hannigan was meant to be a 'missed the boat' type, not a fucking bloke in lipstick playing it for laughs.

The play did not come first. The book was released in 1988, the movie in 1996, and the musical in 2010. Miss Trunchbull is only played by a man in the musical, and I agree it's disappointing, but I still want to see it, if only it wasn't so insanely expensive.

I haven't seen the musical, but we watched the film the other day and Trunchbull is quite a scary character. But it's easier to separate things on a screen from real life. I think young children could get upset by seeing a character like that 'in real life' and shifting it to a pantomime dame type character who is obviously a man could mitigate some of that scariness to help remind them that it is just a story.

TheBitterBoy

There was another play in 1989 but it's unconnected to the current musical.

The play didn't come first. Are you qiubbling because the book did?

Because the play was first put on in the late 1980s and the Danny DeVito film is late 90s

I don't really think Miss Trunchbull is on par with Lady Macbeth, Juliet, or Blanche Du Bois or Miss Julie or Sally Bowles or Auntie Mame or Fanny Brice or Hedda Gabler or . . . . never mind, I've just realised it would be more fun to wax indignant than to list names so as soon as I think of something worth getting indignant over I'll boycott it. So there.

I think it works for Miss Trunchbull. But Miss Hannigan I agree with. We saw Su Pollard play her and thought she was fab.

Ye gods! You are right!!!! I had another play in my head and didn't bother to check, cos I was so very bloody certain

Are you qiubbling because the book did?

A totally different play with no connection to the current one toured from 1989 to 1991.

But it still had a man, Jonathan Linsley, as Miss Trunchbull

I knew I had seen it before the film, the year after I got married.

Captain We crossed posts!

We did.

Ms Trunchbull is played by a man because it works very very well. The physicality of the character adds menace.

Maybe Maxine Peake also shouldn’t be allowed to play Hamlet or Judy Dench Old Deuteronomy (not convinced about that last one mind)

You might have a point about a women’s role going to a man, but it’s hardly one of the few great female roles, it’s not even one of the great musical theatre roles for women. The last thing I saw in the West End was Heathers the musical, five main female roles to one main male role. Right now you can also book for Company with the role of Bobby, traditionally a male role, being played by a women, and not in a drag sense like Matilda.

Definitely don't watch Hamilton. You'll be here complaining that neither Alexander Hamilton nor Aaron Burr were black in real life....

I saw Awful Auntie on stage a while ago and the auntie character was played by a man, it fitted the role.
There is a old tradition of men playing these roles, which as a part of the audience, I take no offence at.
As a feminist, I think there is actually an interesting conversation to be had around the older woman being portrayed as a harridan and figure of fun. But, in the context of the theatre, I wouldn't want to lose the tradition. It is meant to be light hearted.