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.

Dworky I hate to keep on belabouring the point but pantomime has long been a way to be satirical, scathing, political, a way to say things that couldn't be said openly.

That we now associate t with Christmas is just the latest edition. But it isn't ALL that it is!

And their is a very strong GC message in the book/play as a whole. Trunchbull played by a man is just another way of poking at that!

I wish I had proof read that

Curious can you expand on what makes you think it's in the pantomime tradition?

I have... over a few posts! And I have said it is a combination of comedy musical and pantomime tradition.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2JZ6TSqnd480n90dzN77r1Q/where-does-pantomime-really-come-from

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime

Matilda as St George, metaphorically killing Trunchbull, the dragon, a modern Grimm's tale. It takes the age old themes in the book and provides a dark, slapstick, musical setting.

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

Surely Miss Trunchball is not even the greatest female role in that play? That would be...err...Matilda.

These exactly.

You're missing out in many ways if you boycott it. The girl I saw playing Matilda was wonderful, as were the other children in the cast. The songs and book are excellent and the set and staging brilliant. It's a modern classic IMO.

I saw Annie once with Paul O Grady as Miss Hannigan, I never boycotted that either. It was brilliant. Do people really get so upset about these things?

I suggest some of you research the origins of panto and the Commedia del Arte tradition. Matilda takes lots of inspiration from those traditions.

Someone mentioned Madame Morrible - I don’t see her as a masculine figure at all. She’s very very different to Trunchbull.

While it fits the basic definition, boycotts traditionally involve not doing something in a group and providing a community-driven alternatives or at least support for doing without to push a business to do better. The famous bus boycotts involved the communities bringing together transport options for people as one example. You're free not to go or give someone your money but I wouldn't call just not going to show because you don't like someone in one role a boycott.

I agree that it would be nice to see a woman in the role and the general frustration though as already stated there is a long history of swapping the sex of characters and it's said that both men and women auditioned for the role though it can be argued that it is harder for a woman to come across as intimidating. I do get uncomfortable with what is seen in many types of media of intimidating/wicked/unattractive women being equated to men and the social issues that could be connected it such as the abuse women who are seen as not being feminine deal with; however, I don't think not going to one show is going to really be part of solving that.

Seriously, don't be petty about the word boycott.

Re: AVenue Q - Gary was played by a woman in the original Broadway cast and a man (Giles Terera ) on the West End.

What does GC mean?

Gender Critical - a hot topic at the moment with the government's consultation on Self ID/GRA (Gender Recognition Act), still open as it has been extended: Below is a link to a GC explanation of the issues and a link to the consultation!

womansplaceuk.org/wpuk-guidance-on-gra-consultation/

Well all the Garys I have seen have been a woman, both in West End, on tour and off Broadway

I saw a man on the tour in Birmingham back in 2007 but it’s a woman on the current tour.

I saw a female Gary in the Avenue Q tour in 2015. But admittedly that’s the only one I’ve seen. I did see a bit of the Broadway performance on YouTube and Gary was also played by a woman there.

I saw Avenue Q twice in London, Gary was a man both times, it sounds like they will cast Gary from who plays him best. Adolescent boys are often played by women on stage if it’s a demanding role, I once met an actress who specialised in doing it. I saw Sweeny Todd a few months ago and Tobias was played by a women then.

No one has claimed Matilda is a panto!

Oh yes they have

Oh no they haven't!

AArlechino!

Matilda has to be cast very carefully so that the various adults and different aged schoolchildren are roughly the correct relative heights - I was impressed by how much planning had obviously gone into that aspect of casting when I saw it. Miss Trunchbull has to be a lot larger and broader than all the other adults so that would physically limit the pool of possible actresses quite a lot.

You’d be mad to boycott it because it’s such a brilliant show