Royal Shakespeare Co's MATILDA Will Help 'Share A Story' As Official World Book Day Bedtime Story On 7 Mar.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is delighted to announce that on World Book Day, Thursday 7 March at 7pm, cast members from the multi award-winning Matilda The Musical will present this year's Official World Book Day Bedtime Story.

Audiences across the globe who tune into the Matilda The Musical Facebook channel at this time will be able to watch an exclusive performance from the cast including a reading from the beloved book by Malinda Parris as the show's librarian Mrs Phelps and a performance of one of the show's iconic musical numbers 'Quiet', featuring Isobel Hubble, one of the four actresses who share the role of Matilda. The bedtime story will also be streamed across partner feeds including those for Roald Dahl, World Book Day, Puffin and more.

In 2019, once again, the call to action to "Share a Story" lies at the heart of World Book Day - encouraging parents and carers to read and share stories with their children for just ten minutes each day. Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child's future success - eclipsing family circumstances, parents' educational background or income (OECD). Yet the fact remains that children's reading for pleasure is in long-term decline. According to the National Literacy Trust, if every child left primary school with the reading skills they need, the UK economy could increase by £30 billion by 2025.

As part of this year's partnership between the Roald Dahl Story Company and World Book Day, children across the country will also find Roald Dahl's most famous heroine, Matilda Wormwood, at the heart of the day's celebrations as each of the 15 million book tokens given to every school child in the UK and Ireland is set to feature the literature-loving heroine.

Matilda The Musical has now been seen by more than 9 million people worldwide, having toured to over 72 cities and played more than 6600 performances in the West End, on Broadway and on tour across North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The London production is now booking to 24 May 2020.

Winner of over 91 international awards, including 23 for Best Musical, Matilda The Musical is also now touring the UK and Ireland, playing across the country until 17 August 2019.

Matilda The Musical is written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, and was developed and directed by Matthew Warchus. The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.

Inspired by the incomparable Roald Dahl's beloved book, Matilda The Musical was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered at the RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon home in November 2010, before transferring to London's West End in October 2011, where it opened to rave reviews. The New York production of Matilda The Musical opened in April 2013 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre and was celebrated on 10 "Top Ten" lists for 2013, including TIME Magazine's #1 Show of the Year.

Matilda The Musical swept the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, with a record-breaking seven awards, and won four Tony Awards and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for the four girls sharing the title role on Broadway.

The North America production toured 52 cities. The Australian and New Zealand production won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Musical in 2015, and played sold-out seasons in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland. The show broke further records in July 2016 by winning all 13 Helpmann Awards for which it was nominated. Matilda The Musical had its first non-English language production at the LG Arts Centre in Seoul, South Korea in September 2018.

Matilda The Musical is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers. The production was developed with the support of Jeanie O'Hare and the RSC Literary Department.

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