The Royal Shakespeare Company Announces Six New Dates For The UK and Ireland Tour Of MATILDA THE MUSICAL

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that the UK and Ireland Tour of Matilda The Musical will extend into 2019, touring to six more cities and accompanied by a specially devised education programme, Change My Story, for schools.

Winner of over 85 international awards, including 16 for Best Musical, the Matilda The Musical tour will celebrate its official opening night at Leicester Curve this Thursday (15 March), where it will play until 24 March. The West End production will continue to play at the Cambridge Theatre, where it is now in its seventh year and is booking until 10 February 2019.

In 2019 Matilda The Musical will play Theatre Royal Plymouth (15 January - 16 February 2019), the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (19 February - 23 March 2019), Edinburgh Playhouse (2 - 27 April 2019), The Bristol Hippodrome (7 May - 8 June 2019), Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (11 June - 6 July 2019) and Norwich Theatre Royal (16 July - 17 August 2019).

Tickets for Plymouth, Bradford, Edinburgh, Bristol and Norwich will go on general sale on 23 March following a priority booking period between 19 and 22 March. Tickets for Southampton dates will go on sale on 10 April following a priority booking period between 3 and 9 April.

The 2018 tour dates are Leicester Curve (5 - 24 March 2018), Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (4 - 28 April 2018), Sunderland Empire (8 May - 2 June 2018), Milton Keynes Theatre (5 - 30 June 2018), Birmingham Hippodrome (3 July - 8 September 2018), Manchester Palace (18 September - 24 November 2018) and Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre (4 December - 12 January 2019).

Matilda The Musical is written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, and direction 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.

As previously announced, for the first five venues of the tour Craige Els will reprise the role of Miss Trunchbull, having played her in the West End for three years between 2014 and 2017. He will be joined by Carly Thoms as Miss Honey and Sebastien Torkia as Mr Wormwood as well as former West End cast-mate Rebecca Thornhill as Mrs Wormwood. The title role of Matilda will be shared by Annalise Bradbury, Lara Cohen, Poppy Jones and Nicola Turner for this period. Casting for the tour's later dates, including venues in 2019, will be announced in due course.

In the UK and Ireland, the production will be accompanied by Change My Story, a new RSC education programme inspired by Matilda The Musical and devised in collaboration with each touring theatre partner to help build long term partnerships between school communities and theatres.

The programme includes:

• Up to 50 Matilda The Musical Champion Schools - a two year initiative with local state schools and partner theatres in the tour locations. Selected schools will work with RSC artists in residence to stage and perform a special 45 minute edit of Matilda The Musical as their school play. In the second year they will collaborate with 5 other local schools and lead on new creative projects
• Professional Development courses for teachers to use Matilda The Musical as a springboard for creative writing
• Mrs Phelps' Library Workshops for primary schools, led by RSC and local theatre artists, exploring different storytelling techniques
• Further details can be found at http://uk.matildathemusical.com/tour/schools/matilda-school-resources/.

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 has now been seen by more than 7.7 million people worldwide, having played in over 60 cities with more than 5500 performances in the West End, on Broadway, across North America and in Australia and New Zealand.

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 will have its first non-English language production at the LG Arts Centre in Seoul, South Korea from September 2018 until February 2019.

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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