Matilda Roald Dahl

In 1990, the Redgrave Theatre in Farnham produced a musical version, adapted by Rony Robinson with music by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, which toured the UK. It starred Annabelle Lanyon as Matilda and Jonathan Linsley as Miss Trunchbull and had mixed reviews.[16] A second musical version of the novel, Matilda the Musical, written by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin and commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, premiered in November 2010. It opened at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End on 24 November 2011.[17][18] It opened on Broadway on 11 April 2013 at the Shubert Theatre. The musical has since done a US tour and opened in July 2015 in Australia. The stage version has become hugely popular with audiences and praised by critics, and won multiple Olivier Awards in the UK and Tony Awards in the US.[19] One critic called it "the best British musical since Billy Elliot".[20]

The novel was made into the film Matilda in 1996. It starred Mara Wilson as Matilda, and was directed by Danny DeVito, who also portrayed Mr Wormwood and narrated the story. The film changed the setting and nationality of every character (except Trunchbull who is played by Welsh actress Pam Ferris) from British to American. Although not a commercial success, it received critical acclaim at the time of its release, and on Rotten Tomatoes has a score of 90% based on reviews from 21 critics.[21]

In December 2009, BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial broadcast a two-part adaptation by Charlotte Jones of the novel with Lenny Henry as the Narrator, Lauren Mote as Matilda, Nichola McAuliffe as Miss Trunchbull, Emerald O'Hanrahan as Miss Honey, Claire Rushbrook as Mrs Wormwood and John Biggins as Mr Wormwood.[22]

The book has been recorded as an audiobook three times. In 2004, Joely Richardson narrated the unabridged audiobook for Harper Childrens Audio (ISBN 978-0060582548).[23] Also in 2004, Miriam Margolyes narrated an abridged recording for Penguin Random House (ISBN 978-0141805542).[24] In 2013, Kate Winslet narrated an unabridged recording for Listening Library (ISBN 978-1611761849);[25][26][27] in 2014, the American Library Association shortlisted her for an Odyssey Award for her performance.[28]

On 27 November 2018, Netflix was revealed to be adapting Matilda as an animated series, which will be part of an "animated event series" along with other Roald Dahl books such as The BFG, The Twits, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[29] A film adaptation of the musical was released by Sony Pictures Releasing and Netflix in 2022. It stars Alisha Weir as Matilda and Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull.[30][31] It is directed by Matthew Warchus.[32]

The novel at 30

Celebrating 30 years of the book's publication in October 2018, original illustrator Quentin Blake imagined what Matilda might be doing as a grown-up woman today. He drew images of her undertaking three possible roles: an explorer, an astrophysicist, and a librarian at the British Library.[10]

2023 censorship controversy

Despite Roald Dahl having enjoined his publishers not to "so much as change a single comma in one of my books", in February 2023 Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, announced it would be re-writing portions of many of Dahl's children's novels, changing the language to, in the publisher's words, "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today."[33] The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie,[34][35] Christopher Paolini,[34] British prime minister Rishi Sunak,[36] Queen Camilla,[36][37] Kemi Badenoch,[38] PEN America,[36] and Brian Cox.[38] Dahl's publishers in the United States, France, and the Netherlands announced they had declined to incorporate the changes.[36] Following the backlash, on 23 February 2023, Puffin announced it would release an unedited selection of Dahl's children's books as "The Roald Dahl Classic Collection" because of "the importance of keeping Dahl's classic texts in print."[39][40]

In Matilda, more than sixty changes were made, including replacing references to Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad with Jane Austen and John Steinbeck, removing references to skin colour (such as "turning white", "beginning to go dark red", "red in the face", and "white as paper"), removing or changing the words fat, mad, and crazy (such as changing "wobbling crazily" to "wobbling unsteadily"), removing the word madonna, and changing heroine to hero.[41][42]