Theater queen Matilda set to charm China

Griffin's professional involvement with China goes back nearly 20 years, and he said the way the market had grown so much and so quickly made working there challenging but exciting.

"In the last five years, there's been an explosion in terms of independent commercial presenters who have come out of the woodwork, pushing for market exposure," he said. "There's no shortage of venues, and, on paper, there's an enormous appetite for the live performing arts, but often the challenge is the speed of growth－outside the big cities there's not the depth of experience in support structure that we would be used to at home.

"With any emerging market, you need to find the best people to work with, and Seven Ages represents the best China has to offer. There is a passion and an understanding of what we don't know locally. It's a proper partnership."

Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian parents and died in 1990, aged 74. A prodigious writer of all kinds of books, it is his children's stories that have proved the most popular, and Yang said the universality of his themes, especially such a rebellious, authority-challenging character as Matilda, were perfect for the modern Chinese audience.

"Our generation, the 'Post-80s' people, were once viewed as rebellious children ourselves but now we are becoming parents and ideas and attitudes are changing," she explained. "Matilda is a perfect example of the power of reading, independent and critical thinking. Modern parents in China now recognize the importance of this in a child's emotional development, so she's perfect for the Chinese theater audience, both children and adults."

The touring production of Matilda the Musical, which will be performed in English with translated surtitles, opens on July 2 in Dongguan and runs until January, with more than 130 performances in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Changsha, Chongqing, Hefei, Wuhan, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Nanjing. And at some future date, the English language version will be followed by a Mandarin adaptation.

"A translation is central to the project for us and Seven Ages, and it is happening, absolutely－but particularly with such clever, sophisticated lyrics, it's a very complex job", said Griffin. "We're working with some very good people in China who are really proving their worth and we'll be starting in the near future the casting and training process, because there will need to be training to get to the point where we can deliver a first-class Mandarin version of the show.

"It's always structured that touring versions are a replica of what you experience in the UK or on Broadway, it should be to that very exacting standard, just in another language. It's ambitious to say the least, but it's very much in play. The genesis of GWB being given curatorship of the show stems from my relationship with the Matilda creative team, going back years, and is based on their trust that I'll present it as they want it to be seen."

So far, wherever Dahl's story of a little girl with a big imagination has gone around the world, it has proved to be a huge hit. And Yang says she fully expects China to be the next theatrical market to fall under Matilda's spell, for the simplest of reasons: The story.

"Whenever I'm looking for new shows to bring to China, I'm looking for something that has proved to be an artistic and commercial success in its home country," she said. "Also, it has to be a good story which will appeal to our audience. However you look at Matilda the Musical, it meets these standards perfectly."