Artistic risks only subsidised theatres would take
Matilda? The musical? When you’re using public money there’s a different set of responsibilities which allow for risk-taking leading to unexpected, extraordinary work, says Dennis Kelly.
In 2006, Jeanie O' Hare at the RSC approached me about adapting Roald Dahl's Matilda into a musical. This was strange for two reasons: the first was that musicals generally start with the director or composer, not the person who's going to write the script, which can often be seen as an afterthought. Jeanie had the notion that by starting with a playwright you would concentrate on getting the story right and the words wouldn't end up as stuff simply gluing songs together. The second reason was that I had absolutely no knowledge of musicals whatsoever. Far from believing this was a problem, I think it was actually what she was after.
I remember the politely raised eyebrows when I told people I was doing a musical, often followed by a change of the subject, or even outright laughter. Then to make things even riskier, instead of getting a tried and tested composer to write the songs, the RSC went for a comedian, Tim Minchin, whose act at that time included forcing a member of the audience into a bear suit and getting them to dance.
Today it seems that getting Tim to write a musical was an obviously smart move, but at that time I believe he was just as risky a choice as I was – and the proof of that is that no one had thought of it before. But Jeanie and our director Matthew Warchus thought it a risk worth taking. It appears to have worked: Matilda is now in the West End, on Broadway, is going to Australia, and has probably been seen by a couple of million people and won a bunch of awards. We're even starting on the process of turning it into a film... (Click here to read more)
In 2006, Jeanie O' Hare at the RSC approached me about adapting Roald Dahl's Matilda into a musical. This was strange for two reasons: the first was that musicals generally start with the director or composer, not the person who's going to write the script, which can often be seen as an afterthought. Jeanie had the notion that by starting with a playwright you would concentrate on getting the story right and the words wouldn't end up as stuff simply gluing songs together. The second reason was that I had absolutely no knowledge of musicals whatsoever. Far from believing this was a problem, I think it was actually what she was after.
I remember the politely raised eyebrows when I told people I was doing a musical, often followed by a change of the subject, or even outright laughter. Then to make things even riskier, instead of getting a tried and tested composer to write the songs, the RSC went for a comedian, Tim Minchin, whose act at that time included forcing a member of the audience into a bear suit and getting them to dance.
Today it seems that getting Tim to write a musical was an obviously smart move, but at that time I believe he was just as risky a choice as I was – and the proof of that is that no one had thought of it before. But Jeanie and our director Matthew Warchus thought it a risk worth taking. It appears to have worked: Matilda is now in the West End, on Broadway, is going to Australia, and has probably been seen by a couple of million people and won a bunch of awards. We're even starting on the process of turning it into a film... (Click here to read more)