Kiwi girl waltzes off with one Matilda role
Nearly t wo years after heading across the Ditch to attend a top performing arts school, young Kiwi singer and actor Venice Harris has returned home to star as the lead in the hit musical Matilda.
The 11- year- old from Tauranga moved to Sydney with her family in September 2015 so she and her older brother Flynn could pursue their musical theatre dreams at McDonald College.
Late last year she was one of four girls cast as Matilda in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic book.
It’s this role that has brought her back to New Zealand for the production at the Civic in Auckland until October 22.
And she has brought three talented young Aussie friends with her. Queenslanders Izellah Connelly, 10, Annabella Cowley, 11, and Eva Murawski, 11, also play Matilda, with each girl performing two shows a week.
Venice told the Weekend Herald she’d missed her extended family while living in Australia and she was excited to return to New Zealand.
She was particularly looking forward to showing Izellah, Annabella and Eva around and hoped to take them to visit her hometown in between performances and tutoring.
“We have to have a day where we just all eat hokey pokey icecream all day,” she said.
That’s not the only attraction, though, with Annabella and Eva especially keen to see snow while they’re here.
Portraying Matilda — a genius bookworm — was a learning experience for the girls, who say they’re all quite different from the character.
The four all agreed Kiwis going to watch Matilda should expect to “be amazed”.
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