I’ve been a Roald Dahl fan for as long as I can remember. I’m also a huge fan of the amazing Tim Minchin, who of course wrote Matilda The Musical. So I have to admit to being a little star-struck when I heard from Martin, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company in London, who wanted me to make snow globes to be given as gifts to the cast and crew of the musical in London, New York, Toronto and closer to home in Brisbane, Australia.
I can’t tell the story of these snow globes without prefacing how much I relate to Matilda’s character. I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life – my primary school teacher called me “The Girl Who Eats Books” because of how fast I would read them. I first discovered Roald Dahl when I bought (with my own pocket money no less) “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. I loved that book, and it was probably the start of my adoration of foxes, manifested more recently in my 2016 Limited Edition snow globe “WinterGreen”. I went on to read almost everything ever written by Mr. Dahl, and I find it hard to put into words how much I love his work.
So, as you can tell, it was a pretty amazing experience for me to get this opportunity. Martin and I worked together to come up with a design featuring the “Matilda Pose” – schoolgirl with hands on hips, standing on top of an open book. The pages of the book feature the quotes you see above, stamped into the pages. The globes also feature tiny little silver foil alphabet letters flying around inside. I’m so pleased with the intricacy of the sculpture, especially at such a small size.
Thank you so much for the snow globes – we love them! The cast and crew were all very happy and now the internet is littered with snaps of them!
Martin, Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company