Out of the Margins

This incredible lot is an astounding piece of theatre history! 

Listed as one of The Guardian's "50 best theatre shows of the 21st century", Matilda: The Musical has rightly found its long-term home in theatreland. It's therefore such a rare treat to be able to offer something like this in an auction of this kind. It deserves a bit of back story. Dennis Kelly originally signed up to the task of annotating a recent copy of Matilda: The Musical. We were thrilled. Some months passed. Then a few weeks before Out of the Margins went live, we got this email from Dennis: 

"I had a bit of an idea about this whole script thing. Because I’m a weirdo I write plays longhand - everything for screen I right on a laptop, every thing on stage I write by hand on exercise pads. So I had a dig around in my attic and found the books I originally wrote Matilda in. They’re insanely difficult to read as my handwriting is crap, they’re very messy, but they are the very first iteration of the Matilda the Musical anywhere in the world. Would it be better to auction those? It’s full of notes and crossings out and bits I chose not to use, it’s probably even a bit different from the very first draft that I handed in to the RSC, let alone what’s ended up on stage, especially as part of how I work is to overwrite then cut down - but of course it’s recognisably Matilda the Musical." 

We said yes, and asked Dennis to sign a latest version the final printed script alongside these original books, with a little extra note for one oh so lucky owner. He more than delivered with a seven page personal handwritten intro! So that's your lot: the two original notebooks that contain the first ever version of Matilda: The Musical, longhand, and the latest version of the musical with a handwritten reflective piece on re-reading it now. Wow.