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Would you let your child do this?

Ellaoftheball

TS Member
My 11 year old daughter is currently one of of 4 actors (they rotate in groups so they’re not performing each night) playing Miltilda in the West End in London. The lead child actors who play Miltilda and Bruce are accommodated in a boarding house (the boarding house is ran and owned by the production company) in London as they come from all over the country. The other child actors who don’t play lead roles have to already live in London so that they can attend the school they we’re already attending.
My daughter wanted to audition for a West end show and was playing Miltilda in the West end before covid when they we’re all Sent home in March 2020. My friend has now started saying that she thinks it’s cruel that I have let my daughter audition for a West end show and let her live in the production company’s boarding house. Would you let your child do it if they wanted? Do you think I am being cruel?
 
Personally, I don’t see a problem as long as your daughter actually wants to do it.

If she’s into theatre and wants to pursue acting when she’s older, then opportunities like this could lead to a big acting career for her; I admittedly don’t know too much about how you’d go about getting into acting, but I can only assume that getting a lead role in a major West End musical would give your CV a very substantial boost! And even if she isn’t; if she loves acting, then I can imagine this being the absolute opportunity of a lifetime; as such, if she sees staying away from you as a worthy trade-off to make in order to seize that opportunity and play this role, then I don’t personally see too much of a problem with it.

Besides, isn’t it not much different to sending your child to boarding school, which many parents still do?

Congratulations to your daughter on scoring such a huge theatre role, by the way; that’s a huge achievement, especially given that she’s only 11!
 
I don't see much of an issue with it, especially if there's other kids in this boarding house. It means that they have likely been approved by ofsted anyway. Realistically, it's not much different to taking your kid to boarding school.

If it's what your kid wants to do then I'd say it's completely there choice but that its a great opportunity that if I was keen on acted I would grab in a instant.
Edit: oops posted pretty much what @Matt N did. Great minds think alike I suppose. Sorry Matt.
 
Going through OPs previous posts all of them are Reddit AITA type posts like this, very little refers to theme parks. I don't understand the motivation for joining an Alton Towers forum and only posting off topic things like this better suited to social media.
 
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington,
Don't put your daughter on the stage.
The profession's overcrowded,
and the struggles pretty tough,
and admitting the fact,
she's burning to act,
That isn't quite enough.

Edit...and who the hell is Miltilda?
 
According to the cast website for Matilda, all of the currently listed Matilda performers seem to have some stage school experience, so surely the child in question will have some support network as well as some idea of what to expect...?
 
According to the cast website for Matilda, all of the currently listed Matilda performers seem to have some stage school experience, so surely the child in question will have some support network as well as some idea of what to expect...?
Yes she does, she was at a stage school student up north here (Cheshire).
 
Personally, I don’t see a problem as long as your daughter actually wants to do it.

If she’s into theatre and wants to pursue acting when she’s older, then opportunities like this could lead to a big acting career for her; I admittedly don’t know too much about how you’d go about getting into acting, but I can only assume that getting a lead role in a major West End musical would give your CV a very substantial boost! And even if she isn’t; if she loves acting, then I can imagine this being the absolute opportunity of a lifetime; as such, if she sees staying away from you as a worthy trade-off to make in order to seize that opportunity and play this role, then I don’t personally see too much of a problem with it.

Besides, isn’t it not much different to sending your child to boarding school, which many parents still do?

Congratulations to your daughter on scoring such a huge theatre role, by the way; that’s a huge achievement, especially given that she’s only 11!
That was my thought process as well, it's not much different to sending her to boarding school, so if she's wants to do it then she can
 
Also, it would appear that all of the 4 girls listed as playing Matilda have varying degrees of stage performance experience already; some of them have been in other West End musicals, so as @Plastic Person said, they likely have some idea of whether they like theatre acting or not and what to expect.

On a side note, I actually went and saw Matilda a few years back (quite a few years back, in fact), and it was an excellent musical!
 
Going through OPs previous posts all of them are Reddit AITA type posts like this, very little refers to theme parks. I don't understand the motivation for joining an Alton Towers forum and only posting off topic things like this better suited to social media.
Sorry, I am a theme park enthusiast so will try to post more about theme parks in future
 
Also, it would appear that all of the 4 girls listed as playing Matilda have varying degrees of stage performance experience already; some of them have been in other West End musicals, so as @Plastic Person said, they likely have some idea of whether they like theatre acting or not and what to expect.
She was in another musical before Miltilda and she has stage school experience
 
She was in another musical before Miltilda and she has stage school experience
So with that in mind, I’m guessing your daughter certainly knows a lot about whether she enjoys acting to large audiences, and knows about the benefits and pitfalls of working in theatre.
 
I hadn't even thought that it could have been seen as cruel until my friend said it!
I think it could only be construed that way if your daughter didn’t want to do it and you were forcing her to do it against her own will. Rightly or wrongly, that may be what your friend thinks is happening here if they aren’t too informed.

It’s clear from your posts, however, that that definitely isn’t the case. From what you’ve told us, your daughter is incredibly passionate about this, and you definitely aren’t forcing her hand in any way here, so in fairness to your friend, maybe they don’t know how passionate your daughter is about acting?

If you said to your friend about how passionate your daughter clearly is about theatre, I’m sure they’d understand.
 
It sounds to me like you would only be being cruel if your child was upset/distressed by the situation.

Boarding school would be many children's worst nightmare, but not every child's - particularly if linked to achieving a dream or otherwise doing something they really wanted to do.

I think the phrase 'boarding school' has automatic negative connotations, it probably conjures up and a stereotypical image in your friend's head.
 
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