Matilda actresses honoured with prestigious Naledi Theatre Award

Kitty Harris and Lilla Fleischmann have a few things in common. 

They both attend or attended Herzlia Weizmann, they both have a penchant for musical theatre and they both happen to have casually won, at the young ages of 10 and 15 respectively, a Naledi Theatre Award along with Morgan Santo for their shared role of Matilda in the musical of the same name.  

The annual ceremony, which aims to promote excellence in the performing arts in South Africa, took place on 20 May in Johannesburg. 

Lilla recounts, “The Naledi Awards was an amazing evening and it was such an honour that the three Matildas were asked to perform. At the beginning we performed, and then we came and sat inside the award ceremony. There were other performances and I got to see lots of really talented people in the industry.”

Kitty notes, “First they were mentioning all the categories and we didn’t win our category [for which they were nominated] — we won a special award: ‘Most Outstanding Performance by an Actress’.” Kitty, Lilla and Morgan jointly received the prestigious award. 

While the curtain has closed on Mathilda’s South African run, both Lilla and Kitty have been part of its international tour. Kitty explains, “Well, we’re in China for four months and we’re going to a few different cities and then we go to Hong Kong for a month. But we’ve already been in Singapore and Joburg.”

Lilla delves into her experience, “I was part of the leg of the tour where we went around South Africa and where we went to Singapore. It was a very, very exciting experience to travel overseas with the show. I got to experience what it’s like performing and working in a foreign country.”

With such accolades under their belts, there is no doubt that we will be hearing from these talented actresses again soon.

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