Matilda the Musical London: 197 events this week (24 Sept to 25 Sept)

Matilda has been a West End fixture for over a decade, and it still pulls in a mix crowd you don't always get with newer shows: kids on their first ever theatre trip sat next to adults who've seen it five times. Roald Dahl's story translated to stage holds up because the songs do the heavy lifting, not spectacle for its own sake.

The show runs in the Cambridge Theatre, tucked into the Seven Dials end of Covent Garden. That's a useful thing to know if you're building a night around it. The streets round there are already dense with places to eat before curtain, and Covent Garden tube gets you out again without much of a walk.

If you're picking a night, matinees tend to skew toward families and school groups, evenings toward couples and older audiences. Weekend performances sell out further ahead than midweek ones, so if you've got a specific date in mind it's worth locking it in early rather than leaving it to the week itself.

Booking through the venue or an official West End ticket seller keeps you clear of resale markups. Seat choice matters more here than in some shows because a fair bit of the choreography uses the full width of the stage, so anything too far to the side can lose some of it. Anywhere in the stalls or a decent view from the circle does the job.