In the title role, Hatty Jones was an absolute delight – and now she’s back with a brand new show.
The star has written and will perform That Girl at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London next month; inspired by her own experiences as a child actor.
The synopsis reads: “Hatty was a child actor, picked from obscurity and thrust into the limelight when she was aged just 10. As the young star of the film Madeline she travelled the world and became the toast of Hollywood.
“She’s now approaching 30, works in advertising and enjoys jogging. She’s also being kicked out of her flat because her housemate is getting married.
“The play explores the inevitable loss of youth and the contrasting effect it can have on a group of friends.”
In a blog for London Pub Theatres magazine, which can be read in full here, she spoke further about the upbringing that inspired her play.
“I was recognised quite regularly around London, in shops, or on the tube,” she wrote.
“On my first day of secondary school a girl in my class asked for my autograph, a few years later she became my best friend (she still is).
“Throughout my teens people would often introduce me at parties as ‘that girl from Madeline’, my A-level drama class used to love pretending to recognise me in public places, but as the girl from ‘Matilda’, which despite my mock indignation, I always found very funny.
“Apart from a play on Radio 4, I didn’t act again professionally as a child or in my teens. I have lived a pretty normal life with this one bizarre but positive experience from the past. Mine is not a child actor goes off the rails kind of story.”
She added: “I wanted to write a play that I hope everyone can relate to.
“It just includes this one crazy childhood story; because I know that dreams, like getting cast in a Hollywood movie, can come true.”
Madeline was received fairly well upon its release: it still holds a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and made around $30 million at the box office.
The plot encompassed four Madeline books, written by Ludwig Bemelmans between 1939 and 1961.
That Girl by Hatty Jones plays at the Old Red Lion for two weeks only, from Monday 3 – Saturday 15 September.