The Ghost Train

Arnold Ridley is probably best known for his long running performance as Private Godfrey in Dads Army. He was also a well established playwright and was fairly prolific long before he came to our screens. He once spent the night at a railway station after missing his connection which gave him the idea to pen The Ghost Train in 1927.
For this latest Grassington Players production, director Mark Bamforth has assembled a splendid cast which includes some young newcomers to the Society and a fabulous job they have made of it. To grab an audiences attention from the start is crucial and this opening is wonderful – I really wanted to applaud the set. Clever use of sound and perfect lighting set the scene for this ghostly tale.
The play is set in the waiting room of an isolated railway station, where a diverse group of travellers are stranded for the night. Though the station master tries to persuade them to leave, there is nowhere for them to go, so they decide to stay, despite his warning that the ghost of a train wrecked in the area sometimes haunts the line – killing anyone who sees it. Naturally, this leads to a variety of dramatic incidents – and revelations – as well as the climaxes and anti-climaxes one expects of a comic thriller.
It’s extremely difficult to pick out any outstanding performances because they were all of the highest standing. As each character entered we knew exactly who they were and their bearing in life.
Andrew Jackson playing the station master is suitably frustrated and anxious to lock up and get home, his local burr a contrast to the upper-class accents of the stranded travellers.
Katie Milner and Richard Naylor are Elsie and Richard Winthrop, whose marriage is falling apart. She is a 1920s feminist, determined and proud and Katie uses her elegance to accentuate the character’s calmness in the face of adversity. Richard plays up Winthrop’s officious, over-bearing self-importance with arrogant gestures and repetitious phrases. This is even more impressive when you consider that he only stepped into the part 3 weeks before the play opened.
Newly-married Charles and Peggy Murdock are played with sustained energy and zeal by Jack Stockdale-Fitzsimmons and Ellie Wilson, he finding the guileless passion of the protective bridegroom, she the naïve, wide-eyed innocence of his flapper bride. Both use pace, pause, gesture and pose extremely effectively.
Jennifer Scott plays Miss Bourne, the over-wrought spinster travelling alone, using posing and declamation in the hilarious ways, even though she does manage to sleep uncomfortably for the majority of the play.
Tom Powell almost steals some scenes as Teddie Deakin – but that’s what Deakin is supposed to do! He’s the person who has caused them to miss their connection by losing his hat, and is the hail-fellow-well-met type who is brash, voluble and over-confident – and Tom does him to a ‘T’. His Deakin is energetic, blustering, impudent, almost unnecessarily so … until the last few scenes when he reveals who he really is!(spoiler alert)
Bella Kidd impressed with her characterisation and her performance as the disturbed Julia.
David Newall, as the stranger who arrives later in the play – accompanied by his equally sinister off-sider, Dr Sterling, played by John Anderson – were both menacing and threatening.
Derrick Lee’s performance was only brief but totally believable.
There was clearly great attention given to detail in both costumes and set. The costumes, by Christine Dawson and Briony Garety, feature the colours and elegance of the 1920s – and the characters wear them with style. The dusty railway station waiting room in which they are trapped typifies the period, all very dingy, dressed with furniture and props of the era. Many congratulations to the team, under Stage Manager Zaria Belk, who created it – built by Barry Doyle and Derrick Lee, painted by Andrew Jackson, Zaria Belk and David Pye, props by David and Maddie Pye. John Jameson, Lindsay Hobbs and Lewis Horton accentuated this with eerie lighting and sound effects, especially the spooky rumbling approach of the ghostly train.
My only criticism is the ending which I think Grassington made an excellent job of bad writing as the play fails to retain its tension at the very end.
Mark Bamforth has given this ninety five year old classic the energy and panache it deserves. It’s fun, entertaining and beautifully performed. Thank you for your hospitality and I look forward to your next production in September.

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