The Ghost Train

We were warmly welcomed by Don McKay, Front of House Manager. Sadly, we were not introduced to anyone from St Neots Players, which was a shame as this is often a time to find out some background information about the rehearsal process and society, although this was opening night so perhaps everyone was backstage.

The Ghost Train, by Arnold Ridley, is a play in three Acts and St Neots Players decided to perform it with two intervals. Last time I watched this play, the interval wasn’t until the end of Act two, I think I enjoyed it better with the two short breaks.  The informative and interesting programme sets the scene: - ‘the play is set in 1925 and the action takes place in the small general waiting room at Fal Vale, a wayside station on the South Cornwall Joint Railway.’

I found it unusual that all seating was unallocated, we did manage to find a couple of seats together at the back of the room, but there were several spare single seats, which meant that the start was a little delayed to allow the Front of House team to put out an additional row of seating. However, they managed to time this perfectly, so that everyone was seated as the introduction track came to an end.

The curtains opened on the waiting room at Fal Vale station. Set designer Paul Robbins has produced a set with good attention to detail with a flickering gas wall light, smoky fire and old railway station furniture. I thought the effects of ghostly faces, lights and sound from the platform area behind the set and through the windows was excellent. It was also good to see a set which didn’t wobble when the doors were opened or when the ticket hatch slammed noisily and suddenly shut. The increased sound of the rain falling when the door opened and the excessive smoke from the fire after it was stoked were particularly realistic. My only issue (albeit small) was the clock, which showed the time of 4.25 for the entire show. Perhaps the hands should have been removed.

The lighting rig is rather basic at the Priory, so creating a suitable atmosphere is challenging, but I did feel that the very bright stark lighting for scenes played out in a gas lit waiting room in the hours of darkness was not appropriate. More saturated colours and lower dimmer intensities would have also reduced the shadows caused when actors crossed each other. There were also a number of times when actors upstaged each other causing lines to be lost to the back of the stage.

Accents are always a challenge, but Jon Hewitt, as Saul Hodgkin the Stationmaster made a fair attempt at being Cornish, although I couldn’t understand some of his lines due to the thickness of his accent. Knowing the plot, I thought he portrayed his character well.

I thought that the interaction between Maxine Adamson and Andy Grannell as Richard and Elsie Winthrop was very believable, they really did not look comfortable at the thought of having to spend the night together. There were a few times when opening night nerves perhaps caused Andy Grannell to stumble over his lines, but he was able to continue without prompt and this did not distract from the flow of the story.

The other couple, newly wed Charles and Peggy Murdock, played by Martin Chalkley and Allisa King-Underwood was also a very plausible relationship. I thought Allisa’s hair, makeup, dress and fur was just perfect for the era, however I was disappointed that Martin’s suit was too modern. This is a general comment for most of the gentlemen’s costumes – in the 1920’s trousers were worn with braces and sat much higher on waists, shirts should not be seen between the bottom of waistcoats and tops of trousers.

Lynda Collins as Miss Bourne dazzled us in a wonderful flapper dress and spoke with clear diction. I enjoyed her ‘drunken moment’ and recognise the challenge of having to ‘sleep’ in full view of an audience for a considerable time on a hard table. Well done!

Emma Ward, as Julie Price played an excellent, seemingly innocent neurotic victim.

The character Teddie Deakin is a challenging one which Brett Nunn took in his stride. He was so persuasive as the ‘passenger from hell’ with his annoying interruptions and atrocious jokes that I was really beginning to dislike him (his character) a great deal! His transformation into the Detective Inspector was excellent and would have been a surprise to anyone who had not seen the play before.

Thank-you, St Neots Players.

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