The Ghost Train

Many thanks to Longton Players for inviting me along to see this production of The Ghost Train at St Andrews Church Hall on Thursday 13th October 2022. This comedy thriller, written by Arnold Ridley in 1923, centres upon the social interaction of a group of railway passengers who have been stranded at a remote rural station overnight, and are increasingly threatened by the hauntings of the train station, the tail of which is told in Act One. The play concludes with a twist and then restoration is achieved upon the climatic finale.

I loved the set up of the hall, choosing a cabaret style set up, with tables and chairs dotted around the hall with a bowl full of snacks in the centre of the table to share. This immediately gave a humble and informal atmosphere to the evening of entertainment.

I think director Rob Daniels did very well at telling this narrative. There were some interesting characters created with some nice rapport between them. There were some good uses of staging, with some nice levels created. 

I feel I must say that this production felt under rehearsed. I learned this production began rehearsing in September, and unfortunately there had been various personal issues during that period with members of the cast. I didn’t mind the way the doctor character was using a book to remember his lines, although the way that he was reading and following the script rather than reacting to the action on stage was a little painful to watch. I would recommend setting more time aside for rehearsals to mitigate the risk of personal issues and to also give more time for learning lines etc. If scripts are required on stage, perhaps think about using cue cards with only cue lines and character lines to enable more presence in the moment on stage. There were moments where actors were instructing other cast members where to go on stage.There was also some funky blocking which wasn’t to my taste as cast members standing downstage delivered their lines to characters facing the back, and there were a few times characters with dialogue were hidden on stage in the back corner, both of these measures blocking emotional catharsis with the audience at these moments.

Setting, properties, lighting, sounds and costumes were of a high standard. There was much attention to detail within all of these areas. I loved the clever use of lighting behind the back windows, especially the way they lit up as the trains were approaching. This, together with the onstage smoke and sound effects, definitely depicted the genuine impression of a steam locomotive. These windows also served well to create a haunted atmosphere when the ‘ghosts’ would appear. Costumes were fitting to period and character.

All actors in this show gave good efforts towards their performances. As a general note, I would say more internalisation of gestures could have been used throughout, some work on grounding wouldn’t have gone amiss and some of the dialogue needed to be delivered at a slower pace and with some dynamics in tonation, as some of the narrative and punchlines were lost due to this.

For me there were a few standout performances within this production. Chris Hill did very well at playing Saul Hodgkin, the station guard. He had a real stage presence to him, and did a sound job of delivering the backstory to the production around the haunting of the station. This was delivered with amazing pace, dynamics and great use of storytelling.

Joan Miller gave a very solid performance as Miss Bourne. There were some lovely comedic moments created throughout, great use of articulate facial reactions, which were true to the character, most notably within Saul’s telling of the ghost story aforementioned.  

There was a good rapport between the 2 couples; Jill Thompson and James Miley as Elise and Richard Winthrop and Val Sumner and Rob Griffiths as newly wedded Peggy and Charles Murdock. I did make additional positive notes about Val’s detailed characterisation and physical and facial reactions and the way Jill conveyed internalisation of emotion through her eyes.

Ethan Banks did well at playing the undercover detective Teddie Deakin; there was a nice contrast between the undercover version throughout the play and the detective at the end. I would advise to slow down the pace a little to add breath and grounding and to work on some light and shade to the characterisation, but he brought a great energy with very good efforts indeed.

All in all, I had a very pleasant evening and I would like to thank the Longton Players again for inviting me along to their production. I look forward to coming along to see their next production

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