The Ghost Train

The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley

St Peters Hill Players - 15th October 2022

Thank you for the warm welcome at the Guildhall Grantham. The front of house team, Rosemary Gibson, Tony Jackson, Zara Pears, Rebecca Pears, Lynette Richardson, and Tony Hines were lovely, and we were shown to our seats promptly.

The plot revolves around a party of assorted railway travellers who find themselves stranded in the waiting room of an isolated country station in the evening. The station master tries to persuade them to leave the site as he is closing the station for the night. They refuse to leave, citing the lack of alternative accommodation for several miles around. He warns them of the supernatural danger of a spectral passenger train, the ghost of one that fatally wrecked in the locality several years before, that sometimes haunts the line at night, bringing death to all who set eyes upon it. Incredulous of his story, they still refuse to leave, and he departs leaving them facing a night at the station.

The main body of the play is then taken up with the interaction of the varied assortment of the passengers: strangers thrown randomly together in the odd social intimacy of happenstance that rail travel involves, representing a cross-section of English 1920s society. There are a variety of escalating dramatic incidents combined with a heightening tension as the latent threat of the spectral train's possible appearance is ultimately dramatically realised, bringing disaster and death to the group as foretold.

The story then resolves from a socio-suspense drama into a spy adventure, when it is revealed that the "ghost train" is quite real and is being used by communist revolutionaries to smuggle machine guns from the Soviet Union into England, and the story of the "ghost-train" has been concocted to scare potential witnesses away from the scene of the operation. A British Government secret agent incognito in the stranded passengers' midst is then revealed; the agent confronts the revolutionary gang in a gun battle on the station, and the revolutionaries' covert operation is defeated.

St Peter’s Hill Players managed the drama, the suspense, and the special effects with skill and dramatic flair. The cast were a mix of long-standing members and new or returning players which was evident at times, in that the younger, newer members didn’t seem as confident as the old hands, something which I am sure will change as they realise how good they are!  Jim Snee and Lucy Kelly (Directors) had a firm grasp on the need to build suspense and pace into the performance and mostly this worked. A few forgotten lines and obvious lines being skipped spoiled this, when we heard the prompt giving the lines and blank or worried looks on the actor's faces.  I feel having a prompt can be more damaging to a production.  If the cast knows from the beginning there will be no prompt, then they learn the lines more successfully also learn to get each other out of difficulties.   They remain in character and the story flows more readily. Saying that it was lovely to hear Leslie Sparrow in the wings, confidently giving the cues which kept the actors going. But I feel something to think about in the future, especially as this was the final performance, and I would have expected the actors to be confident in their lines by now.

Saul Hodgkin played by Gary Cadwallader, a rough and unfriendly station master, who sets the scene and tells the story of the ghost train to the passengers. Very curmudgeonly and with a fantastic costume, Gary was well cast. Saul tries very hard to get the passengers to leave, even to scaring them off with ghost stories and pretending to be dead.  Very well portrayed. Richard and Elsie Winthrop played by Andy Antony and Deborah Hart were both excellent. The range of emotion and characterisation displayed was lovely and both gave a very confident performance. Their relationship ups and downs within the play seemed realistic, particularly Deborah's subtle moves and expressions, which bought the character of Elsie to life.

Julia and Herbert Price played by Rachel Armitage and Paul Keenan with skill. Supposedly siblings, yet we are not actually sure. I have seen Rachel in several productions and can see a huge improvement in her confidence and characterisation.  She really shone out as a well-cast character. Paul Keenan according to the program was another new member. But I would never have known.  Confident, good diction, good volume, and excellent characterisation. Both characters were convincing and well-played.

The other couple in the play, Charles and Peggy Murdoch, a newly married honeymoon couple, played by Haydn Raado and Verity Connor were a light bright focus for the audience. Verity’s costume was particularly lovely. Haydn as a new actor did very well, but I would like to give a few tips for future roles. I often felt you were just reading the lines; you did not have the confidence to put more expression and character into them.  Think about the emotion behind the meaning, think about pitch and pace, which aren’t the same as speed, in fact slowing down would have improved your performance. The basics of diction, opening your mouth wider, breathing deeper, would have increased your volume. (I was on the front row and didn’t hear every line!) I’m confident that you will improve with time and look forward to seeing you in future productions.  In contrast, I could hear every word that Verity spoke, and her characterisation was very good.

Miss Bourne played by Sharon Antony was a treasure of a role. Sharon managed the characterisation well and she was a bright confident performer.  Being still (asleep) onstage is very challenging, but she was convincing.

Two characters from the story were changed. Dr John/Jane Stirling was played by Amy Horn with great success, with fabulous costume, good mannerisms, and a confident and contrasting performance. And Teddy Deakin played by Heather Butterworth with triumph. An accomplished performance, a fabulous costume, excellent characterisation, body language, and diction. It takes a confident director and an assured actor to accomplish this feat.  So often in amateur companies you have a small pool of people to act in a production and these sorts of decisions can be a compromise, but in this instance both actors were wonderful.

Hugh Butterworth played the gang member Jackson, a cameo, yet important role, well played. He also built the stage props which enhanced the action. The set itself was very good. It was convincing as an old Cornish station, the images on the walls were of the time, yet I might have made them bigger. The station door, the office door, and the ticket office shutter were excellent.  But the audience were heard to whisper ‘the other way’ as character after character pulled instead of pushed the office door. Considering this was your last performance I would have thought you’d get that basic right!  The lighting and sound effects were the highlight of the evening.  The train, going past was very convincing and the shadowy figures on the platform really added to the suspense. Stage manager Gus Sparrow kept everything moving along and props by Briony Sparrow were first-rate.

I felt the promotion for your production was very good, a photo shoot in The Final Whistle, public house Southwell offered you a great opportunity. Covering Facebook and your program in wonderful images. (Photography David Dawson and Ashley Connor.) I caught something every day on social media about the production and the successful marketing was managed by Rachel Armitage with programme/posters by Jacqueline Dowse. I love your programme, easy to read, local business promotion and a quiz along with important information about the production and cast. Future productions for St Peters Hill Players and other local societies generously get space too. I shall be offering this programme into the NODA competition. Well done.

All in all, a really good afternoon of theatre with a play that captured the spirit of the age with a classic ghost story and also a whodunnit.  Thank you.

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