The Railway Children

We were welcomed to the theatre by an array of characters in wonderful period costumes selling programmes and showing us to our seats. This beautifully set the scene for an evening of nostalgia and imaginative staging.

The set was extremely well thought out.  The back and whitepen and ink style drawings that adorned the stage echoed the illustrations from the book and transported us back to a bygone era. The main setting was outside the train station with very clever sections that opened out at each side to form the houses. With some furniture brought in by the efficient stage crew, this provided the perfect setting for each scene with a minimum of fuss but with maximum effect.

This delightful adaptation stays faithful to the much-lovedbook and film and is cleverly narrated by an older Bobbie, Phyliss and Peter who remain on the stage throughout as they watch their younger selves as the story unfolds.  Their dialogue was well delivered with plenty of humour and enthusiasm as they took us back to their childhood when they moved from London to the countryside after the arrest of their father. 

The younger Bobbie, Peter and Phyliss were really excellent and proved to all be confident performers. They had a lovely rapport with each other and delivered their lengthy dialogue with a good pace and clear diction. Very well done.

Mr Perks was a very natural performer who was very reminiscent of the original actor in the part, Bernard Cribbins, especially in his tone of voice. His easy manner with the children was charming.  Likewise, Mrs Perks was a goodactress and was very believable as the no-nonsense wife rushed off her feet with all of her children

The Perks children were very characterful and a delight to watch.  Especially the young man who conducted the brass band with relish. All performed with enthusiasm and energy; very well done.

The old gentleman that the children enlisted to help them was terrific and really looked the part with his impressive moustache and top hat. The strong adult leads were completed by the kindly doctor, cook, Mother, Father, housekeeper and the mysterious Mr Szczepansky.  All gave confident performances with clear diction and good characterisation. 

There was a nice array of travellers arriving and leaving the train station, which kept the scenes lively and colourful.  They made good use of the exit at the front of the stage so they could leave by going through the audience and this continued the immersive feel of the play. The children and othercharacters also exited at the front of the stage and back on again at the other end to give a sense of travel from the house to the train station and this also worked well.  The tunnel and train track were also very effective. 

Costumes were really excellent, with a lovely assortment of styles from neat maid’s costumes, train travellers, childrenand the more elaborate costumes of the upper-classcharacters. 

Lighting was also good and provided a warm, nostalgic glow to the stage.  I especially liked the lovely pool of light that came up at the door of the family’s new home as they were shown to the house by lamp light. This was extremely effective, as was the lighting as the children came in and out of the tunnel during the hare race. 

This play was very well directed, with good attention to detail and some very interesting ideas that really bought the story to life. The whole evening had a charming feeling of nostalgia that had the essence of the much-loved film without the need of a single train! 

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