The Railway Children

‘The Railway Children’ is a classic children’s book by Edith Nesbit that tells the story of Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis. It follows the children as they’re forced to move from their comfortable life in London to a poorer life in the countryside. I was happy to accept the invite of Hilltop Theatre Company in my first visit to them as District 4 rep.

I was directed to my seat by a gentleman that the audience later came to know as Perks; played by Osian Llewelyn Edwards-Long. Osian gave a very impressive performance as the comedic station master who guides the title characters through their time in the countryside. His accent
remained strong throughout the play and his work rate is to be commended, having been ‘on duty’ pretty much all evening.

Harmony Sunshine played the children’s mother. I enjoyed seeing how she developed different aspects of the character as the performance went on. There was a real warmth to her, drawing the audience into her sadness at times and also picking us back up again in her more caring moments.

Stephen Lurvey was the man of many roles and accents; moving between father, doctor and superintendent with ease and I may even have shed a little tear when he returned to the stage as the father for the final scene after he is released from his wrongful imprisonment. Well played Stephen!

There were good cameos and ensemble work from the rest of the cast, particularly in the larger train scenes.

The costumes were accurate for the time and complemented the acting well.

In his director’s note in the programme; Ben Joseph Smith told us how he’d decided to bring new life to the classic story by creating an immersive experience for the audience on the main hall floor, rather than on the stage. Whilst I commend wanting to try something different, it didn’t always work for me. There were occasions where an audience member would be faced with the back of someone’s head for portions of the performance, depending on where they were sat and
the opening and closing of doors off the main hall, that were used as entrances and exits, were sometimes a distraction. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to see people’s faces, particularly as some of the expressions were so excellent.

I’ve deliberately left talking about the title characters until last and there is a reason for this. Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis; played by Ella Quarry, Aidan Dorrington and Esther Thomas-Bizjak respectively gave truly wonderful performances; treating the audience to characters full of energy, fun and packed full of emotion.
Ella’s mature portrayal of the eldest child Bobbie was a real triumph, showing a steely determination mixed with a deep sadness on occasion. There was a real subtlety to her performance and you couldn’t help but like her.

As Peter, Aidan could have been lost as the ‘middle child’, however he more than held his own with his ‘sisters’ and really embraced the ‘man of the house’ character, when his father goes away.

Esther was hilarious as Phyllis; often making the audience laugh with carefully thought-out delivery of her lines, her amazingly expressive face and huge grin!
I’ve no doubt that they will all be future stars and I’m really looking forward to returning to see more!

I liked the occasional breaking of the fourth wall to talk to the audience. It was used well and not overdone.

This was a lovely production and I was thoroughly entertained. Thank you for your hospitality.

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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