The Railway Children

The Railway Children – a play produced and performed by St Ambrose Players at Leyland Methodist Community Centre, Turpin Green Lane, Leyland on Tuesday, 19th August 2025

Mike Kenny's imaginative stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's much-loved children's classic, tells the story, in a semi narrative fashion, mainly by the three children ... Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis about a prosperous Edwardian family living in London who suddenly have to move and adapt to a life of near poverty after the sudden disappearance of their father. They move to a small rural village in the North of England called Oakworth. They move into a house called ‘Three Chimney’s’, which is situated close to the village railway station. The play captures the anxieties and exhilarations of the children’s childhood with great tenderness and insight. Kenny says, of his remarkably faithful adaptation, 'You don't need a real train to perform this play… the most powerful prop is the imagination of the audience, the most effective tool, the skill of the actor! This story never fails to bewitch audiences and take you back to simpler times where we celebrated ‘family’, ‘community’ and the ‘power of love and hope’!  

Production Team ... putting any production on stage is always a challenge, but when you have to ‘up sticks’ and not only ‘move locations’, but dismantle an already built set and re-build it at a new location is something that you never want to happen... but it did... so getting this play to stage was even more of a challenge than usual! That challenge was accepted by the team, led by the ever so talented Sarah White (Director) and her new ‘best friend’ Kieran Smith (Assistant Director), who Sarah thanked in her programme notes for helping her get through all this!  Sarah also tells us in her programme notes that she is a ‘life-long fan’ of the original story and the 1970 film and being given the opportunity to direct this production was a great thrill. With a great cast and that love, the production flowed with ease, be proud you two, wonderful job!

Cast ... an enthusiastic cast of twenty-five took to the stage... all adding their own individual contributions to the production and working ever so well together as a team. We had some great characters created, a production, that despite all the unforeseen problems that had been addressed and overcome, flowed with ease and provided an almost full house with a nostalgic evening of theatre. I will select some favourites, but let me first of all identify the cast ... our three ‘Railway Children’ ... ‘Bobbie’, ‘Peter’ and ‘Phyllis’ ... had two actors playing each role ... a young and older version ... ‘Young Bobbie’ was played by Ava Reynolds (who also played ‘Victoria Perks’) and Beth Wharton who played the elder; ‘Young Peter’ was played by Ethan Syers (who also played ‘Benjamin Perks’) Oliver Grindrod playing the elder. ‘Young Phyllis’ was played by Alice Crewe who also played ‘Peggy Perks’ and Grace Davies playing the elder. ‘Mother’ played by Alison Griffiths-Barnes, ‘Mr Perks’ played by Adam G Smith, ‘Mrs Perks’ played by Nicola Preston; the ‘Old Gent’ played by David White, ‘Mrs Viney’ played by Louise Taylor, Phil Quinn played the ‘Doctor’; Mac McCormack played ‘Father’/‘District Superintendent; ‘Jim/Porter’ played by Charlie Grindrod; ‘Ruth/Villager’ played by Shelia Kenny; Fraser Bruce played ‘Szezpansky/Butler’; Millie Parker played ‘London Maid/Villager’; Vikki Watson played Yorkshire Cook/Villager; Isla Goldsmith played ‘Yorkshire Maid/Villager’; Tony Stevens played ‘Railway Worker/Policeman/Villager’; Adam Cruickshank played ‘Railway Worker/Policeman/Villager’; Harper Reynolds played ‘Ada Perks/Passenger’; Sophie Reynolds played ‘Elsie Perks/Passenger’; Ellie Clayton played a ‘Villager’; Kieron Alami played ‘Villager’.  When you’ve read and been told about everything that’s gone on and the effort that was giving by everyone, it really is difficult to start saying someone was better than someone else, but, never being one to sit on the fence, I’m going to ‘stick the old neck out’ and select some ‘favourite performances’, MY favourites, as
I always say... everyone will have their own, but these are mine... and I’m going to start with the three elder Railway Children ‘Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis’ ... Beth, Oliver and Grace. These three worked their socks off creating three fabulous characters. Hardley ever off stage, they told us their stories through memories as they reminisced about their past by addressing the audience directly or just by squabbling.  To make this work their ‘DICTION’ had to be flawless and it was, enunciation and articulation... don’t think I missed a single word, be very proud you three... wonderful job! BUT, even after saying all that, I did have a favourite ... a character right up my ‘street’ and that was ‘Phyllis’ played by Grace Davies who was, in MY opinion... outstanding! Everything she did was on the edge... full of fun, laughter, her facial expressions, mannerisms were wonderful. She was mischievous but provided us with this totally believable character ... be very proud Grace! We’ve come to expect nothing less from Alison Griffith-Barnes who created another wonderful character in the form of ‘Mother’ of the three... be proud, great job Alison.  Thought Adam G Smith was the ‘perfect fit’ for Mr Perks. Loved the character he created; Adam had a real presence on stage. Finally, Phil Quinn another ‘perfect fit’ for the role of the Doctor... everything about the character just felt right!  If you don’t feature as a ‘favourite’, please don’t think you weren’t noticed... this was, without doubt, a ‘team effort’ both on and off stage ... be very proud each and all... great job all round!     

Stage/Set/Tech... I’m going to suggest this may even have been a test for the ‘Wizards of St Ambrose’... build, take down, move, re-build ... but it happened and it worked ever so well. Loved the set-up, the station platform, the steps and the bridge all worked a treat. Great access /redress points which worked ever so well allowing the play to flow with ease.  So once again I heap praise on Graham Forrest (Stage Manager) and his crew Steven Barnes, Martin Dempsey, Paul Gregson and Gordon Manley... above and beyond gents!  Once again, the set was designed/painted really well, that job being completed by Graham, Paul, Steven, Alison Griffiths-Barnes, Kieran Smith and Sarah White.  Not sure how difficult a job it must have been
to set up the ‘lighting and the sound’ having had to move ... but I had no issues with either... congrats to the ever-present Stephen Porter on Lights and to newby David Smith on Sound.

Costumes... as always... the costumes were perfect for the production. Nothing looked amiss, all costumes enhanced the show ... all under the watchful eye of Sarah and Kieran.
Props... were first class. Thought the cast did well to deal with/locate/and use all the props on offer.  We did have a couple of slightly clumsy changes, but with everything that had gone on, that was not unexpected. None of these affected the overall enjoyment. Sourced by Sarah White and Kieran Smith and some ‘special props’ made by Sarah, Kieran and Keya Edge.

Thank you for inviting my wife and I. We thoroughly enjoyed the production and look forward to seeing you all again soon, no matter where, no matter when.  Once again... congratulations to everyone concerned on this mammoth challenge ... be ever so proud!

Stay safe, keep well…
‘Stronger Together’

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

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