The Railway Children

This appealing play “The Railway Children” is based on a children’s book by Edith Nesbit which was originally serialised in The London Magazine in 1905, it was then published as a book in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen and television several times, however the 1970 film version Directed by Lionel Jeffries is probably the best known. The story follows the lives of three children Roberta, Phyllis and Peter who have to leave their comfortable upper middle class lifestyle and relocate to a cottage in the Yorkshire countryside with their mother after their father is taken away by two men and is innocently imprisoned for espionage. The story looks at the family as they struggle to make ends meet and try to settle in and understand the local community which has a very different outlook on life, we see the innocence of childhood and follow how the children try to make some sense of their new situation and the decisions that adults make as they realize they have to adapt to be able to live their lives? The children make friends with the local stationmaster Mr. Perks, his children and an old Gentleman they wave to as he travels on a train every day and who eventually comes to their aid.
 
The story is played out as a retrospective memory narrated by Mr. Perks the Station Master played by Ryan Norse who produced a proud, no nonsense but very warm, witty. funny character, Ryan also had a good rapport with the audience which was very important for this play to work. Scarlett Gorman as Roberta the eldest of the three children admirably manages to portray the strength and resourcefulness that her character required to keep the families hopes alive and eventually becomes their lynchpin, Scarlett was well complimented by Lucy Aspinall as Phyllis and Adam Wilson as Peter, they made believable siblings, who at first appeared totally lost in the strange environment and along with their mother nicely played by Cassandra Moon. had to adapt to their new life, demonstrating bravery and resourcefulness as they try to stay strong. Their relationship with the Perks Children which was a little awkward to begin with, grows into friendship over the period of the play which worked very well. The Young actors playing the Perks children made a nice relaxed believable family unit, they included Hannah Palmer as John, Pierce Moon as Alfred, Emma Manley as Edith, Callan Grimshaw-Brown as Bert with Poppy Reynolds as Emma and Hermione Jones as Joan, all gave lovely assured performances. There were also excellent characterizations and performances from the actors in the smaller roles who supported the main characters very well.

The scenery and inventive staging which included an atmospheric tunnel scene was well up to the high standard expected from CADOS, with very good technical input from Paul Carr and Emily Cook. Well done to Stage Manager Siobhan Edge, Mike Taylor, all the stage crew and set builders for a job well done. Costumes organized by Sandra Dickinson were spot on for the era, looked very nice and added to the success of the production.

Generally, diction was satisfactory but a little more projection may have been needed from some of the actors as it was a little hard to hear on occasions, but happily the story could be followed, and the audience of adults and children appeared to really enjoy this very entertaining play

 Congratulations to Director Zoe Jones and Producer Rebecca Dickinson for a lovely Imaginative enjoyable production. Thank you for inviting us we had a great evening.
 

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