The Station Master

It was an honour to join one of our newest Societies, Charlotte Jacqueline School of Dance, for their recent production The Station Master and what an experience it was. This play, written by John and Jane Hunter was put together and performed in a truly indulgent immersive manner. The setting was ideal, The Station in Richmond is now a wonderful conversion of the original 1846 building still retaining all of its original charm whilst acting as a community hub with art galleries, cinema, cafe bar and independent food retailers. The play being recreated within the original platforms with the industrial feel to the building was the perfect backdrop for this Cabaret style recreation of events of WW2. 

The timing of the play was also perfect, being used to help celebrate 200yrs of the original Darlington and Stockton railway whilst coming just after Remembrance day also adding to the emotion of the scenes.

Not only were we, the audience, treated to an authentic setting, original benches and props and excellent costumes to take us to the 1940’s but the evening also saw us treated to a wonderful 3 course meal served up by The Station Cafe/Bar. Every course had a modern twist on some perfect periodic recipes (thankfully the portions outweighed our ration book allocations).

The evening was carefully split into 4 Acts, not only working well to break the story down into 4 key areas of the war but also allowing the food to be served without disturbing the performance. These interludes also allowed Musical Director John Hunter and his band the Good Vibes Trio to perform some lovely interval music for us all to enjoy. 

The music played a key role in this production with some stand out solo numbers and well crafted ensemble pieces with very clear harmonies shining through in this vast building. No Mics were used allowing the excellent acoustics to work their magic and although some of the script was lost slightly at times the singing shone through with great projection from the singers and a fine balance with the band.

Julie Winn had a large role to play, playing out and starting two of the Acts as a Vera Lynn character and her vocals were very impressive. A really good tone and soft vibrato really helped bring some of the renowned singers' numbers to life. I especially liked the control in A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square. Also really standing out was the always impressive Grace Baker who gave us a beautiful rendition of PS I Love You. Not only were the vocals sublime but she managed to capture so much emotion in the piece.

The ensemble numbers were exactly as you would want them, great 40’s classics, uplifting and rousing involving both Junior and Adult members of the production and it was excellent to see members of this Dance and Performing School show off their skills in a lovely Poppy themed number whilst two of the younger members, Ava Cropper and Bethany Aitchison delivered a really touching and meaningful version of Somewhere over The Rainbow. Both girls really have fabulous voices on them with Ava’s powerful and pitch perfect voice coming across strongly. The balance between the song and dance routine was really well balanced with neither overshadowing the other.

Now as mentioned earlier this was a Play with Music set around the Station Master and Ken Haigh in the title role was perfect in character. Acting in an almost narrator role there was a compassionate and sensitive side to his characterisation bringing humour and a lovely charm to the role. As a more straight character his interaction with the other characters really worked, most notably with the extravagant Nick Ibbotson and the Billeting Officer played with great energy by Mike McGarry. 

There was actually a very large cast for this scale of production and the adults provided great pace and life to the scenes they were involved in. Angie Moore certainly had her hands full as the School Mistress trying to keep the wonderful group of Juniors in order whilst Laura Morton and Charlotte Turnbull brought some lovely moments and energy to their scenes. Helen Cain really brought a maternal side to her character whilst Gary Winn delivered some poignant poetry to the production.

If I had to be even slightly critical,  the actual story and play side could have done with a bit more depth as the acting was brilliant yet in very small bite size chunks so it was hard to really understand all of the character dynamics. This should not take away from the wonderful production put together by the musical team and Director Avril Thresh and Charlotte Turnbull. The scenes moved along at a great pace with all of the corners of this iconic building put to use. From the raised platform entrances to the bunting being draped around the whole room for the finale sing-along the audience felt fully connected with the whole show.

Overall this was a fabulous evening, as immersive as Theatre can get and not only acting as a lovely celebration for the Railway and Remembrance but also a great way to showcase the huge talent in this group. I can not wait to join them for their next production and to witness the wonderful variety of skills within their ranks. Thank you to everyone involved and what a way to announce your arrival on the Noda Stage!

 

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