26 Jul 2023
All aboard! Deborah Heath travels back to the golden age of steam at St Albans Roman Theatre…
If you are looking for a family friendly show to see at the Roman Theatre Festival this summer, look no further than OVO’s captivating production of ‘The Railway Children’.
This adaptation of E. Nesbit’s story by Mike Kenney was an excellent choice for an outdoor production at the Roman Theatre with all its nooks, crannies ups and downs.
Mike says of his 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 actors.”
No doubt director Scott le Cress agreed because he encouraged the audience’s imagination to run riot as his actors embraced the whole performance space, including the auditorium and going round and through the hills.
Not only was this visually pleasing but it tied in with the story’s themes of adventure and transitions.
Minimal and multifunctional props, consisting mainly of suitcases also reinforced this message. His overall vision was complemented further by some specially composed atmospheric piano and violin music from Tom Cagnoni, a composer whose work I have often admired in OVO’s shows over the years.
I love to see actor musicians performing and so if this music had been live, it would have been the icing on the cake. However, this is a small niggle!
Now, while every play tells a story, not every production embraces the art of storytelling as a device like this one does.
The three main characters Bobby, Peter and Phyllis introduce themselves to the audience at the start then act out the story that happened to them in their youth. It is a retrospective piece and that’s why it felt appropriate that the main actors appeared to be in their 20s.
All three embodied these younger roles very skilfully.
Charlotte Ware was an instantly relatable Bobby, Will Kirkham, newly out of drama school brought the right level of youth and vigour to the role of Peter.
It was lovely to see Grace Bassett as convincing in the role of youngest child Phyllis as she was playing adult Sybil in Noel Coward’s ‘Private Lives’.
Also from the OVO repertory cast (Private Lives and the Railway Children share many of the same actors), I was impressed with Josephine Rattigan’s mastery of various accents.
Over the course of two productions, she has proved herself to be a versatile character actor worth looking out for. Charlie Clee who shone as Victor in ‘Private Lives’ was given the opportunity to flex more acting muscles in the roles of Father, Mr Perks and the Kind Old Gentleman.
He switched between the roles with skill, ease and an enjoyment that was very clear. OVO stalwart Emma Wright (Amanda in ‘Private Lives’) this time took on a more mature role as the children’s amazingly tenacious and open minded mother and played it with aplomb.
However, you can expect to see some real children on stage too! OVO had assembled two teams of six young performers to provide extra authenticity to their show many of whom were from the marvellous Best Theatre Arts.
These children played extras at parties and other group scenes. Some of the older ones got a few lines too.
The only thing that OVO could have done to improve this production, at least in my eyes, would be to have used these children more as there was clearly a lot of budding talent there. Perhaps this is something they would consider doing in the future.
Whether you are familiar with the book, the film or completely new to The Railway Children, you cannot leave this production without feeling that you have been given a lovely warm hug after a little cry. For while this is a poignant tale, it is an extremely uplifting one which is safe in the hands of the superb OVO creative team.
