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Mark Benton will play Station Master Perks until the end of the run.
Lionel Jeffries's film of E Nesbit's story is one of the greatest ever made for children. So I wouldn't be surprised if some fans still harbour doubts about the stage version, despite excellent reviews when it first steamed into Waterloo Station last summer. They needn't worry: Damian Cruden's show, which makes charming use of two platforms and a railway line belonging to the old Eurostar terminal, is spirited, inventive and magical.
On Joanna Scotcher's nifty wheeled set, whole scenes slide in and out of view along the train track, but no human actor can make an entrance to rival the Stirling Single, a 140-year-old steam locomotive as green as the Yorkshire dales where the children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, bravely prevent a terrible accident.
Writer Mike Kenny's excellent adaptation is funnier, less deferential and less highly wrought than the movie. The grown-up children narrate, debate and re-enact their memories of the summer in which they were the Railway Children: a theatrical and engaging tactic which gives this play a vivid, quarrelsome life of its own.
Compared to Jenny Agutter's gorgeously sensitive Bobbie, Amy Noble's Roberta is made to seem a bit of a prig. It's Grace Rowe's cheeky impulsive Phyllis who gives the old Stirling a run for its money in a show which travels much further along the twin tracks of Edith Nesbit's Fabian socialism and bohemian open-mindedness.
Rightly, the production shows plenty respect for Marcus Brigstocke's impressive Mr Perks, a splendidly moustachioed working-class hero. He and the mother of his six children (the fantastic Elizabeth Keates) are more confident role models than the children's parents - the show overemphasises their mother's repression without explaining it.
Without an admirable mother, Nesbit's story loses its moral centre and some of those Edwardian ideals which, although they look as old-fashioned as buttoned boots, helped make Jeffries's film art. This is more fun though: an enchanting steam-powered family show which deserves to run and run.
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This show was 1st class, well put together, the artist were great, the whole show was so well put together. You must see it. I will be going back to see it again. Watch out for the engine. Yes I loved it.
dont listen to the grumpy people listen to me...it was great better than anything i have ever seen and ive seen a lot becase i am a drama studant and go on all the trips. the actors are brilliant they portray the characters well and allways show emation. i watched it because i liked the film... surley you dont go and watch something just because it has a train in it. if you were there for the right reasons you would appretiate the space and lond 1st half but i was so into it that i didnt notice any of these things that peple have been complaining about. honestly worthseeing if you loved the movie :)
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE WERE ESCORTED TO OUR SEATS,AND MYSELF BEING DISABLED,I WAS SUPPLIED WITH A WHEEL.CHAIR. AND PUSHER.IT WAS GREAT TO BE WAITED ON...AND WHEN IT FINSHED THE WHEELCHAIR WAS THERE BY MY SEAT WAITING.
THE PLAY WAS SO WELL DIRECTED,AND THE CAST MIRRORED THE FILM...THE TRAIN APPEARED NEAR END OF FIRST HALF,AND THE EFFECTS OF STEAM AND LIGHTS FILLED IN THE PARTS WHERE THE TRAIN WAS MENT TO BE....WE SAT IN THE FRONT SEATS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE,AND THE CAST CAME AND SPOKE TO US ALL AT THE BEGINNING.THE WHOLE SHOW WAS SO ABSORBING,THAT IT FELT IT WENT TO QUICKLY BY,WE RESERVED OUR ICE CREAMS BEFORE HAND,AND THEY PUT THEM ON A RAILING IN THE FOYE...I
F YOU HAVE ANY BONE ISSUES BRING YOUR OWN CUSHION...
WELDONE THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
3 of us were in from Miami. Went to the 1/2 price ticket booths and were talking about seeing Shrek. I overruled on a hunch and we got tickets for the Railway Children. Promised we would see Shrek the next day if this was not good.
We sat in the 4th row and were eye level with the actors, many times only 20 feet or so away. The production was excellent. The adult actors playing children worked very well. The setting was magical and the whole experience MUCH better than a Shrek or any one of dozens of similar plays. This surpassed Wicked as my 9 yr old daughters favorite play. A truly unique theatre experience that should not be missed. The seats were fine. I think the 4th row was actually better than the first three. This is one we will all remember for a lifetime, Shrek... not so much.
Yes the seats are uncomfortable but the show is enchanting, witty and innovatively staged. Sadly the stewards all seem to have had their customer services training from British Rail too. When a family has typically paid well over £100 to attend, the attitude and downright rudeness of some of them stank. Luckily the show was so good it made up for their best attempts to spoil a lovely family night out.
Loved it, great show. took my 2 kids who were at the back and could see all the action fine.
would highly recommend!
Acting superb but disappointing experience for my son, after he had been looking forward to it for so long. Despite arriving 30mins early, large queues at the entrance resulted 20mins queuing then rushed to theatre – no time for refreshments. Leg room appalling, every time the person infront leant back in their chair it really hurts the knees! 1st half is very long – 1 hour 10mins. Despite marketed at children, creators seemed confused - whether targeted at children or adults. 1st half is really for adults/children 8+ to follow the story, despite warming up the audience with a Mexican wave. Heavily marketed as featuring real steam train -our real disappointment. In 1st half counted 8 occasions (may have been more) when the train was going up & down the track – BUT it wasn’t actually there, we had to use our imaginations – which produced many exclamations of ‘where’s the train?’ ‘the train isn’t there is it?’ from our son. Doing this a couple of times would be ok but it was far too much & all the young children were getting very despondent, & the adults too – having paid significant amounts of money to see a production featuring a steam train. Towards end 1st half, young children had to go out to use the toilet including our son & simply could not wait. Told by stewards in military style that we were not allowed back into the theatre until after the interval so as not to disrupt the scene. Then discovered that scene was where the train makes its appearance! Children were distraught – why we could not have just stood in the entrance to see the train I have no idea – but they were not allowed back in to see the one moment they had been waiting for. Overall, first half too long, difficult to follow storyline for children & no train – resulting in my son actually asking to go home!! 2nd half much better – shorter & featured the steam train more. At the end we were disappointed that the train was not brought fully onto the set – that would have been a wonderful ending & very fitting after the cast had waved their goodbyes. We were also disappointed (along with many others) that we were unable to take a photo of the train (bit could see), even though show had ended. Programme – no scene list, & the biog for Roberta very poor. The interview with the writer is interesting – in that it asks how he writes for children – apparently ‘he lets the audience use their imagination as much as possible’ – fine for the book, but for the theatre – we paid for the tickets to see a stage interpretation of the story, not to sit in cramped seats & imagine it! Souvenirs overpriced eg whistle £7. On exit, large sign to the Yorkshire Model Railway – which again produced exclamations of ‘where’s the train?’ – that was the last straw for our son - a model railway with no train…he was more impressed with the ride home on South West Trains…
I can not say enough about how wonderful this show was for my boys (7 & 5), my brother (30) his partner (30) & my husband and I. It was exciting and held enough suspense to keep everyone's attention. I had hoped to read the book before going, but so glad I didn't have time. The actors were perfect and the scene/stage were very memorable. This was one of the highlights of our two weeks in London & Paris!
Further to the irrelevent plea for even more money below, I was amazed to see that the ticket prices for this show range from £20 to £45. I am saddened that 1000 Londoners at a time think it is fine to cough up this amount of money for a show that is supposed to be for children. Does the ticket price not warrant a mention in the review?
I’m definitely not a train anorak, I’m sadly much closer to a Senior Citizens travel card than a child fare, I’ve never read the book and can’t actually say I’ve managed to sit the whole way through the film version, but I absolutely loved this and can thoroughly recommend it as very entertaining.
Strange comments regarding the seating as I can confirm that the seating is steeply tiered My only advice is to try and get seats somewhere near the middle of the ‘platforms’ if you can as this is where most of the dialogue takes place, we had D24 & 25 which were excellent.
The seats are tiered. Children can easily see what's going on, whereever they are sitting.
I managed to buy 5 front row seats for a Saturday performance only yesterday (9.7.10). Looking at a trailer of the railway children on the website it looks like the seats are tiered. The chap I spoke to at the box office was extreemly helpfull and friendly.
Really struggling to get hold of front row seats as the seating is not tiered. None of the agents I have tried have been given an allocation for these premium seats and the telephone number for the actual theatre seem to know nothing... very disheartening and so it is unlikely I will persue further..... pity as I would have liked to have seen it with my children and am happy to pay! They need to organise themselves a bit better.
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