Review: The Railway Children – Yvonne Arnaud Mill Studio

Published on: 28 Jul, 2017
Updated on: 28 Jul, 2017

Alicia Newall as Roberta is transfixed by a train.

By Alice Fowler

How can the noise and speed of a steam train be conveyed in a theatre as small as the Yvonne Arnaud’s Mill Studio?

This was the question in my mind as I headed to watch The Railway Children, the latest production from the highly talented Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre.

Alicia Newall (Roberta), Molly Fraser (Phyllis) and Peter (Peter Brennan) watch an approaching train.

Like others in the audience no doubt, I had seen this classic children’s story by E. Nesbit adapted for the stage at London’s King Cross: a production that featured real tracks, a real steam train – and a train that moved at that. How would our local youth theatre measure up?

Happily, as ever, this creative and dynamic company did not disappoint. It will not give too much away to say the train was depicted sometimes by a model train, passed from one pair of hands to the next; and sometimes simply by the excitement and wonder of the cast, heads turning in unison as an imaginary train sped past.

The children cross a bridge to the railway.

Add to this a wonderful original musical score by musical director David Perkins, and a sensitive adaptation by director Lucy Betts, and this production took on a life and charm of its own.

Published in 1906, E. Nesbit’s story has a tension at its heart that still speaks to children today.

Roberta, Peter and Phyllis find their lives thrown upside down when their father is taken away by two strangers in the middle of the night. The family is forced to decamp to the countryside, where their mother struggles to make ends meet.

The railway near their cottage becomes the centre of the children’s world and – thanks to the Old Gentleman who travels on it – helps them to unravel the mystery of their father’s disappearance.

The company see what’s inside the box.

Alicia Newall is excellent as the thoughtful Roberta, her pure singing voice resonant in the small space of the Mill. Peter Brennan is an expressive Peter, while Molly Fraser is comical and winning as their little sister, Phyllis. Both Alannah Winn-Taylor, convincing as the children’s mother, and George Hopkins as the Old Gentleman, successfully portray characters much older than themselves.

There is much to admire in this production, notably the scene in which the children bring birthday gifts to their friend Perks, the railwayman, only to find that Perks feels patronised by their generosity and spurns what they have brought him.

This is a play about change and, ultimately, growing up: themes as relevant for children today as when E. Nesbit’s book was written. An excellent choice for these rainy summer holidays.

The Railway Children runs until August 1. www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk, Box Office 01483 440000.