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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Joanne Walker as Elsie Winthrop, left, with her husband Richard, played by Paul Hanna, Richard Woodward as Dr Sterling, Shaun Dodd as Teddie, Rachael Ludham as Julia and Joanne Newton and Al McCoughey as the newly married Mr and Mrs Charles Murdock . . . with Christine Bland's Miss Bourne . . . resting, should we say, flat out on the table behind The Ghost Train Hall Green Little Theatre **** Travelling by train might take the strain as good old British Rail used to tell us, but there is more strain than train when you miss a connection late at night and the next train is the following morning. To add to the problem for the unfortunate passengers they are stranded at Fal Vale station, way off the beaten track deep in a little-known corner of Cornwall. Why anyone would stick a station in the middle of nowhere five miles away from the nearest inhabitants is the first mystery, but we will let that pass. Back to our passengers who are . . . not exactly welcomed by the grumpy stationmaster Saul Hodgkin, played with a suitably cranky air by Jonathan Richardson, who not only runs the station but also directs the whole affair. He wants to get the passengers out, lock up and go home, but as the rain is falling in Biblical amounts outside and there is nowhere for them to go – apart from the aforementioned farm five miles way – he relents to allow them to stay overnight in the waiting room, persuaded not so much by compassion as the threat of violence if he tries to throw them out. His parting gift as he leaves to cycle home in the downpour to Truro is a warning about a terrible ghost train that roars through the station in the early hours sending anyone who sees it off the rails – which incidentally, is what happened to the real train many years ago when it went off the rails after swing bridge was not in place, plunging the train into what we assume was the River Fal, leaving six passengers dead who were laid out in that very waiting room where the six passengers, just saying, were about to spend the night . . . So, with everyone suitably on edge Saul vanishes into the night leaving the mixed bag of passengers to it. It's not the last of Saul's involvement with prophecies yet to come true . . . just saying . . .
Charles and Teddie perhaps not seeing eye to eye with Peggy looking on The stranded travellers, cold and hungry, settle in for an uncomfortable night. There is Richard Winthrop, a no nonsense businessman played by Paul Hanna. Gruff, humourless, used to being in charge and not believing a word of the ghost story. He is more concerned with a row he had had that morning with his wife Elsie, played by Joanne Walker. She is far more sensitive than her somewhat domineering husband and has not dismissed the ghost story out of hand. The pair, or at least Elsie, have separation in mind and their strained relationship adds another sub plot to the tale. Then there are the Murdocks, Charles, played by Al McCaughey and his new bride Peggy, played by Joanne Newton. Married that day they are off on their honeymoon, and like the Winthrops, they have a backstory to keep the plot simmering, as Charles is the scion of the Murdock empire, which has just gone bust, leaving him out of work, so their future is . . . uncertain. Which leaves us with Miss Bourne, the eccentric old dear played by Christine Bland. She adds moments of unintentional comedy especially when the teetotal, more mature spinster discovers the medicinal effects of brandy – tired and emotional as a newt springs to mind.
The voices of experience: Christine Bland's (pre-brandy . . . purely medicinal of course) Miss Bourne along with Elsie Winthrop with Teddie looking on And jollying everyone along we have 's Teddie Deakin, played with splendid, unbridled enthusiasm by Shaun Dodd. Teddie, dressed as if he is the next man in at the village cricket match, is a somewhat eccentric gay young thing, finding the who affair spiffing good fun. He is also the reason they are all stranded having arrived too late for their connection. Apparently he had pulled the communication cord to stop the train as his week-old hat had blown off. He was not Mr Popular. He bring both comic relief and annoying habits to the party, for example, whatever happens or whatever anyone says, it always reminds him of some half-remembered story where he forgets the details or the punchline. Teddie is the sort of bloke you would hate to be stuck in a lift with under any circumstance. With everyone settled, or at least enduring the night there is a knock and a terrified Julia Price arrives in a rather splendid red evening dress, a very fetching sight on a dark, stormy night. Rachael Ludlam gives her a hint of a Cornish accent and a manic air as she relates her fears about the deadly ghost train her sixth sense tells her is due that night, and she is pursued by Dr John Sterling in evening dress . . . although where they have been in such elegant attire with the nearest habitation a farm five miles way, hardly the Ritz, is another mystery we have to let pass. Although never stated the implication is that Julia is some sort of patient of the good, possibly, or possibly not, doctor, who you assume may well be a psychiatrist. He wants to take her away before the train, the ghost one, comes screaming through on its journey to destruction . . . making her completely mad. Richard Woodward is a convincing Sterling and the doc persuades everyone he believes the story as well and he advises everyone to leave while they can . . . except Teddie refuses starting a chain reaction leading to . . . Well, a twist, with an unexpected and well disguised ending with even a twist on the twist where perhaps we should mention Jamie Mcnicol as Jackson – who he? Sorry, but you need a platform ticket to find out. The play was written in 1923 by Arnold Ridley, perhaps far better known as Private Godfrey in Dad's Army, and the cast do well to prevent the comedy thriller, with its paranormal plot, from looking like a tired period piece, after all it is 102 years old. The twist is well disguised, the characters believable and the set could well be a 1920's waiting room. Jonathan Richardson swapping his stationmaster's hat for director's tifter has kept up a decent pace to keep the mystery steaming along to 26-07-25. Roger Clarke 19-07-25 |
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