Time Out
Critics'' choice
By Sam Marlowe Posted: Mon Jul 19 2010
Here''s a theatrical event with real cross-generational appeal: it''s witty without being arch, charming but not twee, and it tempers its nostalgia with surprisingly steely political conviction. E Nesbit''s classic Edwardian story about Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother, who move to the Yorkshire countryside after their father is mysteriously whisked away by police from their comfortable home in the London suburbs, offers heart-wrenching family drama from a child''s eye view.
Presenting Mike Kenny''s deft adaptation in a real railway station ingeniously galvanises it, lending a sense of spectacle. Not only is the action underpinned by the groanings, rumblings and clankings of the Waterloo commuter trains, but the original steam engine from the well-loved 1970 film version makes two exhilarating, climactic appearances.
The show, in Damian Cruden''s big-hearted York Theatre Royal production, takes place in the former Eurostar terminal. The walk from the entrance on the station concourse to the performance area is lengthy and somewhat grim, the disused signage a forlorn contrast to the garish merchandise stalls flogging pop-corn and souvenir signalman''s flags. But it''s worth it. The audience is seated on the two platforms either side of the tracks; sliding wooden trucks, manoeuvred by railway workers in peaked caps, supply a shifting stage that gives the action a gripping dynamism.
That''s apt for a tale full of adventure, from the children''s involvement in averting a train-wreck tragedy to their encounter with an exiled Russian socialist dissident, who has more in common with their absent daddy than mummy is letting on. The acting is delicious: Sarah Quintrell is clever, plucky and never priggish as Roberta, Marshall Lancaster gruffly compassionate as station master Perks and Caroline Harker quietly affecting as the children''s courageous mother. And with Christopher Madin''s music by turns thrillingly dramatic and lyrically pastoral, it all positively glows. Irresistible.
Critics'' choice
By Sam Marlowe Posted: Mon Jul 19 2010
Here''s a theatrical event with real cross-generational appeal: it''s witty without being arch, charming but not twee, and it tempers its nostalgia with surprisingly steely political conviction. E Nesbit''s classic Edwardian story about Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother, who move to the Yorkshire countryside after their father is mysteriously whisked away by police from their comfortable home in the London suburbs, offers heart-wrenching family drama from a child''s eye view.
Presenting Mike Kenny''s deft adaptation in a real railway station ingeniously galvanises it, lending a sense of spectacle. Not only is the action underpinned by the groanings, rumblings and clankings of the Waterloo commuter trains, but the original steam engine from the well-loved 1970 film version makes two exhilarating, climactic appearances.
The show, in Damian Cruden''s big-hearted York Theatre Royal production, takes place in the former Eurostar terminal. The walk from the entrance on the station concourse to the performance area is lengthy and somewhat grim, the disused signage a forlorn contrast to the garish merchandise stalls flogging pop-corn and souvenir signalman''s flags. But it''s worth it. The audience is seated on the two platforms either side of the tracks; sliding wooden trucks, manoeuvred by railway workers in peaked caps, supply a shifting stage that gives the action a gripping dynamism.
That''s apt for a tale full of adventure, from the children''s involvement in averting a train-wreck tragedy to their encounter with an exiled Russian socialist dissident, who has more in common with their absent daddy than mummy is letting on. The acting is delicious: Sarah Quintrell is clever, plucky and never priggish as Roberta, Marshall Lancaster gruffly compassionate as station master Perks and Caroline Harker quietly affecting as the children''s courageous mother. And with Christopher Madin''s music by turns thrillingly dramatic and lyrically pastoral, it all positively glows. Irresistible.
