The Railway Children
Peacock

The Nottingham Playhouse’s adaptation offers a refreshing perspective of The Railway Children, which has become so firmly lodged in the public imagination through the 1970s film.
That was a charming if somewhat sentimental take on Edith Nesbit’s tale of Edwardian childhood.
This is equally charming in its own way but a little more thoughtful, allowing Nesbit’s view of society to come to the fore. It is not generally known that Nesbit was regarded as a radical in her day, being a prominent member of the Fabian Society.
As a socialist, she was concerned about poverty and injustice, the plight of widows and mothers raising children alone, and of political refugees fleeing Tsarist Russia.
All these themes arise in the story, which unfolds after the children’s father has been falsely imprisoned and the family is forced to seek refuge in the countryside.
Down on their uppers they may be, but as middle class children they are addressed as ‘miss’ and ‘master’. However, they are firmly put in their place by stationmaster Mr Perks when he is affronted by what he imagines to be a show of charity. Meanwhile Mother is the subject of much village gossip, being without a husband and then allowing a foreigner, the Russian exile Mr Szczepansky, to stay at her house. Of course, you can’t do The Railway Children without the railway and Jane Linz Roberts has cleverly overcome the limitations of the stage to recreate the sight and sound of a busy station, all steam, engine noise and luggage on the move.
This, together with the captivating musical interludes played by members of the ensemble cast, helps inject some colour and pace into an otherwise slow moving production.
And let’s not forget the three children, convincingly played by adults in all their excitement, confusion and bickering. As central characters, it is important that we like them, and we do, for their decency and honesty, qualities which Nesbit herself clearly set great store by.

0870 737 0337
Until April 10