REVIEW: The Railway Children at the Bear Pit, Stratford, is full of warmth and magic as great team pull together

The Railway Children, The Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford, until 15th December

OH the squabbles, sulks and moaning over lack of money – no we’re not referring to this play or even talking family Christmases, but the recent fallout over the impending (temporary) closure of the PlayHouse and its management over the years.

Why start a review with the ho-hum world of local politics when there’s theatrical fun at hand? The answer is simply that this production of The Railway Children, and the Bear Pit more generally, is EVERYTHING that community arts should be. It perfectly shows what can be done when a bunch of people pull together with heart and spirit to make something lasting and vibrant.

Rant over, down to the business of reviewing.

The Railway Children is of course a well-worn much-told story, which is precisely what makes it worth repeating. It’s basically an express train to Nostalgiaville.

First serialised in 1905, The Railway Children was written by Edith Nesbit, a very clever socialist lady. It is essentially a heart-warming story of how three siblings, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis face a social transformation from posh to poor-ish. When their father is accused of spying for the Russians and locked away, the well-heeled children swap upper middle class life for a move to the country and (relative) poverty (servants whittled down to just the one housekeeper – yikes, the humanity!). They take up residence at The Three Chimneys, where they pass the time waving to the passengers riding the trains.

They befriend station porter Perks (perfectly imbued with Northern charm by Paul Tomlinson) and a kind old gentleman (Brian Darnley lending gravitas), and proceed to have all manner of Famous Five-style adventures where their heroic actions lead to a happy ending (sorry, for that plot-spoiler, but it is Christmas and a family show, so was hardly going to be a zombie apocalypse).

More recently the Bear Pit Christmas shows have seen children take the spotlight – last year it was James and Giant Peach, The Twits the year before. All have been directed by Emily Myerscough, and she’s back in the driving seat for this epic that features a cast of around 30 fine actors.

There are two children’s teams – Steam Team and Track Pack – so the three key roles are shared between six actors.

The night I went I saw the Steamers, with Faith Corry give a brilliantly confident performance as the perfectly assured and charming big sister Bobbie; Harry Mckenna as a characterful and humorous middle bro Peter, with a nice line in snark; and cutie-pie Francesca Dobson, who slayed the the little sis role of Phyllis and drew the biggest laughs.

Mother and Father are played with perfect aplomb by Nadine Batchelor-Hunt and Richard Sandle-Keynes (who also gets to flex his Scottish accent as the kindly doctor).

The show never loses pace, it rockets along – and even though the plot is probably half-remembered in most minds in the audience, it’s retelling comes as a comfortable and familiar warm embrace.

Maintaining the Edwardian timeframe the costumes and set (created by an army of volunteers) are incredibly impressive – it’s a delight to notice all the details.

The characters interact with ease, the world they inhabit harks back to simpler times (handy for the dramatic tension too – as no pesky mobile phones are around to circumvent an impending train crash – instead the girls must whisk off their red bloomers to use as impromptu flags).

The crowd scenes with the full cast work especially well, conjuring a portrait of village life with all its myriad characters. Each actor gives their absolute all.

I read this week that the oldest actor is stalwart of the Bear Pit stage Shirley Allwork, who has just turned 89 and is amazing. The youngest cast member is Edith Skinner who is eight, closely followed closely followed by Beatrice Myerscough and Forbes Hadley, who are nine - also all so amazing!

To have all these wonderful people come together and create such a fabulous show with such a united, communal effort across the generations brings a tear to the eye – especially with the soppy ending. You can’t wish for more at Christmas, except maybe that some of the magic will waft from the Bear Pit to the venue next door.