Photos Reviews

The Ghost Train

December 1985

by Arnold Ridley, directed by Mary Jones

Cast:

Saul Hodgkin, Stationmaster at Fal Vale Stn - Brian Bowker

Richard Winthrop - Philip Jones

Elsie, his wife - Margaret Butt

Charles Murdock, Junior Partner in Murdock - Paddy Sykes

Peggy, his newly married wife - Carol Pettit

Miss Bourne - Marie Berry

Teddie Deakin - Miles Wigfield

Julia Price - Lynn Trout

Herbert Price - Gordon Halliday

John Sterling - Jim Orford

Jackson - Ben Grimsey

Smith - Herry Matthews

Production Team:

Director - Mary Jones

Stage Manager - Louise Wigfield

Set Construction - Mike Trout, Roy Wheeler, Barry Matthews, Chris Scanes, Steve Boyd & David Hopper

Production Secretary - Carol Pettit

Lighting - Arthur Wheat & Barry Matthews

Sound - Philip Jones, James Pettit & Richard Thorne

Props - Phyllida Onyett & Jane Hooper

Costumes - Diana Lucas & Miranda Leger

Make-up - Diana Lucas

Prompt - Tamra Bradbury

Front of House - Ben & Margaret Grimsey

Publicity - John Bees & Lynn Trout

Photography - Don Steven

Poster Design - Diane Lucas & Philip Jones

Printing - The Copyshop

Reviews:

From Express & Echo:

...a first class performance...

The Ghost Train Now Arriving...

Topsham's Estuary Players came down the line last night to give a first-class performance of the 1925 classic, The Ghost Train.

Playing more for thrills than laughs, the company succeeds in creating an atmosphere of menace as six passengers are marooned at a small wayside station in Cornwall.

They have missed their connection, the next train is not until morning, the station is said to be haunted. What a scenario for an excursion into suspense!

The Estuary players booked into the Barnfield because it offered more space for special effects than their home station in the Matthews Hall.

The dozen actors only outnumber by one a backstage crew which has evoked the rattle, the steam, the romance of a memorable era with effective lighting and sound.

And the cast has obvious pleasure in reviving the most famous play by Arnold Ridley - that much-loved Private Godfrey of Dad's Army fame.

Lynn Trout as the emotional Julia Price and Miles Wigfield as Teddie Deakin lead a strong cast list of Brian Bowker, Philip Jones, Margaret Butt, Paddy Sykes, Carol Pettit, Marie Berry, Gordon Halliday, Jim Orford, Ben Grimsey and Barry Matthews.

Directed by Mary Jones, the play comes to a halt on Saturday night.

- Reviewed by: Bill McMillan

Photos:

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