A return ticket to Waterloo for THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
by Best of Theatre Staff on Wednesday 2 March 2011, 11:13 am in Theatre News
After last year’s hugely successful run, tickets go on sale today for Damian Cruden’s acclaimed production of The Railway Children which is returning to The Waterloo Station Theatre from 18 June until 4 September with press night on 28 June 2011. Award-winning designs are by Joanna Scotcher with lighting by Richard G. Jones, music by Christopher Madin and sound by Craig Vear. Casting for the 2011 production will be announced shortly. Last year’s production of The Railway Children - seen by over 165,000 people at Waterloo Station – has received two 2011 Laurence Olivier Award nominations, Best Entertainment and Best Sound Design.
Mike Kenny’s adaptation was first produced by York Theatre Royal at the National Railway Museum, York, where it enjoyed two sell-out and critically acclaimed seasons in 2008 and 2009. After an opening at Waterloo Station last year where the run of the production was extended due to public demand, the Great Northern Railway No 1, Stirling Single from the National Railway Museum, York, and the Old Gentleman’s Saloon that was used in the original 1970 feature film, will return to Waterloo as the production re-opens this Summer. A North American production will open at the Roundhouse Theatre in Toronto from 3 May 2011 and further productions are being planned for New York, San Francisco, Melbourne and Sydney.
The Railway Children tells the story of Bobby, Peter and Phyllis, three children whose lives change dramatically when their father is mysteriously taken away. They move from London to a cottage in rural Yorkshire with their mother where they befriend the local railway porter and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure. But the mystery remains – where is Father, and is he ever coming back?
With audiences sitting either side of a real railway track, the 1000 seat Waterloo Station Theatre was created especially for this production in the old Eurostar Terminal.
E. Nesbit’s much loved children’s book The Railway Children was first published in 1906 and has subsequently been adapted for the stage and screen, most famously in the 1970 film version directed by the late Lionel Jeffries and starring Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins, Dinah Sheridan and Sally Thomsett.
The Railway Children, a York Theatre Royal production, is presented in London in association with the National Rail Museum by Jenny King and Matthew Gale for The Touring Consortium (Railway Children), Tristan Baker, Oliver Royds, PW Productions and Sue Scott Davison. The production has been made possible with the support of BRB (Residuary) Ltd and Network Rail.