The Railway Children E-Book

E. Nesbit

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Mike Kenny's imaginative stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's much-loved children's classic. Famously filmed, this story of a prosperous Edwardian family - mother and three children - forced into near-penury in the rural north of England captures the anxieties and exhilarations of childhood with great tenderness and insight. As Mike Kenny says of his remarkably faithful adaptation, 'You don't need a real train to perform this play… the most powerful prop is the imagination of the audience, the most effective tool the skill of the actors.' So this version of The Railway Children, which offers three plum roles for young performers, is eminently suitable for schools, youth theatres and drama groups - anywhere, in fact, where the cry of 'Daddy! My Daddy!' is likely to provoke a tear. Mike Kenny's version of The Railway Children was first staged at the National Railway Museum in York in 2008, before receiving a major production at Waterloo Station in London in 2010.

Leseprobe

E. Nesbit

THE RAILWAYCHILDREN

adapted for the stage by

Mike Kenny

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Author’s Note

Original Production

Characters

The Railway Children

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Author’s Note

Before I was a playwright, I was an actor. I worked in a company in Leeds and we devised all our own work. We wrote and acted in our own plays. One of the things I learned very quickly, and which has shaped my writing ever since, is that if I included something in a play – a prop or a piece of furniture –I would have to carry it myself, often up stairs and around corners, then down again after performing the play. I soon realised that the most powerful prop we had was the imagination of the audience, and the most effective tool the skill of the actors. You can make people see things that aren’t there.

Fast forward many years to The Railway Children, which, in its original production, has the biggest prop I’ve ever worked with: the sixty-odd tonnes of the beautiful Sterling Single Engine. However, you don’t need a real train to perform this play. Not many people of my acquaintance have them lying around, nor do they have a railway track to drive it on, nor a qualified driver who can guarantee not to squash an actor waving her petticoats. I wrote it in the way I wrote my very earliest pieces. All it needs is the skill of the actor and the imagination of an audience.

Here’s a helpful tip from the first production. Apart from the train, everything in the production – tables, beds, landslides even – was created from the kinds of things you would find on a station platform: cases, trunks, trolleys and suchlike. These are all you need to tell the story of the journey of this family. It’s actually the journey they take that is most interesting, not the luggage that accompanies them.

Mike Kenny

Mike Kenny’s adaptation of The Railway Children was first performed at the National Railway Museum, York, in association with the York Theatre Royal, on 23 July 2008, with the following cast:

FATHER/DOCTOR

Robert Angell

MRS PERKS/MAID

Elianne Byrne

MOTHER

Andrina Carroll

PERKS

Marshall Lancaster

PHYLLIS

Frances Marshall

MRS VINEY/COOK

Jacqueline Naylor

BOBBIE

Sarah Quintrell

PETER

Jonathan Race

JIM/BUTLER/MR SZEZCPANSKY

Robin Simpson

OLD GENTLEMAN

Colin Tarrant

Director

Damian Cruden

Designer

Joanna Scotcher

Lighting Designer

Richard G Jones

Sound Designer

Craig Vear

Production Managers

Jude Cloke & Paul Veysey

Composer

Christopher Madin

Producers

York Theatre Royal and the National Railway Museum

The production transferred to Platform 24, Waterloo Station, London, on 12 July 2010, with the following cast:

OLD GENTLEMAN

David Baron

PETER

Nicholas Bishop

PHYLLIS

Louisa Clein

MOTHER

Caroline Harker

MRS PERKS/MAID

Elizabeth Keates

JIM/SUPERINTENDANT

Steven Kynman

PERKS

Marshall Lancaster

FATHER

Roger May

MR SZEZCPANSKY/BUTLER/PC

Blair Plant

MRS VINEY/COOK

Amanda Prior

BOBBIE

Sarah Quintrell

With other parts played by Grace Rowe and Mat Ruttle

Director

Damian Cruden

Designer

Joanna Scotcher

Lighting Designer

Richard G Jones

Sound Designer

Craig Vear

Composer

Christopher Madin

Producers

Jenny King and Matthew Gale for the Touring Consortium (RC) 2011 Ltd, Sue Scott Davison for Sue Scott Davison Productions, Jeffrey Latimer, Tristan Baker for Tristan Baker Productions, Peter Wilson and Olly Royds for PW Productions

The production was revived in June 2011, with the following changes to the cast: Peter was played by Tim Lewis, Phyllis by Grace Rowe, Mother by Pandora Clifford, Jim/Superintendant by Mark Holgate, Perks by Marcus Brigstocke, Father/Doctor by Stephen Beckett, Bobbie by Amy Noble, and other parts played by Francesca Ellis, Felicity Houlbrooke and James Rigby.