The Railway Children

Synopsis

You will all be familiar with Edith Nesbit’s classic book The Railway Children.  An exceptional text that is not only a wonderful piece of cultural archaeology that shows life from a different time, but a well observed example of social commentary, and nostalgic memoir of childhood.  Nesbit’s text has become such a much loved and well respected classic specifically because of it’s multifarious nature: like many works of great literature, it is difficult to pin down the precise angle of it’s appeal. 

Perhaps it is also for this reason that it has been adapted so many times and remade in s many different ways.  It was turned into a radio play, dramatised for television in 1951, 1957 and 1958 and adapted into a film into a classic feature film in 1970 featuring Bernard Cribbins.  It has also been turned into a play many times., and perhaps the stage is one of the best formats for telling this wonderful story about the excitement of childhood, as it captures the immediacy of that experience in a way that other genres cannot.  However, it has never been quite as exciting as this new production at Waterloo Station Theatre, which promises to be unlike anything you have ever seen before.  This is a theatrical event to get excited about: book tickets now.

The story has not been tampered with: it is the same wonderful tale that chronicles the early lives of three children, Bobby Peter and Phyllis.  Their lives are turned upside down one day when their father disappear without any explanation.  The family are forced to move to the country, leaving their native London behind.  Here, however, the children begin a number of exciting adventures that centre around the local railway station.  But as much as the pastoral innocence of the country gives them a feeling of being free of the trappings of life, there is still no answer as to where their Dad as vanished to, let alone as to him returning to them.

This production is of added excitement and importance.  In a stroke of genius, the producers have set the play in the former Eurostar Terminus in London’s Waterloo Station.  This site specific theatre imbues the play with that particular atmosphere peculiar to railways, which the book thrives on and centres around.  The audience are seated on either side of the track, and the action takes place on and around the railway line.  Most exciting of all, it features a real steam train!  This is something you cannot afford to miss.

Discounted Tickets

Venue Information

Waterloo Station Theatre
Waterloo Station
London
SE1 7ND
View Map

Directions

Take the Northern or Bakerloo line to Waterloo station. The Theatre is in the station.

Seating Plan