Join us on Facebook!'The Titfield Thunderbolt" - Guildburys
I had been looking forward to this production since first hearing Guildburys were to present it at the Electric Theatre. I wondered how they could stage a version of this 1950s Ealing comedy that I had been taken to as a child and (as became part of my family myth) had caused me to scream and hide under the cinema seat. I think it had something to do with the train coming off the rails and crashing through a wood. Scary!
The Guildburys production didn’t disappoint, though there were more chuckles than screams. From the lively opening, with original, but appropriate-to-the-period, music and bustling characters, we knew that we were in for an entertaining couple of hours. The setting was simple but created an upstage station platform allowing for a train to be ingeniously implied by use of a partial engine, smoke and projected moving clouds on the cyclorama at appropriate moments In the downstage section were areas that could become a sitting room (with illuminated picture of the Titfield Thunderbolt itself on the wall) or the local pub.
Much fun was had with cartoon-like cars, bus and steamroller being ‘driven’ onstage for some scenes, all with perfectly coordinated sound effects. Ian Nichols’ set design and Simon Price’s lighting and sound design were undoubted stars of this production.
Period was also perfectly created by Diane Nichols’ costumes which accurately captured the austerity of the early fifties but still with the obligatory matching shoes and bag and doubtless a net petticoat to puff out the full skirted dress.
The cast worked well as an ensemble, all striving to be true to the Ealing comedy genre, keeping tongues firmly in cheeks, none more so that Derek Watts’ drunken Mr. Valentine and Mike Lawrence’s knowing doubling of Harry Crump and Sergeant Wilson. Claire Racklyeft deserves mention for her portrayal of the truly 1950’s heroine, Joan Weech. There were some nice ensemble scenes in the pub, with an assortment of well observed village characters.
A rattling pace was sustained throughout and culminated in the cast singing their curtain-call with gusto. I understand this was Director Gilly Fick’s first production and, this being so, I certainly look forward to her next one!
Jenny Haynes (Pranksters)
Posted by The Pranksters Theatre Company on 26 April 2010