The award-winning production of The Railway Children will return to London this year from 16 December, in a specially built venue at King’s Cross station. Mike Kenny’s stage adaptation of E. Nesbit’s novel The Railway Children will be moving to a purpose built 1,000 seat theatre, complete with a railway track and platforms, and with a state of the art heating system. The York Theatre Royal production, which is in association with the National Railway Museum, will once again feature a live 60-tonne steam locomotive and Gentleman’s Carriage.
Directed by Damian Cruden, with design by Jo Scotcher, lighting by Richard G. Jones, music by Christopher Madin and sound by Craig Vear, the 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. The production then opened at Waterloo Station in the former Eurostar terminal in July 2010, and won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, before opening in Toronto in 2011 in a temporary theatre built at the base of CN Tower in Roundhouse Park.
The Railway Children tells the story of Bobbie, 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, Perks, and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure. The much loved classic was first published in 1906 and has subsequently been adapted for the stage and screen, most famously in the 1970 film version directed by Lionel Jeffries and starring Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins, Dinah Sheridan and Sally Thomsett.
The Railway Children is booking until 1 March 2015.