The Railway Children

When their father is falsely imprisoned for treason, Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis, together with their mother are forced to move to a small cottage near a railway line in the north of England. As they adapt to their new life, they come to appreciate the rhythms of life by the railway tracks, befriending the locals and helping out stationmaster Sid Perks. But thoughts of their father and whether or not they will ever see him again, are never far from their minds.

Set in Edwardian England, and based on the 1906 children’s novel by Edith Nesbit, Mike Kenny's play tells the story of how teenager Roberta (‘Bobbie’) and her younger siblings Peter and Phyllis come to be known as ‘The Railway Children’. After their father is accused of treason, arrested and taken away, Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis, along with their mother, are forced to move from their comfortable middle-class life in the south of England, to a much smaller home and more modest lifestyle in the north, close to a railway line. While their mother tries to make ends meet by writing, the children soon grow to love their new environment in and around the train station, befriending locals, including the stationmaster Albert Perks, and learning the rhythms of life by the train tracks, while always waiting and hoping for their father to return home. They experience a number of adventures and are hailed as heroes when they manage to flag down a speeding train before it crashes into a rockfall. With the help of an elderly gentleman, to whom they have been waving every day as his train has passed by, they are able to prove their father’s innocence and the play ends with his return and the family being reunited.