E Nesbit’s 1905 novel, The Railway Children, has been beloved of generations of young people with several adaptations to stage and screen.
Now it arrives in Chiswick at Theatre at the Tabard, expertly adapted by Louise Haddington and lovingly directed by Simon Reilly.
If you saw the 2010 production set on the former Eurostar platforms and track, you might be wondering how a tiny fringe theatre can depict a steam train?
The answer is by lighting, sound, and production design. Steam puffs in, the sounds of wheels and an engine surround you, and the magic of imagination does the rest.
Bobbie (Emma Rowe), Peter (Max Pascoe) and Phyllis (Anya Burlton) move with their mother (Kirsten Shaw) to Yorkshire and the Three Chimneys Cottage. In London, they’d lived comfortably, but now the family have fallen on hard times.
As stationmaster Perks (Jay Olpin) tells us, the children weren’t The Railway Children when they arrived, but in the absence of anything else, their days quickly revolved around Oakwood station and the lines and tunnels en route.
It’s a beautifully crafted piece of work, with the six-person cast throwing themselves into each scene with enthusiasm. Special mention to Rowe’s Bobbie and Christopher Laishley’s multirolling (Old Gentleman, the Russian).
Rob Miles (set), Nat Green (lighting), and Nick Gilbert (sound) have shaped a community that feels real despite plot contrivances that play out ‘like a book”.
Alice NcNicholas’s costumes allow a sense of period, genteel poverty, and place. This is early 20th century Northern England, a place prosperous in industry and local trade, but also a place of ‘make do and mend’.
As the three children find adventure and purpose, we follow them as they deal with crises on the line and find a resolution to their own family drama (with a wave of warm applause from the audience).
With a sparkling of light and a sprinkling of snow, The Railway Children could be your alternative festive show if you’ve had your fill of ho ho hos and sleighbells.
I’d grab your ticket now. 4.5* from me.
The Railway Children continues at Theatre at the Tabard until 3 Jan 2026 – tickets here.
Image credit: Matt Hunter