The Railway Children

This is the last time we will be visiting Fletcher Moss park this summer to see an outdoor show. The Railway Children is the last in the summer productions and we have luckily seen them all.

Once again, we packed up a picnic and got to the park nice and early to pick a spot close to the stage.

The Railway Children is told through the eyes of eldest sibling Roberta played by Ashleigh Aston. If your unfamiliar with the story, it follows the lives of three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis as they are forced to leave their happy home in London and move to the countryside near the railway.

As their father has left and their mother becomes ill, they occupy their time watching trains go by. As the days pass they realise they can help more and more people, including their mother and maybe even their father!

The cast of Heartbreak Productions The Railway Children is the same cast of the show Much Ado About that we saw last month. We recognised the cast, they are a very friendly bunch, even coming to have a chat at the start of the show with us.

It was lovely how some of them asked my children their names, even remembering them at the end. Throughout the show, they waved at the children and called out to them.

Through winning a flag in a game of charades, Joshua got the chance to participate in the show! Every time the station master waved her flag, Joshua and a few other children in the audience ran with their flags ready to perform. The station master then blew her whistle and the children ran behind her waving the flags. They passed the audience who were taught to make train noises. It was very clever and really great, the kids loved it.

The show kept the children’s attention, my youngest two are only two years old and they enjoyed all of it! The first half the sat on the blanket with the picnic and didn’t make a peep. After a little run around at the interval, we popped them in the pram in case they had lost interest but they loved every second of it. They waved their flags constantly!

The show wasn’t just great for children, there was plenty of comedy and singing for us adults to enjoy. This classic story was retold in the perfect way with very little props and a small cast. For example when Roberta boards a train, it was quickly made out of the luggage used at the start of the show, but it looked fantastic! Also, actor Shaun Miller played an impressive 9 characters!

We can’t wait to see what Heartbreak Productions have for us in the future! Looking forward to it already.

You can read my reviews of the other shows we saw in the park including Much Ado About Nothing, The Midnight Gang and Pride and Prejudice.