Past productions

THE GHOST TRAIN (REVISED)

by Arnold Ridley
Adapted by Jocelyn & Nicolas Ridley

22 – 31 October 2026

In later life Arnold Ridley became famous for his role as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, but decades earlier his classic 1920s ghostly-thriller, The Ghost Train, was first produced in 1925. It has been a firm favourite with professional and non-professional theatre companies ever since. Six passengers find themselves stranded late at night in the waiting-room of an isolated Cornish railway station. Ignoring the ghostly tales and dire warnings of the stationmaster, they decide to stay where they are until morning – with terrifying consequences. Finally, all is revealed and the details of a fiendish plot are laid bare.

This amateur production of ‘The Ghost Train (Revised)’ was presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. concordtheatricals.co.uk

Cast

Photography by Chris Fenton

Review | October 2026 | Theo Spring

Establishing the 1925 atmosphere for this play was instantly achieved, both by the evocative set and by the immediate flashing lights and thundering resonance of a fast train in a hurry to get, well, possibly nowhere.

Set designer Clive Brandon had created a sparse railway station waiting room with an entrance from the platform stage centre, a ticket office downstage right and a meagre coal fire burning in the grate. Furnishings were a hard wooden table and some benches and chairs but nothing to offer what turned out to be the marooned passengers any vestige of comfort. For lighting designers Jonathan Mash and Dudley James, the speeding ‘train’ passing through, lights ablaze and seen through the waiting room windows, was a triumph. Sound by Tony Richardson was also vital. Add to this eerie atmosphere, a cast very relevantly costumed by Sue Brandon, and the scene was set for an eerie tale very apt for the week leading up to Halloween.

Saul Hodgkin is the Station Master at the Fal Vale railway station in Cornwall and is ready to leave at the end of his working day. Successfully tackling a Cornish accent, Chester Stern created a ‘can’t do’ Saul, full of unhelpful information for the passengers who were given no choice but to wait overnight in the comfortless waiting room. His delivery of the legend of a terrible train accident had the audience spellbound and his relish on pointing out that the resulting bodies had been laid out on the very floor of the waiting room, added to the anxiety of the six passengers.

Elsie and Richard Wintrop have been married for twenty years and are facing cracks in their marriage. It is Elsie who is instigating a separation with Linda Harris giving her a mix of initial determination followed by alarm as events unfolded. As her husband Richard, Michael Cooke hopes for reconciliation and is also the practical influence in the room, although worried and confused. It is Richard who berates the bright and breezy Teddy Deakin played by David Kay, for pulling the communication chord and stopping their train, all to rescue his hat. Deakin is full of bonhomie and, in trying to keep things light, offers jocularity which grates on his fellows, and David Kay has the characterisation just right.

The second married couple are Peggy and Charles Murdock whom, it is revealed, got married that day. Izzy Stobbs was a loving and biddable Peggy whilst Jacob Gower’s Charles took his newly married responsibilities seriously, determined to make the best of this unforeseen event.

Add to this eclectic mix an elderly lady, travelling alone but for her parrot Joey in a covered bird cage. Wearing a wonderful black feathered hat to match her black costume, Denise Scales delivered a truly dotty Miss Bourne, a teetotaller delighted to experience the warming effects of the entire contents of Deakin’s hip flask.

With Saul’s tale ringing in their ears, the ensuing events do bear the sense of the abnormal with the failure of the gas lighting bringing darkness, locked doors suddenly no longer locked, a shut door strangely open wide onto the platform and an opened ticket office shutter suddenly clattering down shut with a bang. First rate timing by the production team and causing a good many audience members to jump in their seats!

Enter into the waiting room a distraught lady, determined that the Ghost Train would come through again, with all its adherent misery. Catherine Elliott as the terrified Julia Price begged and begged the passengers for help, with Noel Harris as John Sterling, who accompanied her, constantly trying to soothe her, but to no avail.

Events escalate and right at the end of the play we meet Jackson, played by a stern Keith Orton and those who have been holding their breath can breathe again!

Famously written by Arnold Ridley of Dad’s Army fame, the play has been adapted by Jocelyn and Nicolas Ridley for more modern audiences. The interesting programme notes revealed that Arnold Ridley actually served in the Home Guard in Caterham and narrowly escaped serious injury when his Caterham cottage was hit by a VT flying bomb.

Director Nigel Kemp also uses his programme notes to acknowledge “the many unsung heroes named in our production team”, to which I would add a rousing “hear hear” as, alongside his skill and insights as Director and the talent of the cast, this show was a real ‘edge of your seat’ production which, together with its many twists and turns, built and kept the tension going throughout.