Just don't miss this train...

The Railway Children

(George Lawton Hall)

THERE can't be many amateur theatre companies willing to spend a considerable amount of time, effort and imagination to construct a more than passable, 15ft-long tank engine that comes rolling out of a tunnel on stage during this show.

And I don't mean a two-dimensional flat canvas but a solid, chimney-steaming object that looks like it was riveted together with powerful jack hammers.

But Mossley AODS has managed to do just that for this production of Mike Kenny's quirky adaptation of Edith Nesbit's charming childhood drama.

The quirky part comes as Kenny makes the three children tell their own story from some time in the future, the three of them - but particularly the girls - keen to ignore theatre conventions as they talk directly to the audience. It's a trick that works well most of the time, giving us more than the goody-goody exterior of the trio.

As well as a strongly presented set this production has a trio of equally charming performances from the central children, played by Zach Atkinson (Peter), Katherine Farrow (Bobbie) and Kiera Richardson (Phyllis). The latter is given the best character to play and makes the most of it.

Sweet

Throw in another solid performance from Sarah Thewlis as mum - a little too solid in an horrendously ugly dress that doesn't seem to fit anywhere; a likeable stationmaster Perks from Ben Drane, a stoic dad and Szezcpansky from Gary Jones-McCaw, and sweet performances from the rest of the large cast of adults and children, and the result, directed by Michael Jones-McCaw, is both sentimentally humorous and fittingly dramatic.

The evening isn't quite perfect. The decision to amplify the main performers - partly so they could better nuance their performances and partly, I suspect, so they would always be heard over the insistent, TV-like incidental music - isn't quite such a success. Too loud at first, better later, but never quite overcoming a nasal, talking-down-a-tube quality.

Despite this one reservation, Mossley's Railway Children is another hit from a company that seems to have found the knack of delivering them more often than not.

I'd say "All aboard", but there are only two dozen seats left for the entire run to Saturday, so I hope you don't miss the train.

PG