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When Charles Crichton directed his memorable 1952 comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt, he was able to call on a large cast with real steam engines, baa-ing sheep and lyrical shots of post-war, Elgarian England before it was wrecked by the likes of Dr Beeching, Nicholas Ridley and John Prescott.
Down at Hornchurch�s architecturally unlovely theatre they can stretch to only five actors, some wobbly scenery and a big, gallant dollop of imagination for this stage adaptation of the much-loved story.
It needs an awful lot of huffing and puffing at times, but eventually the show reaches its destination.
The big draw is Kate O�Mara, she of the pouched cheeks and a programme photograph that may have been shot 20 years ago. Miss O�Mara dons tweed jacket and an overdone drawl to play the local Lady who tries to save her village�s railway from the curses of progress.
Things get off to a fair start with a musical lament for England�s lost railway stations, sung by Paul Leonard. It soon becomes Mr Leonard�s night.
All the actors, except Miss O�Mara, take multiple parts and the lugubrious, adaptable Mr Leonard is excellent as the villainous local bus driver, Crump, who shoots holes in the railway�s water tank and blocks the line with his son�s steamroller. He also plays a railway inspector with a Hitler moustache and a convincing obsession with detail.
Quite why this middle-aged actor is not better known, I can�t understand. With a wrench of his fringe from left to right, or vice versa, and a minor readjustment of his prominent chin, he instantly becomes a different character.
At one point, the town clerk (Steven Pinder) is wrongly arrested for trying to destroy the train. Miss O�Mara�s Lady Edna protests to the arresting police constable: �For goodness sake, he�s a local government official, not a man of action!� Good line. It fits well alongside some pleasing rants against meddling bureaucracy in general.
The love interest is provided by Philip Reed and Loveday Smith.
The evening really gets going in the second half when the audience, loosened by drink, starts to appreciate the purposefully arch staging and the faint air of quick-change desperation by the multi-tasking cast.
What seemed amateurish in the first half becomes engaging comedy with almost cartoon or pantomime touches. Even the audience is enlisted to help with a human chain, passing containers of water along the line to refill the stricken locomotive. Naturally it all goes wrong and the pail goes flying.
This harmless, unfashionable production moves to Coventry and Windsor later in September, then to Eastbourne in October.
It all makes for a happy evening, perfect for grandparents and children. And steam-train enthusiasts.
Quentin Letts
Daily Mail - 2nd September 2005
With thanks to Philip Goulding (The Writer)
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