The Ghost Train
by Arnold Ridley
Production dates : June 18, 19, 20 & 21 2025
Directed by : Harry Atkinson
Auditions
Tuesday 18th February and Thursday 20th February
All meetings, auditions and rehearsals are held at Southwick Community Centre BN42 4TE starting at 7.30pm
Rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays starting 25th March
From Sunday 25th May we will change to three rehearsals per week by adding in Sundays
These rehearsals will start at 6pm and end at 9pm
About the Play
A group of strangers are stranded overnight in an isolated and remote railway station in the depths of Cornwall during a tremendous thunderstorm. The strange Station Master is no help and urges them to leave immediately – even out into the storm. He tells of how the station is haunted and that no locals ever dare stray near it for fear of meeting the Ghost Train…….!
The play was written in 1924 and was first performed in 1925, so we are celebrating a hundred years of performances.
The play has never been out of print in all that time and has been a firm favourite with companies and audiences in all that time.
Arnold Ridley [1896–1984] had a long professional acting and writing career spanning almost sixty years.
The script we are using has been edited by his son and daughter-in-law Nicholas and Joselyn Ridley. They have kept the structure and narrative line of the original but have updated some of the language which may have sounded odd to modern ears, particularly where it relates to relationships between the sexes.
A note on the language: it is firmly placed in its time and needs to be pronounced almost with a Noel Coward like diction. Part of the humour arises from this. The play is very much a comedy thriller and needs to be played for all its worth.It’s not a door banging, trousers down farce, but in fact leans towards Monty Python, especially as the narrative line gathers pace and one improbable action follows another.
Show Pack : full details
