Following on from Theatre Royal Youth ’s success with their Christmas production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, TRY has chosen another classic to perform for their spring performance.

A cast of 25 will take on E Nesbit’s The Railway Children – quite a feat for modern children who will have to travel back in time over 100 years to a different era.

The theatre company has pulled out all the stops to get the technical side in place, spending £1.5k to hire three special effects panels for the three-day run. Music and sound effects will also help to transform the Theatre Royal into a rural railway station.

The story focuses on three children, Roberta (Bobbie), played convincingly by Issy Smith, Peter (Luke Ritson) and Phyllis (Sophia Alford). The children and their mother, played by Abigail Sansom, are uprooted from their comfortable home in London to move to the country after their father, portrayed excellently by Arthur Hill, is accused of spying and imprisoned.

The railway offers the children an opportunity for friendships, a chance for heroics and a lifetime of memories.

Performances at Theatre Royal, Workington, run until Saturday night, with tickets at £7 available from the Box Office on 01900 603161, website www.theatre-royal-workington.co.uk or on the door.

LYNNE WILD