Martin Barrass will star as Mr Perks in the Olivier Award-winning production of Mike Kenny’s stage adaptation of E. Nesbit’s novel The Railway Children – Live on Stage from Saturday 17 October 2015.
Martin first played Mr Perks in the 2009 production at York Theatre Royal where he revived the role earlier this year to critical acclaim. In 2012, he appeared in the National Theatre’s production of One Man Two Guvnors as Alfie at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Martin has appeared in numerous television series, including Mike Conrad in Emmerdale and Ron Frost in Angels.
Louisa Clein also joins the cast as Phyllis. Louisa played the role of Phyllis in the original London production of The Railway Children in 2010 at Waterloo Station. She played Martin Shaw’s daughter, Charlie Deed, in the television series Judge John Deed. An accomplished viola player who toured with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, her sister is the cellist Natalie Clein and her mother was a professional violinist. Her cousin is the author Julia Pascal and Louisa has just starred in Julia’s play, Crossing Jerusalem, at the Park Theatre in London. Other theatre work includes The Lady from the Sea and Waste at the Almeida Theatre and The Rubenstein Kiss at Hampstead Theatre.
Also in the cast of The Railway Children are Caroline Harker as Mother, Clare Corbett as Mrs Perks, Peter Gardiner as Doctor/Butler, Jack Hardwick as Peter, Mark Hawkins as Jim/District Super, Connie Hyde as Mrs Viney, Serena Manteghi as Bobbie, Blair Plant as Father/Schepansky, Moray Treadwell as the Old Gentleman and Alex Wingfield as Train Man, plus a children’s ensemble made up of four teams of ten children aged between 9 and 15.
The Railway Children opened at the King’s Cross Theatre to critical and public acclaim on 14 January 2015, following previews from 16 December 2014.
A purpose built 1,000-seat theatre, complete with a railway track and platforms, and with a state of the art air conditioning and heating system, was specially created for this production on King’s Boulevard, behind King’s Cross Station, a site which has been loaned to the production for the duration of the run by Google. The York Theatre Royal production, which is in association with the National Railway Museum, once again features a live steam locomotive and a vintage carriage, originally built in 1896.
The production at King’s Cross Theatre is in support of the Railway Children Charity that aims to help homeless and runaway children throughout the world, with £1 per ticket donated to the charity. To date, £335,000 has been raised by the theatre production since its West End debut in 2010.
Directed by Damian Cruden, the Artistic Director of York Theatre Royal, with design by Joanna Scotcher, lighting by Richard G. Jones, music by Christopher Madin and sound by Craig Vear, Mike Kenny’s adaptation of The Railway Children was first produced by York Theatre Royal at the National Railway
Museum, York, where it enjoyed two sell-out and critically acclaimed seasons in 2008 and 2009. The production then opened at Waterloo Station in the former Eurostar terminal in July 2010, where it again played two critically acclaimed sell-out seasons and won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, before opening in Toronto in 2011 in a temporary theatre built at the base of CN Tower in Roundhouse Park.
The Railway Children tells the story of Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis, three children whose lives change dramatically when their father is mysteriously taken away. They move from London to a cottage in rural Yorkshire with their mother, where they befriend the local railway porter, Perks, and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure. But the mystery remains – where is Father, and is he ever coming back?
Edith Nesbit’s much loved classic children’s book The Railway Children was first published in 1906 and has subsequently been adapted for the stage and screen, most famously in the 1970 film version directed by Lionel Jeffries and starring Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins, Dinah Sheridan and Sally Thomsett.
The production is presented in London by Tristan Baker & Charlie Parsons for Runaway Entertainment, Oliver Royds for BOS Productions and Sue Scott Davison, in association with York Theatre Royal and the National Railway Museum.
Photo: Anthony Robling
Buy tickets to see The Railway Children here
