The Railway Children
Nov 2022

I found this to be a well thought out production which moved seamlessly from one scene to the next. Amy Miller gave a strong performance as Bobby. This was a very wordy part but she was well cast as the serious sister and was a pleasure to watch (but please tie your hair back fully as it was distracting to see you keep moving it out of your eyes!). She was joined by Ellie Wolfe as Phyllis, who also gave a strong performance. Their brother, Peter was played by Oliver Carden, who I understand was making a guest appearance for The Youth Project. Thank you, Oliver.
Supporting these characters in an array of other roles was Lilia Micallef, Charlotte Benavente, Chloe Brown and Alex Gilbert. They were believable in all the roles they played and I was particularly impressed with the characterisations shown by Lilia and Charlotte for all the different roles they played. I could hear all the lines they spoke right at the back of the auditorium without any issues. Oli Allen and Isla Firth played Mr and Mrs Perks. Although I struggled at times to understand some of the lines as there was a tendency of them both to rush the lines, I really loved their interpretation of these jolly characters.
Finally, making guest appearances, were Lauren Bassett as Mother, Sam Knight as Father/Mr Szezcpansky, Conor Whitaker as Jim and Steve Berry as the Old Gentleman. Although none of them are youth members, I'd like to thank you to you all for helping out so that the play could go ahead.
I spoke to Jan Wyatt about the volume of the sound effects at the performance I attended and was assured that they were at the right volume, however, it turns out that due to their nerves, the cast members tended to speak over the sound effects instead of waiting. I understand that during the Saturday evening performance, they had mastered this.