In the foyer of The Pavilion Theatre hangs a cast list and photo from the last time Castle Hill Players performed The Ghost Train, in 1962, which they are now revisiting in the Players’ 70th year. As we took our seats, the mood was set with eerie violin music, some packages, and a handcart between the footlights in front of the stage curtains, letting us know we were on a railway platform of a bygone era.
The set is one room—a run-down railway station waiting room—where we see the stationmaster, Saul Hodgkin (Daniel Vavasour), going about his business on a dark and stormy night.
In turn, we meet three couples as they arrive at the station: quarrelling Richard and Elsie Winthrop (Ben Freeman and Dianne Darlington), interrupted honeymooners Charlie and Peggy Murdoch (Brendon Stone and Niamh McKervey), and Miss Bourne (Deb Lewis), travelling with Joey, her pet bird. Some fool named Teddie (Paul Sztelma) has pulled the communication cord on the incoming train, causing all six passengers to miss their connection and be stranded at Fal Vale Station after the last train for the night… or so they think…
Without any real options for transport or accommodation, our travelers begrudgingly accept that they must stay in the uncomfortable station until the next morning. Each has their own reason for wanting to move swiftly on, except perhaps Teddie, whose joviality and unwavering smirk get on the nerves of the others, who rightly blame him for their predicament. Sztelma plays this joking dandy convincingly as irritatingly smug. Some intense words, for the time, are exchanged between Teddie and Mr Winthrop, whom Freeman plays with self-assuredness as the unspoken leader of the waiting passengers. The steadiness of Freeman's character and his moments of snark work well against Darlington's Mrs Winthrop, who balances glimpses of marital frustration with the forbearance and acceptance of a wife who's had about enough.
Soon enough, the stationmaster takes his leave—he cannot be persuaded or paid to spend the night in the station, because—“You haven't heard tell of it then!?”—Fal Vale Railway Station is haunted. Twenty years ago tonight, a disaster occurred at the station involving six fatalities dealt with in that very room, and a railway worker gone mad. Ever since then, dozens of locals have heard the signals and seen the lights of the Ghost Train coming through Fal Vale Station. They believe whoever sees the Ghost Train is cursed to die.
Vavasour's storytelling in revealing this history is gripping and ominous. His thick country accent adds to the intensity of his speech and provides a great character contrast to the posher, upper-class passengers. It also adds to the atmosphere of isolation and fear lent by the one-room set and the sound and light effects from offstage.
Lewis has her moment when Miss Bourne's stiffness as a spinster travelling alone is dissolved, and without costume changes, the layering of her and others' costumes (by Annette Snars) is used to subtly but effectively echo shifts within the characters. The period is 1930-something, and the costumes are appropriate without being distracting. The language of the time may be foreign to younger playgoers (nobody says “old fruit” that much anymore), but this reviewer's 11- and 13-year-old guests followed the action without trouble. One was spooked so much he was a little reluctant to return after intermission but was glad he did.
McKervey as Peggy is sweet and patient with her onstage husband and serves a great jump scare at one point as the paranoia grows. Stone, as her preoccupied but caring spouse, has some insightful lines, playing Charlie very believably as a man caught in layers of predicament.
Christine Wilson makes a striking entrance as Julia Price, who entreats the waiting passengers not to allow Dr Sterling (Brett Watkins) to find her and take her back to the psychiatric hospital. She is in the grips of the Ghost Train and is adamant it will return tonight. Wilson's flipping between terrified mania and near-catatonic states of compliance is sharp and disconcerting. Watkins plays Dr Sterling’s change of heart about her stories very naturally—you almost forget that before intermission he had been dismissing the Ghost Train's existence.
Although we don't meet Blake Michael Parish's character until very late in the play, as the loose ends are about to be tidied up, he embodies his character well in physicality and line delivery. We don't want to say too much in order to preserve the mystery…
Director Stephen Snars has ensured smooth scene transitions within the minimal set (designed by Maureen Cartledge) with very natural entry and exit timing by all players so that the enchantment over the audience is not broken by any awkward pauses. This flowing timing extends to offstage lighting (Sean Churchward) and sound (George Cartledge) to complete the immersion and illusion of a whole station and indeed a train line beyond the waiting room. Snars and the team have staged and executed the action very cleverly, so that at times you doubt what you thought you saw.
Start your Spooky Season early by stepping back in time with Castle Hill Players and catch The Ghost Train before it stops running on 12 October 2024.
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