STAGE REVIEW: The Railway Children - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, August 22 to Sunday, August 27, 2017.

THERE are those of a certain age who will forever hold in their minds Edith Nesbit's classic 'coming of age' novel and always associate it with the 1970 film that made such a major star of Jenny Agutter.

The film brought this splendid heart-warming story to mass audiences on the big screen as Agutter - who played the main role of Roberta (Bobby), the oldest child of a family of three, won herself a considerable fan base in a film that had that special resonance.

The stage production appearing this past week at the Festival is a brave attempt to transform Nesbit's novel into a story of sadness, poverty, friendship, trust and love.

A Paul Jepson directed production, it tells the story of three children - Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis, whose father was secretly escorted away from the family home in London by two shady characters.

Now, without their father’s income, they are forced, along with their mother, a role which elicits a strong performance from Joy Brook, to leave the family home and live far more modestly in a cottage in Yorkshire.

The cottage just happens to be near to a railway line, where there’s a kindly station master, well performed by Stewart Wright. Many will recognised him as the hapless police constable of Port Wenn, the fictional village in the Doc Martin series.

Specifically written by Nesbit for children this Dave Simpson adaptation is billed as a family show, and there were many children in the audience on the first night. However, the children's stage accents were a touch too ‘twee’, and how many of today's children would really relate to 'spiffing fun?’

This production unfortunately lacks a little imagination, possibly needing a bit more ‘steampower’ such as that needed to drive along those huge wheels of the engines that pass close by the children’s home. Also the considerably trumpeted special stage imagery was not at all that special and did little to lift proceedings.

Significantly the pivotal final scene where Bobby finally sees her father emerge from a vast cloud of steam pouring from the train and shouts "Daddy, oh my daddy" - was near perfect but the steam, alas, was somewhat lacking in depth - a little like this production.

But the children in the audience appeared to enjoy the evening and that would have pleased Nesbit.

VRW