The production now in rehearsals at Bembridge Village Hall is ‘The Ghost Train’, due at 7.30pm on November 9^th, 10^th and 11^th, with a matinee at 2.30pm on 12^th, celebrating its centenary.

The original play was written in 1923 by Arnold Ridley, of ‘Dad’s Army’ fame, proving he was far more than the silly old buffoon Private Godfrey. Ridley himself experienced being stranded overnight at a deserted railway station, inspiring him to write this comedy thriller in which a group of passengers are stranded in the waiting room of a station that is reputed to be visited by a spectral train. The interplay of different personalities and social classes could almost be a blueprint for the much later reality TV shows, as comedy is mixed with suspense – is the ghost train real?

Incredibly popular, the play has been adapted many times into films, a novel, and in 1988 a radio play. It is on this adaptation that Bembridge Little Theatre Club’s production is based. The stage is set not as a railway waiting room but as a working radio studio of the 1930’s, reflecting both the era of the original play and the golden days of radio drama, with microphones, actors, sound engineers and so on. So added to the comedy of the dialogue, the audience will see the often hilarious process of recording a play to be heard over the radio.

Director Hanna Emily Nixon says: “the audience will be treated to a visual performance of a live radio drama as the story unfolds. Radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story”. Radio drama is defined as ‘auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension’, and BLTC’s production of ‘The Ghost Train’ brings this visual force into sharp focus by letting the audience into the studio to witness the drama and comedy happening behind and around the microphones.

Tickets for ‘The Ghost Train’ are now on sale: go to https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/Bembridge-Little-Theatre-Club. You can also phone 07841 950261 or pop along and see Martie in Bembridge Library between 10-12 on Wednesday mornings.