The Ghost Train is new production from MTP (From Malvern Gazette)

The Ghost Train is new production from MTP

9:55am Tuesday 14th June 2011 in Theatre

FOLLOWING their successful production of The Forsyte Saga, Malvern Theatre Players members are about to embark on their next show, The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley, to be staged at the Festival Theatre in September.

This will be the first production in the Players' 35th year of continuous residency at Malvern Theatres.

Open auditions will be held at the Coach House Theatre, Grange Road, on Sunday, June 19, at 2.30pm and Wednesday, June 22, at 7.30pm.

Arnold Ridley, best known as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, managed to combine careers as a professional soldier, actor and playwright. Starting as an actor, he volunteered to join the army at the outbreak of the First World War, serving to the end in 1918 with several severe injuries.

He joined Barry Jackson’s Birmingham Repertory Company and played numerous parts over the next two years until his injuries became too troublesome.

He wrote The Ghost Train in 1923 after being stranded at a country railway station. It became a huge success, partly due to the novel and complex use of sound effects, playing for over six hundred performances in the West End. He rejoined the army in the Second World War, was medically retired and returned to acting and wrote several other plays.

The Ghost Train was one of the earliest dramas to be broadcast on television, in 1935, was the inspiration for the fairground ride of the same name and has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations.

The play will be directed by brothers Richard and Stuart Wishart, both veterans of the Festival Theatre stage as actors, with designs by Chris Bassett. There are roles for eight men and four women over a wide range of ages.

For further information please call 01684 569011.