"The Market Deeping Model Railway Club" by William Ivory.

Nottingham Playhouse.

First off, let me say, you do not need to know anything about model railways to enjoy this play. The beauty of this play is in the writing and the actors who bring the script to life.

In many ways Billy Ivory says a lot of things that we would love to openly comment on, and gets other people (the actors) to say them. What he also does in this play is to highlight many of the rules that have become well known, mainly that have come from over the water, that are absolutely ridiculous and made people smile at the ridiculousness, like straight bananas.

As well as a massive amount of comedy, there are some lovely human moments, especially with Graham and Linda.

This play is based on a true story, that I vaguely remember being on the news. Their story went global, help flooded in from unexpected sources, including fellow model railway enthusiast Sir Rod Stewart. But after vandalism to the model railway layouts by teen vandals, what lay ahead for the club? This story tells what may have been the way forward for the club, and the members, to get them back on the right track! 

It shines a spotlight on the humanity shown by complete strangers who heard of the vandalism and donated money, one donation of 95 pence from a child who decided to give his weekly pocket money to the club, plus the £10.000 donation from fellow model railway fanatic, Sir Rod Stewart.

What you don't realise though is that some of these fanatics have put their whole life into creating miniature pieces of art. Characters like George who spent the last twenty years building a model, forever updating the feature, and as George says, he hasn't got twenty more years to start all over again.

Chairman Graham, his wife Linda and the eclectic bunch of enthusiasts must face the question: what exactly is it about their everyday lives, that makes recreating the England of the past in miniature so appealing?

It shows the quality of the writing by one of Nottinghamshire's most successful modern playwrights, William Ivory, when big names in the entertainment field line up to be involved, as you can see by the cast.

Adrian Scarborough returns to the Nottingham Playhouse, and plays Graham. Here is a character that at first seems to have everything under control, but we soon find out that his life inside and outside of the model railway club is like the swan looking serene above the water but below, the legs are kicking like mad. There's a secret that he has been keeping from the members, which goes to show just how much he loves modelling, and also how much he cares for his fellow members. His love for model trains borders on the obsessive, early on in the play we find him in the attic with his trains at four in the morning, having not been to sleep! This obsession also affects his marriage, as Linda has been feeling second best, and soon makes this quite clear to him. Needless to say Adrian Scarborough is such a fine actor that I do not need to mention just how good this man is, especially with the comedy.

Linda is played by Lucy Briers, daughter of one of my favourite ever actors, Richard Briers. This apple didn't fall far from the comedy tree. Linda does everything to keep the wheels on the track at the club and her marriage to Graham. She provides the hot food for the meetings, opens up the clubhouse and is almost like his secretary. Linda is like the proverbial onion; there are so many layers to her that are revealed throughout, especially when we discover about her musical tastes, and there's a brilliant scene which shows her raving away to house music, which turns the clubhouse into a multi coloured disco. 

Jordan is played by Babatunde Aleshe, who most people will know from his comedy shows on TV and his stand up tours. Jordan is the newest member of the club, as well as the youngest and most socially aware. He is also the character who gets the word out on social media about the vandalism and starts the ball rolling with the donations. Babatunde is a funny man and naturally the comic lines Jordan has all sound so natural coming out of his mouth. Loved the interaction between Jordan and the elder model railway enthusiasts, especially Jerry. From their first meeting to the final scene you could feel the connection. 

Eastenders Nigel actor, Paul Bradley plays Jerry. The scene where he has taken some pills is a highlight for me, and is also the scene that cements the relationship with Jordan. Paul is made to look older than he is due to the hair, make up and style of clothes given for the character, and is also the character who loves all of the fiddly bits about train modelling. You'll discover that every character has a specialist area that has been so well written for them by Billy.

Matt Bardock plays Chris, the antagonist of the group; slightly racist, he also has some strong political opinions and is not afraid to air them. He gets up people's noses, one especially who tells him exactly what he thinks of him with just one four letter word! Chris wants payback for the vandalism, again putting the blame on completely the wrong kind of group, and when he discovers that the vandals are local lads, who have been caught, he wants to see them face to face. 

Another recognisable face belongs to Geoffrey Beevers, who plays George. This is a great character and again, playing a character older than himself. Love the physicality that is given to this character, and also the running joke that, even though it's mentioned that it's hot outside (even back in 2019), George always seems to dress with at least one big overcoat on over a jacket and shirt and tie! I love characters like these because you can see that the characters have lived and have a real history. Practically every entrance by George has him almost at death's door.

Ken is played by Deka Walmsley. Ken is depicted as the scary one of the club, there are rumours that he once killed a man, that truth is explained later in the play, but is not quite how the others thought it may be. As with all the characters, there's a lovely back story, and that is also the case here with an explanation of why he created the model that he was due to show at the exhibition. None of the other members had seen his entry before and there are rumours also about whether the completed model was on show at all. Again, all of this is revealed near the end of the story.

There's a really realistic fight section involving Ken, which was directed by Bret Yount.

Neil is played by James Bradshaw. Neil is, now and again, quite a fiery character, but as this cast is an ensemble cast, his story fits in nicely around all of the others. Like all the characters he has his shining moments of comedy peppered throughout the story.

The four vandals, or supernumeraries, as they are listed in the programme are rotated, depending which night you may go and see the play. They are Jamie Adlam, Freya Allen Joseph Grainge, Margot Lubliner, Guiseppe Manzione, Jessica McWhirter, Christopher Molife, Thomas Pears, Rory Squire and Niamh Woolley. Not sure which quartet were on stage on Friday night, but I know one of them was not Jamie Adlam; I'd have spotted him even without the hood. 

Directed by Adam Penford. I think it's very safe to say that this is another success for Mr Penford.

Set Designer is Soutra Gilmour. This set changed so many times. There was even one section that came loose from the club room to transform into Graham and Linda's loft and then back to the club room, then to the exhibition room, and as you can imagine a whole host of props and model train paraphernalia.

Lighting Design is by Howard Hudson and Sound Designer and original music composer is Alexandra Faye Braithwaite. 

The Projection Designer is Jon Driscoll and this really made the play visually special. All the way around the top of the set we saw trains chugging along and coming around the sides. The opening section was like a Google maps search where we eventually focused on the area of Market Deeping. There's also a central section with a real model train and background which adds to the fun of the opening as it travels the full length of the stage.

There's a section just after the vandalism which used actual pictures of the damage done by the real vandals, and seeing that on stage, the size of a cinema screen, really hits home. The love, the time and all the energy put into their creations, smashed on the floor in such a violent manner, was really shocking.

Animation by Gemma Carrington.

This is a brilliant piece of theatre, with a brilliant soundtrack, and as I said at the start, you don't have to have any knowledge of model trains, or even like model trains, because this piece is all about belonging, looking out for someone, human kindness and moving forward. It's a wonderful story and I noticed that there were some of the members of the real Market Deeping Railway Club in attendance, and seeing it all unfolding on stage obviously bought back some raw emotions for them.

None of the character names are the actual names of the real life club members.

"The Market Deeping Model Railway Club" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 25 July. Get on the right track and show yourself the green light to a thoroughly entertaining evening out at the theatre.