Mike Kenny’s Olivier Award-winning adaptation of The Railway Children is getting a return ticket to the capital this Christmas as it finds a new home at King’s Cross Station.
Its fitting new destination, the King’s Cross Theatre, will be a 1,000 seat auditorium complete with railway tracks and platforms and will feature a state of the art heating system. It will be specially built for the production, which plays from 16 December (press night 14 January) and is initially booking until 1 March.
Based on E Nesbit’s classic novel, which tells the story of three children whose lives change forever when their father is mysteriously taken away, The Railway Children follows Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis as they move with their mother from London to a cottage in rural Yorkshire where they befriend a railway porter and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure.
The critically acclaimed show, which will once again feature a 60-tonne steam locomotive and gentlemen’s carriage, began life at the National Railway Museum in York before transferring to the tracks and platforms of the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo in 2010. There, it played two runs and picked up the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 2011.
Directed by Damian Cruden, the production is being staged in support of the Railway Children Charity, which helps homeless and runaway children all over the world. £1 from every ticket bought for The Railway Children’s run will be donated to the charity.
The new theatre, situated on King’s Boulevard behind King’s Cross Station, has been loaned to the production by Google, the company that owns the land. Talking about the production’s forthcoming run, Joe Borret, EMEA Director of Real Estate & Construction at Google, said: “Google is pleased to help bring The Railway Children to King’s Cross, Europe’s most connected train station. Working with this production will be a great way to engage with the local community while we continue to plan our new UK headquarters.”