The Signalman Archives - North West End UK

27Oct

By Jenn McKeanNo Comments

North West

The Signalman – Floral Pavilion

As someone who spends a lot of their life on trains, I’ve always wondered what happened in the old signal boxes along the routes… not so much anymore! The Signalman has been adapted for the stage from the short story by Charles Dickens, by Francis Evelyn. With the book only being 30 pages, Evelyn managed to create a 2-act play from it, while still keeping the Dickens essence in it. It tells the story of a signalman in the 1880s, who is rigorous in his routines, being visited by a traveller and them sharing their stories. The signalman is adamant that he is visited by a Spirit, that foretells of a dangerous event occurring – train crashes, women falling to their deaths from trains and so on… It is comprised of a small cast of actors and relies on clever tricks, to convey the presence of ...

27Nov

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

The Signalman – Thingwall Hall

ArtsGroupie CIC presents this retelling of Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story which was written after Dickens himself survived a train crash; adapted and directed by David Griffiths, it is performed by John Maguire and Zoran Blackie. This haunting story is performed in almost total blackness, the only lights being the signalman’s two signal lamps which are used throughout, sometimes blinding the audience and at other times utilised to uplight the performers faces or to help portray large shadows on the stage backdrop. The only other lighting is a red coloured lamp depicting a fire in the corner of the signalman’s hut. The production opens with the stage in pitch darkness, eerie background music playing with a stark set consisting of two wooden boxes serving as seating for the play...

The Signalman – Metal Culture, Liverpool

6Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Signalman – Metal Culture, Liverpool

From ArtsGroupie, the producers of Kitty: Queen of the Washhouse and A Portrait of William Roscoe, comes a slice of winter terror with a new adaptation from David Griffiths, who also directs, of the much-loved Charles Dickens supernatural classic, The Signalman. Following the arrival of a somewhat lost and larger than life visitor (John Maguire) at a remote signal box on a dark winter night, the solitary railway signalman (Zoran Blackie) tells him of a spectre that has been haunting him with each appearance preceding a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works, a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line where he controls the movement of the passing trains and is alerted to danger by his fellow signalmen via the telegraph and alarms. T...

The Signalman – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

31Oct

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

The Signalman – King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

Most notable was how, with extreme economy (one actor, a sparse set and some carefully understated lighting and sound), this play generated such power, intensity and atmosphere. It's set in 1919, forty years after the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879 as Thomas Barclay, the signalman, now 64, re-lives the events of the horrific night. The sense of place is perfectly evoked by Jon Beale and Andy Cowan’s carefully constructed soundscape, the gulls, wind and rain a constant reminder of the vast expanse of a raging Tay estuary. Beneath a sky shaken and stirred by the swirling, gargantuan storm that hit Tayside that Sunday we’re immersed in the cosy confines of the signal box as Tom McGovern plays a haunted, traumatised Barclay, moving restlessly about the small set of coat-stand, desk and two chairs...