WITH many a "toot toot" cried out lustily from the throats of his young fans, Thomas the Tank Engine steamed on to the Playhouse stage over the weekend.
All around the theatre young children sat with their eyes popping out of their heads and their
mouths wide open in astonishment – for there, right in front of them, were Thomas and Percy, all gleaming paint-work with their drivers busily jumping in and out of their cabins
Meanwhile, the Fat Controller looked on and muttered darkly about confusion and delay.
No matter that the only other engine friend to appear was Diesel – who my specialist advisor for the production declared should be known as Devious Diesel and had actually entered from the wrong engine shed – they were big, they puffed steam and they ran around the stage.
The seven-strong human cast didn't really get a look in, apart for Dean Nolen as the Fat Controller, who had just the right level of Churchillian pomp. Even a dozy sheep, who got Percy into trouble by making him late and had quite the most expressive eyes, upstaged them somewhat.
It would be very easy to be cynical about the very slight plot, the way it is forced into a musical format and how it fits with the whole Thomas franchise, but this would be to miss the point that the representation of Thomas himself is exactly right – and the whole show is perfectly in keeping with the safe, 1950s-style enclosed world which he inhabits.
Slightly misjudged sound levels and the odd failure to adhere to the precise details of the original apart, this is a Really Useful show which delivers exact it promises. Toot toot!
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