{"id":2341,"date":"2019-04-24T20:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T19:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madf.im\/?page_id=2341"},"modified":"2019-04-24T20:11:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T19:11:38","slug":"rushen-players-presents-last-train-to-nibroc-by-arlene-hutton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/madf.im\/?page_id=2341","title":{"rendered":"Rushen Players presents: Last Train to Nibroc by Arlene Hutton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday 21st April 2019 <\/strong>
\nRushen Players presents:
\nLast Train to Nibroc<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Arlene Hutton<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the second night of the 2019 Easter Festival of Plays, we saw Last Train to Nibroc, performed by the first Manx theatre company of the week, Rushen Players. Their adaptation was directed by Susie Beswick and starred Saoirse Coyle-Carroll as May and Nathan Rae as Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Hutton\u2019s drama tells the story of two train passengers from neighbouring towns near the Appalachian Mountains in 1940s America. The train just so happens to have the dead bodies of American authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West traveling in tow. Religious and studious May has recently completed her education and wants to become a missionary, returning via train from California after visiting her \u2018intended\u2019 partner. While on board she meets Raleigh, a confident and charming pilot who is headed to New York City to become a writer. It is on this journey that we first see a glimpse of the relationship which will form over the next three years.<\/p>\n

The characters\u2019 performances were strong from the very beginning, Saoirse\u2019s well-composed body language and costume depicting May as woman of high principles. Raleigh\u2019s charisma was well played by Nathan, who was actually called in at short notice, to replace Michael Williams due to a family bereavement. No one would have been able to tell that he had only 18 days to learn the script and rehearse, as his delivery and accent were spot-on.<\/p>\n

During the first scene we got to know that May is a grammar fanatic, regularly correcting the young pilot\u2019s vocab – \u201cYou\u00a0saw<\/em>, not\u00a0seen.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Raleigh had many comedic lines where he poked fun at May\u2019s religious reading choices, compared with his love of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West, speaking passionately about his love of writing. He expressed to May how the only time he can become a writer in New York is now, responding to her questions about why he doesn\u2019t want to go home, \u201cHome will always be there.\u201d He goes on to explain how he was discharged from the army due to fits, which we later discover is due to his epilepsy.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is this which has made Raleigh realise that \u201cthings are affected by other things.\u201d May showed vulnerability when her future husband\u2019s name is mentioned, as Raleigh met him when they were in the army, saying, \u201cHe\u2019s different, he\u2019s changed.\u201d When Raleigh turns her phrase on her and says that perhaps she has also changed during the train journey, she doesn\u2019t agree. Raleigh\u2019s line about how \u201ceverything\u2019s changing, everyone\u2019s on the same train, hoping to get somewhere and don\u2019t fall off the track\u201d was delivered with emotive substance from Nathan, as well as \u201cgiving up on a dream for another is brave.\u201d It is his assurances to May that she is brave for travelling alone from Kentucky to California and back again that we realise that he really admires her, despite knowing her for only a few hours. This is further demonstrated in Raleigh\u2019s playful jest at May for becoming feisty in her remarks back to him, before the end of the first act: \u201cI do like it\u2019s bark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Act Two opens with a different setting from the previous train carriage, transporting us to Corbin 1941, in the woods where the Nibroc Festival Raleigh persuaded May to go to for the first time is being held. May, in a well-presented costume appeared to be wanting a moment to herself when who comes along but Raleigh. We discover that he\u2019s come back from New York City, jobless and isn\u2019t pleased with the Nibroc Festival – \u201cI just know what the festival\u00a0used\u00a0<\/em>to be.\u201d Their encounter has an underlying friction beneath, as it\u2019s revealed that the two were in contact whilst in different cities, with May not writing back to Raleigh\u2019s last postcard – \u201cI\u2019ve been busy doing a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The characters shared a history over the past year, with Raleigh annoyed that May seems to be courting a preacher. May’s strong sense of wanting to do right when she explains how the preacher has been keeping money donated to the church for himself came across well in Saoirse’s performance. The two actors played-out a strongly staged scene in which the two bicker passionately, with Raleigh retorting, \u201cI\u2019m sorry I ever rode a train with you at all.\u201d May feels remorse for being so unkind to Raleigh when mentioning his father being crippled, declining eating at his family home, and seemingly mocking his epilepsy, expressing her true feelings for him more: \u201cI\u2019m not a very nice person sometimes. I feel ashamed.\u201d To which Raleigh responds with an emotive and self-loathing speech about feeling ashamed of his life thus far. The scene ends with Raleigh having a fit and May running off.<\/p>\n

In the final scene, we are transported to 1943, where it\u2019s night-time and the use of hanging lanterns are used in a creative way to signify a starry night. May and Raleigh are sat together on her front porch, with effective use of amber lighting to show a far-away burning fire. Raleigh and May appear to have just had dinner, with Raleigh wearing a suit which is much different to his overalls in the last scene. Both exchange affectionate phrases about being friends, with May insisting that \u201cIt\u2019s good to talk about it with a friend,\u201d and Raleigh asking poignantly, \u201cAre you my friend?\u201d<\/p>\n

We saw how the two really felt about each other when Raleigh gives May an early birthday present – a book that he\u2019s read. May then reveals how she wants to look after him when he is ill, thinking that his illness is leprosy and not epilepsy – \u201cI want to take care of you.\u201d This eventually leads her to admitting that she wants to marry him, and Raleigh playfully asks her to after teasing her about misunderstanding his illness. He reveals how he truly feels for her, admitting that he\u2019s overwhelmed by her feelings for him. Raleigh persuades May to elope with him and the couple finally end-up in each other\u2019s arms after three years of geographic and emotional distance.<\/p>\n

For a play which has only two actors, the production was well-staged and the minimalistic but creative set was enough to establish the character\u2019s strong and often humorous performances throughout the different locations. A thoroughly enjoyable story was told and comments from the adjudicator, Jill Colby, were mostly favourable.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday 21st April 2019 Rushen Players presents: Last Train to Nibroc\u00a0by Arlene Hutton For the second night of the 2019 Easter Festival of Plays, we saw Last Train to Nibroc, performed by the first Manx theatre company of the week, Rushen Players. Their adaptation was directed by Susie Beswick and starred Saoirse Coyle-Carroll as May … Continue reading Rushen Players presents: Last Train to Nibroc by Arlene Hutton<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2344,"parent":2326,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2341","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2341"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2349,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2341\/revisions\/2349"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madf.im\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}