EVER on the provincial track, this play has become classic since its West End success in the 1920s, penned by the actor Arnold Ridley, later much-loved as the bumbling Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army.

This lively new production by the talking Scarlet theatre company is full of atmospheric effects and mounting suspense, with the cast giving nicely rounded performances as very different individuals who miss the last connection to Truro and face spending the hours until morning in a railway station waiting room somewhere dark and remote.

Oddly, in a production which emphasises a night of torrential downpour, with sounds of lashing rain heard in the auditorium even before curtain up, and storm effects heightening dramatic tension, none of the characters periodically dashing in or out of the room ever looks wet.

Someone usefully backstage armed with a water spray would add authenticity, despite the risk to the 1920s’-style costumes.

The cast deserve full credit in commanding attention as they move from annoyance at the fellow passenger who stupidly pulled the train’s communication cord to increasing alarm when a tale about ghostly repetitions of a rail disaster 20 years earlier seems about to come true.

Jeffrey Holland injects a chilling edge to his narrative of the tragedy as curmudgeonly stationmaster Saul Hodgin.

There is amusing froideur from Corinne Wicks as Elsie opposite Ben Roddy as dogmatic husband Richard Winthrop, contrasting with fervent newly-weds Charles Murdock (an eager Chris Sheridan) and Sophie Powles’ demure young bride Peggy.

Judy Buxton gives a well-crafted portrayal of stereotypical acid spinster Miss Bourne, balancing comedy and charm. Tom Butcher’s Teddie Deaken, cause of the enforced sojourn, is comical as the witty joker with a trick up his sleeve. Liz Garland’s histrionics as escapee Julia Price prove as suspect as her pristine white tights.

Pru Farrier