IT’S always wonderful to see talented youngsters given the opportunity to shine and never is this more in evidence than in Abergavenny Light Opera Company’s production of The Railway Children which plays at the Borough Theatre all this week.

In the ironic central roles of Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter, Hannah Lindoewood, Scarlett Summers and Eleanor James held the audience in the palms of their hands as they sang and skipped their way through the Welsh - not Yorkshire - countryside in search of trains and adventure.

In a performances dominated by young talent able support was also provided by the quartet of Perks children, again well played by Gabrijela Klaric Grubb, Rebecca Jones, Dea Witherstone and Regan Witherstone, with a nice cameo from Joey Winniatt-Lewis as Jim.

When it came to the adult performers the role of the long suffering mother was well played by seasoned veteran of the theatre Jacqueline Daniell who managed to maintain the air of barely suppressed anguish which the role requires.

Other central performances came from Tony Reynolds as Perks and Tony Konieczny as the Old Gentleman who both managed to nicely keep the train on the tracks throughout opening night.

With such a small cast every member is required to pull their weight and if success is

measured by enthusiasm and commitment then ALOC is onto a winner...

There were some nice moments in the direction despite some first night technical hitches and the odd view of a pylon which marred the effective train window projection but all credit is due to the company for trying something new.

That said I have to admit that despite the enthusiastic performances The Railway Children itself is not a show I would rush to see again.

In spite of the odd enthusiastically performed chorus number it’s not a show you come out of the theatre singing along to. To be honest I struggled to find a melody in most of the music and there were many moments during the evening when the cast appeared to share the problem and timing and tuning issues sneaked in for both principals and chorus - while the wheels didn’t exactly fall off the wagon they did wobble a bit.

Of course this is a largely inexperienced ALOC cast with its first full scale show in a number of years and to their credit they chose a challenging show and produced it in an innovative way which kept the action rolling seamlessly from beginning to end.

With that in mind I’m sure that building on the success of this production the company will continue to go from strength to strength in the coming years as its members grow in numbers and experience