Before the play begins, a tiny LNER InterCity zips across the stage, capturing the audience's fascination with miniatures. This sets the tone for William Ivory's comedy, The Market Deeping Model Railway Club, now playing at Nottingham Playhouse until 25 July.
Plot and Inspiration
The story follows the old boys of the Market Deeping model railway club as they celebrate a second victory in Stamford's regional exhibition. Their niche hobby—spending years perfecting an OO scale motive power depot—is portrayed with sympathy. The play is inspired by a traumatic 2019 incident when four youths broke into a school hall at Welland Academy and trashed a model railway exhibition for fun.
Ivory blends the camaraderie of Calendar Girls with the dodderiness of Dad's Army, highlighting the men's nerdy obsession while establishing their quiet dedication. The vandalism's life-shattering impact is given gravitas by setting the story in its Brexit context, with Theresa May resigning and Boris Johnson promising to take back control. The question arises: where should enthusiasts, whose motto is "Pullmans not politics", draw the line between nostalgia for steam engines and suspicion of foreigners?
Cast and Performances
Under Adam Penford's direction, the seven men—plus Lucy Briers as the put-upon club secretary and catalyst for emotional articulacy—paint an endearing portrait of people bonding through a shared passion. Veteran performers land every joke: Adrian Scarborough as the chairman clinging rigidly to the rule book, Paul Bradley as the old-timer mixing up his meds, and Babatunde Aléshé as the new boy who faces blank stares when he explains they have gone viral on social media.
The undulations are minor, but the play is an N gauge pleasure. According to the review, "the excellent cast never let it seem so" even if the Brexit argument is too weighty for the gentle tale to carry.
