Audition – The Ghost Train

PERFORMANCE DATES: 4/5/6 February 2027
AUDITION DATE: 14 October 2026 at 19:45

Arnold Ridley’s classic comedy-thriller The Ghost Train follows a group of stranded railway passengers who are forced to spend the night in the waiting room of a Cornish railway station on a dark and stormy Winters night, after a silly passenger accidentally strands them by pulling the emergency brake.. Ignoring the ghostly tales of the station master they decide to stay where they are with dire consequences.

THE CHARACTERS
Teddie Deakin (Male):
The ultimate deceptive role. For 80% of the play, he must be played as an incredibly irritating, posh, and silly buffoon who causes the group to miss their train. Later, he makes a dramatic shift into a sharp, commanding, and highly capable undercover detective.
Saul Hodgkin (Male):
The Cornish stationmaster. He anchors the atmosphere of the play. Thick, ominous West Country accent delivering spine-chilling monologues that set the eerie tone for the audience.
Miss Bourne (Female):
A fiercely independent, straight-laced, and teetotal spinster traveling with her parrot cage. She provides massive comic relief as she slowly loses her rigid composure.
Richard Winthrop (Male):
A stern, pragmatic, and easily angered businessman. He represents rigid rationality and spends most of his time bickering brutally with his wife.
Elsie Winthrop (Female):
Richard’s strong-willed, sharp-tongued wife. She is completely fed up with her marriage and intends to separate from Richard.
Charles Murdock (Male):
A sweet, protective, and rather conventional newlywed husband. He stands in sharp, romantic contrast to the bickering Winthrops, spending his time trying to shield his new bride from the horrors of the night.
Peggy Murdock (Female):
Charles’s bright-eyed, highly emotional newlywed wife. She is the most easily frightened member of the party.
Julia Price (Female):
A highly theatrical, dramatic role. She bursts into the station acting like a beautiful, unhinged madwoman who claims she is drawn to the ghost train. She must appear genuinely possessed or insane before being unmasked as a calculated, cold-hearted criminal accomplice.
John Sterling (Male):
A doctor brought in to handle Julia’s apparent madness. He provides an imposing, quiet, and deeply suspicious presence in the room before the criminal plot is fully laid bare.
Jackson:
A policeman {or policewoman} who arrives with Teddie towards the end of the play – smaller role.

If you would like to read a script before the auditions or cannot attend on the night, please contact Ingrid at ingie@wooden.co.uk – Any pre-audition will be done in front of the full casting committee. We will also require the usual behind the scenes help, so please also get in touch if you are interested in that side of things.