Play Pie and a Pint: The Great Train Race @ Oran Mor

It’s all pistons go as Robert Dawson Scott’s first play The Great Train Race takes to the track.  Capturing the excitement of the British rail boom years, it’s fuelled by a cast brimming with energy.

As the turn of the century approaches, the Race to the North is on and all lines lead to the granite gates of Aberdeen.  The competition between the companies which run the West and East Coast services reaches its zenith in the summer of 1895 when both companies engage in a series of unofficial races to see whose train will reach Aberdeen first.

Focusing on the rivalry between the companies, which in turn plays upon the rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh, there’s less about the danger of the risk taking and more about the skulduggery which both companies employ. 

Iain Robertson gets the biggest laugh as Jean, the sultry, pouty 'new woman' who wants to see the fires set alight in both her husband Norrie (Grant O’Rourke) and the East Coast line.  It’s these more personal exchanges, such as between Cammie and his son, where the play really breathes.  Hugely entertaining, they are a change to the fast paced race sequences which sometimes get bogged down in a plethora of information.

The play loses a bit of its impact because of the number of races played out, but with its wry humour and engaging cast Dawson Scott’s play is a great salute to the romance of the railways.  The season finishes at the destination itself, which is a nice programming touch.