Ghost Train
Live music, moving sculptures, and immersive theatre
200 years of the first passenger steam train brought to life.
Ghost Train, was a poetic reimagining of this historic journey. Illuminated kinetic structures, live musicians, over 70 performers, pyrotechnics, fire, and massive moving sets.
Rhythm, motion, and history collided in a thrilling, multi-sensory spectacle. Over 14,500 audience members experienced the performance across large-scale outdoor shows in Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees in September 2025.
Composer & Music Director: Sarah Llewellyn
Conceived & Designed by: Avanti Display | Co-Produced with: Walk The Plank.
Director’s Testimonial
Sarah is such a versatile composer, as comfortable in the western classical tradition as with folk music or modern production techniques. She created both monumental music to underscore fireworks, delicate soundscapes to set tone and atmosphere, and rumbustious dance music. A brilliant person to have on your team.
Bill Palmer, Artistic Director, Avanti Display
Darlington Night Parade, photo by Chris Booth
Darlington – Ghost Train: The Departure
Around 5,500 people gathered in Darlington Market Square to experience Ghost Train, an outdoor theatrical spectacle staged amid torrential rain, heightening the drama of fire, smoke, and steam rising from the parade.
Six large-scale kinetic structures mounted on customised Nissan Micras, alongside a reimagining of Locomotion No.1 brought 200 years of invention to life with performers animating each moving sculpture.
At dusk, the historic locomotive — powered by “coal of the future” created by 900 local schoolchildren — led a luminous procession to Hopetown Museum.
Music and Technology
The illuminated carriages were linked through Fl0ck, a multi-source audio system. Pre-recorded compositions, looping inventions travelled with the parade with each carriage acting as a moving speaker. Audiences experienced different instrumental textures depending on their position, and melodic motifs emerged over shifting rhythms and harmonic layers.
The music, composed and directed by Sarah Llewellyn, transformed the event into a musically kinetic experience. Sound expanded, contracted, and re-formed, as the structures moved, creating a constantly evolving sound world.
Finale Stockton photo by Marlon-Bonilla
Stockton – Ghost Train: The Arrival
An estimated 9,000 people gathered at Stockton Riverside for the final act of Ghost Train.
The performance centred on a 12-metre-high reimagining of the Brusselton Incline. Projection, fire, pyrotechnics, and a 70-strong cast of professional and community performers, celebrated two centuries of human invention and ingenuity.
The Music
The original score, composed and directed by Sarah Llewellyn was performed by an exceptional five-piece live band and an on-stage solo cello. An intricate and playful soundtrack of motion, rhythm, and shifting layers. Music ranged from sparse, intimate textures to cinematic, expansive atmospheres, constantly evolving style, mood, and colour.
The score incorporated accumulative looping structures and drew from a wide palette of musical references over the past 200 years. Inspirations for the music include; Northumbrian folk traditions, traditional dance, minimalism, psychedelic rock, cabaret, and raw experimental blues.
Through creative rehearsals exploring live looping, Sarah worked closely with the band to develop a responsive, multi-layered, score. Music interacted dynamically with performers and the large-scale visual elements, climaxing in a dramatic, percussive and emotionally charged finale.
Finale Ghost Train photo Stockton-on-Tees-Borough
Sarah’s Reflections
This has to be one of the most challenging, inspiring, and thrilling projects I’ve had the privilege to collaborate on. Extraordinary and spectacular, artistic and ambitious, this production and the incredible creative team I worked with will always have a special place in my heart and mind.
A huge shout out to the outstanding core musicians who infused the music with expertise, soul, energy, and creativity. Through practise, rehearsal, experimentation, and sheer dedication they brought the score to life, performing with live loops and constantly adapting to shifting structures. Thank you and Bravo!
Production photo by Marlon Bonilla
I loved your music and how you flexed with every need. The band were magnificent, and their commitment to your compositions was a real treat. Well done to you and the band.
Co-Creator Bryan Tweddle
Credits
Conceived & Designed by: Avanti Display
Co-produced with: Walk The Plank
Creative Direction & Movement: Bill Palmer
Fabrication & Automation: Andy Plant
Fabrication, Props and Engagement: Bryan Tweddle
Projection & Production: Chris Squire
Composer & Music Director: Sarah Llewellyn
Costume Design: Jane Revitt
Lighting Design: Stephen Page
Musicians
David Insua-Cao – Percussion
Brian Acton – Guitars
Daz Jones – Bass & Tuba
Peadar Long – Saxophones & Flute
Graeme Leak – Drums and Percussion
Semay Wu – Cello
The Making of A spectacle
Darlington night procession - Photo by Chris Booth
More Credits
Professional Cast
Mandy Rose, Paschale Straiton, Peter Finnegan, Mark Tilotson, Garth Williams, Megan Brooks, Steve Gamble, Adam Davies, Patrick Toms
Plus performers from the Northern School of Art
Executive Producer: John Wassel
Producer: Alice Carter
Head of Production: Gareth Hughes
Production Manager & Head of Stage: Helen Gorton
Pyro and Special Effects Designer: Richard Babington
Stage and Sound Production: Hi Lites
Sarah during dress rehearsal with her constant coffee companion
Band setting up in their outdoor scaffold performance box!