It's definitely worth getting on board for Dorchester Drama’s next performance - two one-act plays sharing the theme of the great British railway system.

The first is Still Love, Noel Coward’s emotional wrecking ball that was immortalised in the film Brief Encounter.

Alec and Laura meet by chance in a station cafe and gradually fall in love. Married to other people, will their growing relationship flourish, or will it threaten to derail both their lives?

The roles of Alec and Laura, immortalised by Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter, are played by Martin Stephen and Mel Austin, with Lynn Cockerill as the redoubtable Myrtle Bagot who runs the station buffet and Mike Bradburn as her suitor Albert Godby.

Other performers are Ivana Jelinic, Jordan Wiseman, Sinead Gannon, Sam Kelly, Peter Allison, John Butler and Eve Staddon.

The second play, Train, is by Dorset playwright Sean Colledge, who is also directing both performances.

A modern thriller with a psychological twist, it focuses on six people travelling on by train to different destinations. When tragedy strikes, dark secrets come to light with unnerving results.

Its cast members include Sam Kelly, John Butler, Monica Hunt, Frances Sansom, Eve and Zepg Staddon and Peter Allison.

Train includes strong language and adult themes so is not suitable for young audiences. The performers are Sean, who has been a member of Dorchester Drama for several years and has directed previous plays, said that directing two very different performances has been an enjoyable challenge.

“It’s been strange switching between the 1930s and the present day, but it’s been very interesting,” he said.

“It’s fascinating to analysing Still Life with the mindset we have today, how Alec is almost forcing his relationship with Laura forward, in a way that could be considered predatory today.

“At the time it was written it was seen as romantic love in the way it proceeds, but now we might think of it as bullying.”

Sean describes Train as being a thriller that asks moral questions. Ideas for the play were coming together in his mind for a year but when it came to getting it down on paper, he says the words flowed out and it was written within a week.

He added: “I have got the perfect cast for both plays, though the challenge was Still Life was casting the main characters as slightly older than they described in the play, but at the end of the day it’s about love and that can happen at any age, whatever your orientation or experience.”

Performances are at Broadmayne village hall, Cowleaze Road, Broadmayne DT2 8EW on Saturday, April 20 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm and at St Mary’s Community Hall, Alexandra Road, Dorchester DT1 2LZ, on Saturday, April 27, 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets are £10 plus booking fee from wegottickets.com/dorchesterdrama and further details are available on 07749 569730.