INTERPLAY Theatre take inspiration from Hal Ashby's cult 1971 film Harold And Maude for their specially commissioned contribution to this week's TakeOver Festival in York.

To mark the festival's one-off re-location to the National Railway Museum this autumn, the York Theatre Royal event has a theme of railways and travel, prompting festival artistic director Lizzy Whynes to ask the Leeds company to present A Journey With Maude from Monday to Sunday.

Adapted from Colin Higgins's movie screenplay by Interplay artistic director Steve Byrne, the 30-minute performance invites the audience to "enter the wonderful world of Maude, filled with the memories and objects of her past" on board the NRM's Tri-Composite Carriage in the Station Hall.

Performed by Sally Ann Staunton as Maude and Julian Coburn-Hough as Harold, Byrne's time-travelling adventure is told across the five senses as Maude is whisked from Vienna to San Francisco as moments from her extraordinary life are played out.

Here Steve Byrne takes a journey through Interplay's production and his own love of train travel with Charles Hutchinson.

What inspired you most in Harold And Maude, with its thoughts on the meaning of life? When and where did you first see it, Steve?

"I first saw Harold And Maude late one Sunday night on BBC 1 when I was 15. I suppose the film both intrigued and slightly shocked me, but I was beguiled and amused by Maude’s view of the world.

What happens in A Journey With Maude: presumably it is a travelogue through her life?

"I've really just transposed the character of Maude to the National Railway Museum. She uses each carriage as a trigger to memory, glimpsing events in her life.

"The train she would travel on as a child in Vienna and the train she had to travel at the beginning of the war are featured, as is the train she travels today on the eve of her 80th birthday, carrying a small tree that she is rescuing."

Why did you choose the Tri-Composite Carriage as the ideal one to present your show in?

"We looked at several carriages but the atmosphere in the Tri-Composite Carriage was really special."

What do you most enjoy about travelling by train?

"Glimpsing other people's stories."

If you could time-travel, where would be your ultimate destination? Through which satellite stations might you travel en route?

"I’d like to travel back in time through my family's history. I'm not really interested in the history of kings and queens but would love to see how everyday people lived."

Interplay Theatre's A Journey With Maude, TakeOver Festival, Tri-Composite Carriage, Station Hall, National Railway Museum, York, at 11.30pm, 12.15pm, 2.15pm, 3pm and 3.45pm, today until Sunday. Booking is advised because of small audience capacity for each show.