These are heady days for railway enthusiasts in the north-east. The refurbished Flying Scotsman is puffing majestically on a series of summer excursions between York and Scarborough; meanwhile Stephenson's Locomotion (or at any rate, a full-sized replica) cuts a swathe through this remarkable steam-powered opera.

Blaze is an extraordinary synthesis of amateurs, professionals and rolling stock, jointly devised by Northern Stage and Creative Partnerships, and performed in situ in a working goods-yard.

The seed of the idea came from Middlesbrough-born soprano Suzannah Clarke, who has happily switched from the stage of La Scala to a depot in Darlington in the name of giving something back. And it pays off handsomely: over 100 local schoolchildren join Clarke, plus members of the Northern Stage Ensemble and a full professional orchestra, in a gritty celebration of civic achievement.

Toby Satterthwaite has devised a clever libretto around an act of vandalism on Stephenson's famous engine. A ghostly committee of Edwardian grandees are appalled to discover that someone has nicked the bell, and the entire community goes like the clappers trying to get it back. It's a genuinely haunting experience as the kids flip through to the spiritual dimension, going off in everyday street clothes and returning like a petrified choir of urchins from a celestial production of Oliver!

Composer Will Todd accompanies this with music that is both singable and sophisticated, and Alan Lyddiard's well-marshalled production goes off without a hitch. Well, almost - at one point a bogey containing a spectral chorus of steelworkers refuses to budge. But you wouldn't expect British trains not to foul up at some point, would you?

· Until Saturday. Box office: 01325 486 555.