Writer: Paula Hawkins
Adapters: Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel
Director: Loveday Ingram
Rachel Watson is living alone, struggling with alcohol after a messy separation from her husband. She finds herself caught up in a murder case, with gaps in her memory as to where she was and what she did. She sets out to try and discover what really happened, leading to a suspenseful two and a half hours at the theatre.
Giovanna Fletcher, I’m A Celebrity… winner and fresh from her recent stint in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, headlines this leg of the tour as Rachel Watson. Fletcher gives a gripping performance, keeping the audience engaged throughout. However, her performance, until the very end, feels quite one note. It would have been good to see more a gradual shift in Act Two as Rachel starts turn further away from her dependency on alcohol.
Samuel Collings gives a strong performance as Scott Hipwell, balancing the broken-heartedness and the anger perfectly. Natalie Dunne has a great and ethereal stage presence as the deceased Megan Hipwell. Jason Merrells as Rachel’s ex-husband Tom Watson is perfectly intimidating, drip feeding elements of the character as the play progresses. Zena Carswell gives a lovely performance as Anna Watson, capturing the complexity of the character beautifully – the frustration, sadness, fear and stiff upper lippedness. Paul McEwan gives a delightful performance as D.I. Gaskill, finding lighter moments amongst the darkness.
Loveday Ingram’s staging is fairly simple, but she finds plenty moments for laughter amongst the otherwise dark and intense play. Adam Wiltshire’s set is, unfortunately, very underwhelming – especially in comparison to the previous UK tour of The Girl on the Train. It is very minimalistic – for a play like this, exploring what it means to be human, a more naturalistic set to ground it in reality would be more impactful. Dan Light’s video design doesn’t particularly help, as it is hard to work out what we’re looking at on the backdrop sometimes – although the rain effects created by Light and Jack, lighting designer, are fantastic.
This production of The Girl on the Train is well performed but feels very much like it’s been produced on a tight budget (not that that’s reflected in the ticket prices!). The audience certainly enjoyed it though, with many leaping to their feet to applaud – just try not to compare it to the previous UK tour.
Runs until 8th March 2025.
