The Girl On The Train 
Royalty Theatre
18th June, 2024
Based on the book by Paula Hawkins
Adapted for stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel
Directed by John Appleton
The Royalty's final production of the season is a psychological thriller which started life as a bestselling novel, and progressed to a blockbuster movie. I have neither read the book, nor seen the film so didn't entirely know what to expect, though I did wonder how they were going to fit a train into the theatre. Spoiler alert: they don't - much to my disappointment the action pretty much all takes place in buildings, not on trains.
Rachel Watson (Nikki Slack) fantasizes about a couple she sees every day from the train window as she travels to work, creating for them the perfect life she wishes for herself. One day she sees something different, and then the woman disappears, and Rachel finds herself a suspect in the disappearance. This in itself is a bizarre situation, but the plot thickens as the other characters are introduced and connections between them begin to be revealed.
Megan and Scott Hipwell (Elyse Hood and Jamie Lowes), live in the same apartment block as Rachel's ex-husband. Rachel has been harassing her ex's new wife Anna (Ashley McAneny), turning up at the apartment unannounced and leaving drunken phone messages. She's also suffering from blackouts, and memory lapses. After a visit from DI Gaskill, investigating the disappearance of Megan, Rachel decides to try to solve the mystery herself; she visits Scott pretending to be one of Megan's friends.
As plots go, this one stretches credibility to breaking point, but if you can suspend your disbelief sufficiently, it does provide an intriguing mystery with as many suspects as there are characters - well, bar one - at no point did I think DI Gaskill (David Farn) had committed the crime. There are plenty of twists and turns in this, and (supposing, like me, you haven't read the book or seen the film) it keeps you guessing most of the way through. Any one of the characters could be guilty - indeed, they are all guilty of something, but not necessarily murder.
As I said at the beginning there's no train (only the sound of one) but there are several apartments, a therapist's office and a police station, plus an embankment and an underpass. That's a lot of scene changes. The team at the Royalty manage the practicalities of this really well, with a minimal set, creative use of a sofa and some excellent lighting. The scene changes are done quickly and efficiently by the stage hands.
Overall this play felt it was lacking something. It didn't seem to me to merit any of the hype afforded to the book or the film, and I wonder if that was purely down to the challenge of bringing such a complex plot to the stage? The director and cast work hard to bring it to life, and there are some strong performances, but so many changes of scene between one apartment and the next detract from the suspense, constantly puncturing the tension. The plot for me has too many coincidences to be believable, so I never quite got on board.
The Girl on the Train runs until Saturday. It'll keep you guessing, and the final reveal might surprise you.
And it's better than watching tennis or football...
Denise Sparrowhawk
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