Steve TimmsNot every popular novel transfers successfully to the stage. If you want proof, check out this touring production from Simon Friend Entertainment and Josh Andrews. The Girl on the Train is a clunky, lukewarm mess – albeit one with unintentionally hilarious moments.
The story follows 34-year-old London commuter Rachel who, during her daily trip into the capital, has become fixated on the inhabitants of a house where the train routinely stops due to a faulty signal. She’s obsessed because this loving couple, seem so blissfully happy. Rachel fantasises about their identities, a game to fill her emptiness. Rachel is lost and lonely; a divorcee keeping up appearances, and commuting to a job she was fired from months ago. She’s also an alcoholic. Then one day, her fantasy woman disappears. Has Megan Hipwell done a runner, or is this something more sinister?
Hawkins best selling thriller incorporated the perspectives of three women. It was Hitchcock lite, a zeitgeist potboiler, one which had good points to make about abusive, controlling men. But the 2016 film exposed the book’s many absurdities, and with hindsight seemed designed simply to give Emily Blunt awards traction (another boozing for Oscars performance, which yielded no significant nominations).
Astonishingly, the writers behind this stage adaptation have managed to aggravate the failings of both book and film. If there’s a theatre award for ‘Most Stilted Dialogue of the Year’, Rachel Wagstaff, and Duncan Abel have got this in the bag. Where do I start? DI Gaskill (Paul McEwan) is one of those overly friendly, maverick cops who only exist in the fictional world. Does he have a line manager? Probably not. ‘When I see stab wounds, I’m reminded I need to buy new oven gloves‘, he bizarrely quips to Rachel, as though she were a member of the force, rather than an unreliable witness in a complex missing person/murder investigation. One moment, chief suspect Scott Hipwell (Samuel Collings) is screeching accusations at Rachel (‘YOU SPY ON US FROM THE TRAIN?!’), before doing a 180 degree turn, and politely offering her a drink. Some scenes are so hammy, it’s like being locked in a branch of Gabbot’s Farm for the evening. Enough to drive one to drink.
Which brings us to Rachel: As written, she comes across like an exasperating version of Nancy Drew, moping about in a parka, hassling witnesses, and drinking alone in her flat (she’s actually been given an eviction notice though, conveniently, this is only mentioned once). The drunken scenes are unconvincing because director Loveday Ingram has asked actress Giovanna Fletcher to play them all sober. No slurring words or staggering about here; Rachel may as well be swigging Irn Bru. Fletcher has drawn the shortest straw of the acting team, and has to deliver huge dollops of exposition at regular intervals, a device which serves to further undermine the character’s credibility.
Technically, the show is very strong thanks to the contributions of designer Adam Wiltshire, the lighting rig of Jack Knowles, and the excellent video projections of Dan Light. I loved the visual motif of a large rotating cube, which Rachel finds herself trapped within, like a hamster on a very modern wheel – a motif of helplessness which could have been successfully repeated throughout. Similarly, the back projected image of Megan Hipwell (Natalie Dunne), seen from the train, creates a sense of distant aspiration, one which Rachel knows she can never possess.
The opening scenes are hopelessly muddled (again, blame the writers). In fact, those unfamiliar with the film or book might find this show difficult to follow. Thankfully, things pick up in the home stretch when the killer’s identity is revealed; a great twist, it has to be said. If only the rest of the show had been this involving.
Like a day trip to Blackpool with Northern Rail, some train journeys are best forgotten.
The Girl on the Train is at Lowry, Salford from 11-15 February 2025. Age recommendation 14+
Carmel Thomason
I saw it at Shrewsbury. It was dreadful.