New Victoria Theatre, Woking – until 2 November 2019
Reviewed by Becky Doyle
3***
I had been so looking forward to watching this play, an adaptation of a film that I thoroughly enjoyed and one that had me on the edge of my seat. This show was unfortunately the complete opposite of what I was expecting. I wasn’t captivated by the story nor was I blown away by the suspense or action.
Maybe if I had not seen the film then this review would be different. One positive I can present was that of the acting of Samantha Womack who played the drink loving Rachel Watson, she played the candidate well and with a believable presence, remaining in character throughout as a drunk scorned ex wife.
It is appreciated that the stage was used well for the multiple locations and that of being on the train I thought was particularly clever moving swiftly between each scene and each location with the whole space being utilised and it appeared that it didn’t matter in which part of the audience you sat you would be able to see the full stage.
After being convinced to return for the second half, the story moved quickly and I felt that again, if I hadn’t seen the film or read the book I wouldn’t understand how we got to the conclusion that we had. How did Rachel suddenly realise that Tom had been with Megan? Other than Scott advising that Megan had stopped working as the babysitter? Finally, the final scene that saw the demise of Tom was much less dramatic than again I was hoping for. We had witnessed the empowerment of Rachel and to an extent Anna yet it was completed very quickly and without much focus.
Overall, would I recommend this show? Not to anyone who has read the book or watched the film. Though I can imagine that if this hadn’t been the case it would have been a little more thrilling and enjoyable, but even that I’m not sure of.