Lyceum, Sheffield – until 8th March 2025
Reviewed by Alison Beaumont
4****
The Girl On The Train is based on the book by Paula Hawkins and the film adaptation by the same name. It follows Rachel Watson who is a recently divorced alcoholic woman, who whilst doing her daily train commute sees a couple from the train window who she watches and becomes obsessed with, naming them Jess and Jason. Rachel subsequently learns that the woman she has named Jess is really called Megan Hipwell and has gone missing. Rachel begins to question her hazy memory of her being in the vicinity of where Megan was found and becomes a suspect in the case.
Having read the book many years ago I was unsure how this could be portrayed on stage, but the production of the play was amazing. The set was very simple and the transition from one scene to another was smooth, and you easily knew when they were going from present to past. Smoke effects and lighting helped to create the mysteriousness of the play. The best part for me was the visual effect of the large rotating cube which Rachel finds herself trapped in. The slow-motion scenes were excellent and brilliantly put together. The success of this play is hugely down to the creation of the scenes and visual effects.
Rachel is played by Giovanna Fletcher who some of you will know was the Queen of the Castle winner of I’m a Celebrity in 2020. She portrayed the character well and you definitely could tell the role she was playing.
DI Gaskill was played by Paul McEwan, although I didn’t feel like the characterisation was quite strong enough and came across to me too familiar with the characters rather than showing police professionalism.
Tom Watson was played by Jason Merrells, Anna Watson by Zena Carswell, Scott Hipwell by Samuel Collings, Megan Hipwell by Natalie Dunne and Kamal Abdic by Daniel Burke all of whom gave good performances.
Even though the play is a thriller and showing a deep story there were still times when there were bits of comedy which gave the audience some laughter and light relief.
The play kept you intrigued and interested and in suspense right to the very end.