AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review
Based on Paula Hawkins’ successful novel, The Girl on the Train is currently embarking on its second UK tour, directed by Loveday Ingram.
The Girl on the Train follows Rachel, a woman who is battling alcoholism, after going through a divorce with her ex husband Tom, as well as losing her job in London. To get through the struggles of unemployment, she catches the train everyday, ending up watching a couple go through what she wishes she had, until one of them goes missing. She tries to help detectives solve the case, but in the process, becomes a suspect herself.
As a show, it attempts to become a whodunnit story like the ones we all know and love, but unfortunately some aspects to me, resulted in leaving an underwhelming production in comparison to shows that are long running.
One of the main issues I found was that there was a distinct lack of character development, especially with Rachel, played by Giovanna Fletcher. Whilst Fletcher was a highlight at the end of the show, sadly there was a lack of varying emotion throughout, which left the character of Rachel feeling rather flat, and not as varied as the character of Rachel could have been.
The book written and adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, lacked depth, which also resulted in Ingram's directorial choices not having much depth also. But despite this, the cast come together well as an ensemble, who all show flashbacks and memories of what happened at different parts of the case, and added to the lack of depth that there was already to various scenes, and brought out more than what we got out of Rachel.
Another aspect to me that felt had a slight hinderance to the production was reliance of screens at the back of the stage. While minimal props was used, the screens were used as an aid to show differences in venues in the story. Dan Light's visual design was used effectively, though on the odd occasion could've been a little better, Light's visuals integrated action in various ways such as the character of Rachel, or other characters that showed great depiction on the relationships, or what she saw whilst she was on the train.
The Girl on the Train is a tense but uneven thriller, leaving the audience hanging and wanting more of an edge on this whodunnit case, and a more overwhelming ending. Whilst there were positive elements going towards it, the shows directorial choices, alongside other aspects, meant that there were gaps in the show that if filled, could’ve made it a good overall production,
★★★
The Girl on the Train plays at the The Lowry theatre in Salford until Saturday 15th of February.
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