Adapted from Paula Hawkins’ novel, Girl on the Train has been touring the UK. I was lucky enough to see it for my birthday on opening night when it came to Norwich Theatre Royal. This performance was my first experience with a thriller at the theatre. While I am familiar with thrillers on film and television, I wasn’t sure how this would translate to stage, especially considering my unfamiliarity with this particular story.  

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this performance. I think the production was extremely successful in creating a chilling atmosphere through the eerie music that pervaded the play and the dark lighting that dominated most of the stage, with the exception of one harsh light that always seemed to be on Rachel, played by Giovanna Fletcher, creating a stifling intensity. Also, a claustrophobic feel was created through the ‘slow motion’ transitions, replicating the experience in London train stations, where time almost seemed like it sped up as Rachel was pushed around in her drunken state on the train. Through this, the performance was able to capture this sense of movement that is essential to a train journey.  

Fletcher, a famous author, podcaster and Queen of the Jungle in 2020, fantastically brought the unreliable Rachel to life, through her on-point mannerisms and altering of speech to make it seem slightly slurred. The stage leant well to this oppressive intensity that Rachel seems to feel internally as she suffers from memory loss and struggles to piece together the truth to understand who committed the murder. This culminates in the powerful ending of the play, where a loud train horn pierces the air, and the lights of the stage emulate that of an oncoming train to end the dramatic discovery of the murderer’s identity. All-in-all this was a great introduction for me into stage thrillers and I will certainly be going to see more in the future.  

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons