The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train a play performed by Chorley Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society at Chorley Theatre, Dole Street, Chorley on Friday 9th June, 2023

The Girl on the train, is a 2019 psychological thriller adapted for stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel from a novel of the same name penned by Paula Hawkins in 2015.  The narrative looks at the lives of three women all of whom have been abused by the men in the form of what’s called ‘gaslighting’ (manipulation of a person to gain power and control by planting seeds of uncertainty creating self-doubt). The story looks and deals with many topics including dependency, addiction and abuse and also centres on motherhood and the different ways women attempt to embody society’s idea of what a good mother should look and behave like!  Through the journeys of these three women, we see that there is no such thing as a perfect mother and the search for that perfection can and does push women toward dangerous behaviours!

Production Team… wow, there certainly was plenty going on in this play and a lot to get your head round … the person tasked with guiding/leading us through this minefield was Mark Jones (Director) and what a fabulous job he made if it!  Let’s just start with the number of scenes to contend with … I’m thinking there must have been fourteen/sixteen… to accommodate all those without losing the thread or slowing down the action must have been a task in itself… but it was achieved by some slick scene changes, some innovative lighting (the moving ‘train’ that circumnavigated the auditorium was ingenious) and the use of some appropriate music throughout, covered up those pesky ‘blackouts’ superbly… well done Mark, great understanding of this piece and thanks to everyone involved with those changes…   

The Cast … Mark had gathered together a talented and enthusiastic cast who were well rehearsed and who looked ready to perform as soon as those lights came up!  As most will know, I’m not one for sitting on the fence, but please remember, these are MY choices… ask anyone else present and they may well select others, but these are MY favourite characters and MY showstealer… MY ‘showstealer’, was our lead, Amber Tabiner who took on the role of ‘Rachel Watson the protagonist in this story… the actual ‘girl on the train’ who spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day… that is, until one morning, she witnesses something shocking and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds. Amber is very rarely off stage, she provided us with a wonderful characterisation of this devasted divorcee, whose life is now governed by addiction and self-doubt!  Amber made this part her own and made it look far easier than it undoubtedly was... confident, assured, wonderful stage presence with great mannerisms, be ever so proud Amber, amazing job!  Following closely behind was Jacob Lee Prince who provided us with the ‘larger than life’ portrayal of Detective Inspector Gaskill. Whenever or whoever Jacob ever portrays on stage, his ability to characterise those roles is amazing as was the case that evening. Wonderful stage presence, awesome mannerisms and facial expressions and a great accent a perfect fit for this role… congrats Jacob, great job.  Robert Walsh provides us with another great character in the form of ‘Scott Hipwell’ the husband of the missing/deceased ‘Megan Hipwell’ played ever so well by Jade Hiatt.  Rachel refers to ‘Scott’ as ‘Jason‘ - another who becomes a suspect in the killing of Megan.  He and Rachel become friends and have a brief sexual relationship when Rachel tells ‘Scott/Jason’ that Megan was having an affair!  ‘Megan’ is known by Rachel as ‘Jess’. Megan/Jess feels conflicted in her marriage to Scott and she seeks advice from a therapist who she has an affair with… Rachel sees them kissing!  I think I’m right in suggesting that ‘all the scenes’ that Megan/Jess was involved in, which were enacted wonderfully well, were merely thoughts, memories or recollections from people, played out under a ‘red illuminated stage’ which proved very effective, creating a great atmosphere!  Well done you two… nailed it!  The second couple involved are ‘Tom and Anna Watson’ played by Josh Chadwick and Natalie Aspinall respectively.   Tom is the ex-husband of Rachel, the manipulative liar who starts cheating on Rachel when their infertility problems cause Rachel to become depressed.  Anna is Tom’s new wife and they have a baby girl!  Anna hates Rachel and was the ‘other woman’… ‘the affair’ when Tom and Rachel were married, something that Anna likes, but what she doesn’t like is when Tom speaks, meets or talks to or about Rachel!  Again, both create wonderful characters and were perfect fits for these roles. Both have real stage presence and there was a good chemistry between them both… well done you two!  Alan Levesley took on the role of the Megan’s therapist ‘Karl Andrews’ who she has the affair with and who Rachel sees kissing Megan.  He is another suspected of killing Megan due to the romantic link!  Another great character created. The scenes with Rachel are really effective and convincing!  Alan created another great character… confident, articulate… well done, Alan… great job sir!  The final member of the cast was Luke Brown taking on a non-speaking role as a ‘Police Officer’ who worked alongside D.I Gaskill… well done young man!
 

Staging/Set/Tech… the staging was simple yet effective… the ‘stage extension’ situated stage left was used throughout as Rachel’s flat… the main stage and the extension stage right used for everything else.  This provided an ideal platform for the actors to do their thing!  As stated previously, this was a production ‘littered’ with many scene changes which were dealt innovatively and with great skill.  Loved the ‘red lighting effects’ used in the scenes involving ‘Megan’, the ‘train’ circumnavigating the auditorium and the music that was so beneficial to audience enjoyment during the blackouts!  Ellie Brown (Stage Manager), Luke Brown and Julie Norris (Stage Crew) should be congratulated on all their efforts backstage, as should Mark Jones (Set Design) and Paul Carr, Maureen Orrell-Strand, Shaun McManus and Leigh Mower (Set Build).  

Lighting/Sound and effects… were created by Paul Carr.

Costumes… were appropriate, were under the watchful eye of Sandra Dickinson and the cast.

Congrats to everyone involved!  I can only think, having now seen the production, that this must have been a real challenge for both the cast, production team and stage management team, there was a great deal going on… but that challenge was accepted and dealt with amazingly well. The production was thoroughly entertaining and intriguing from start to finish!  As I’ve said on many occasions … during the interval and as I’m leaving the theatre, I always try keep my ears open as to comments and discussion from the audience members, it’s a great source of information about what they thought… first impressions and all that!  At the interval there was a lot of conversation about ‘who dunnit’, but, by the end, it was more about enjoyment and “I never thought it was him” … congrats to all involved great production, great result!

Thank you so much for inviting my wife and I, we thoroughly enjoyed the evening… I’d never read the book nor seen the play, so I was really chuffed when I predicted Megan’s killer about half way through Act Two… only to have it confirmed at the end… so perhaps, those thirty-four years in the police force, really did teach me something!   Thanks again, hope to see you all soon!

Stay safe and keep well…
‘Stronger Together’…

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

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