The Girl on the Train @ King's Theatre, Edinburgh

Paula Hawkins’ best-selling 2015 novel The Girl on the Train offers an unflinching portrayal of social isolation centred around the daily commute. As the protagonist Rachel Watson becomes increasingly disconnected from her own life, the train is always there, offering the perfect window into other people’s lives. So, it feels like an oversight that Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel’s stage adaptation omits much of this. Instead of using the daily commute to document Rachel’s decline, the train is reduced to a prop that hides scene changes. The Girl on the Train becomes The Girl, and Wagstaff and Abel lose much of what makes Hawkins’s psychological thriller so gripping and unique.

Samantha Womack plays Rachel, a lonely alcoholic who fulfils the familiar trope of the unreliable narrator and witness. She becomes embroiled in the search for a missing woman, Megan (Kirsty Oswald), who she has watched and idealised from the train window. Lengthy scenes of dry dialogue, in which Rachel struggles to remember her whereabouts, hinder the progression of the first half. Flashbacks provide a welcome change, but for most of the play we are stuck in the present with DI Gaskill (John Dougall) and his painfully bad jokes. Thrillers don't need to be funny, and Gaskill's character only serves to break what little tension exists.

Hawkins’ story has all the hallmarks of a good thriller, but director Anthony Banks struggles to build or maintain its momentum. The play picks up in the second half, as tension builds with the portrayal of domestic abuse. By drawing parallels between Rachel and Megan, Banks reveals the many forms that such abuse can take. A simple but breathtakingly cruel line – “I could crush you like an insect” – shows the potential of the dialogue. The play is strongest in these moments of fear. Megan’s monologue is another high point, which makes this reviewer wish that we had seen more of Oswald.

Despite a promising second half, the ending of the play is anticlimactic. Thrillers rely on that final moment when everything falls into place, but Rachel solves the mystery off-stage. The conclusion feels rushed, and Hawkins’ brilliant ending deserves more explanation. Like the film adaptation, The Girl on the Train is an enjoyable watch, but one that fails to do justice to its source material.

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The Girl on the Train @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, until 30 Mar
https://www.capitaltheatres.com/whats-on/girlontrain