Review of Girl on the Train at the Apollo Theatre on the Isle of Wight

From fast paced thriller of a book by Paula Hawkins, to a movie starring Emily Blunt - this was a tale known to many but given new life on stage.

The story follows a woman who takes the train each day, past her old house, and becomes fascinated with what she perceives to be happening a couple of doors away. Gazing upon this scene becomes something of an obsession.

The problem is, the protagonist and principal storyteller is Rachel, an unreliable narrator with terrible recall, due to being almost always sozzled, and traumatised by recent events in her life.

Hebe Gregory as Rachel (Image: Apollo Theatre)

She was played by the wonderfully endearing Hebe Gregory, who put on a storming performance complete with brilliant facial expressions.

She was on stage virtually all evening, with a huge script to contend with, and made it seem easy. Bravo! A faultless performance.

This show relied heavily on the quality of the cast, and here the Apollo came up trumps. 

Marie Hickman drifted on and off stage as the missing Megan and grabbed the attention of the curious audience - who is she and what's her story?

Phillip Griffiths and Holly Squires in The Girl on the Train (Image: Apollo Theatre)

Fiona Gwinnett had the best lines as D.I. Gaskill, and her delivery secured the most laughs. 

Jake Harrison expressed a wide range of emotions until we became quite concerned about what his character could be capable of.

Likewise Phillip Griffiths, who transformed considerably as the plot developed.

Everything was building up to a crescendo, with solid performances from Holly Squires and Garry Smith completing the cast. What was going on? Where was this story going?

The direction by Helen Reading worked well, with some scenes purposely adding to the confusion - particularly the scene when everyone deliberately talked over the top of everyone else, over and over again. 

At one point there was a sudden scream. At other points, some flashbacks.

Another clever device was the huge screen intermittently showed trains whizzing by.

All this combined to keep the play right on track, and anyone with a ticket is in for a treat.

Catch the show every night until Saturday.