By Tyler Ody
THE BARN THEATRE PREPARES TO BRING THE THRILLS FOR THE HALLOWEEN SEASON
Rehearsals are nearly complete for the award-winning Cirencester-based Barn Theatre’s next production, a new staging of Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel’s adaptation of the gripping mystery, suspense thriller The Girl on the Train. The new Built by Barn production will run from 26 September to 29 October.
Based on the bestselling novel by Paula Hawkins and the blockbuster DreamWorks film which starred Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train follows Rachel Watson as she finds herself a witness and suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could have ever anticipated.
Kirstie Davis returns to direct the new staging, having previously directed the theatre’s critically acclaimed production of the musical Daddy Long Legs in 2019.
Davis said of the adaptation, “I think they’ve done a really clever job at placing evidence and hopefully like how you watch CSI… you’re trying to work it out as well. There are red herrings along the way… and I think you only figure it out at the same time as Rachel does.”
On why audiences shouldn’t miss the production Davis said, “It’s like watching any good thriller! You have that wonderful time of a really good story that gets you gripped for a couple of hours, that you engage with all the characters in different ways – whether you like them or don’t. You get lots of lovely reveals, lovely shock moments… and you come out having the biggest shock… It’s a really good meaty bit of drama to get your teeth into and to enjoy all the surprises that come with that.”
The full cast of The Girl on the Train are Claudius Peters (HALO) as Scott Hipwell, Kareem Nasif as Kamal Abdic, Nick Read as D.I. Gaskill, Brinsley Terence (Cyrano de Bergerac) as Tom Watson, Emily Tucker (Blithe Spirit) as Anna Watson, Sophie Walter (Grantchester) as Megan Hipwell and Gemma Yates-Round as Rachel Watson.
Joining Kirstie Davis on the creative team are Charlotte Henery (MAGDALENE) as Set & Costume Designer, Sam Rowcliffe-Tanner (Stones in His Pockets) as Lighting Designer, Harry Smith (The Mozart Question) as Sound Designer and Kaitlin Howard (The Famous Five) as Fight Director.
Tickets for the production are now on sale at www.barntheatre.org.uk