Psychological thriller dives into blurred realities with a disturbing twist ending

Firehouse Theater Company kicks off its 2024-2025 season with the psychological thriller The Girl on the Train, based on Paula Hawkins’s novel of the same name. First published in 2015, it quickly became a hit film in 2016, and this theatrical version, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, was initially produced in 2018. The rapid ascent from page to film to stage highlights this sinister story’s appeal to audiences worldwide.

Firehouse artistic director Julie K Wolf has directed this pulsating trip that focuses on Rachel Watson (Cheryl Sarkaria) and a post-divorce life that’s filled with obsession, psychotherapy and alcoholism, among other things.

Having been dismissed from her job, Rachel continues to take the commuter rail into London daily and has become fixated on a couple she sees from the train. She is convinced this couple, Megan and Scott Hipwell (Gabby Mann and Stevie Wise) live the perfect lives. However, an ominous mystery ensues when Megan goes missing, derailing Rachel’s daily sightings of her from the train.

Still entangled in the lives of her ex-husband, Tom Watson (Gabe Combs), and his new wife, Anna (Amalia Adiv), they are drawn into Rachael’s preoccupation with the disappearance of Megan. As part of her drive to find Megan, she also consults Dr. Kamal Abdic (Abid Hassan), Megan’s therapist, for possible answers. All of this is keenly observed by Detective Gaskill (Bevin Antea), who is narrowing down her list of suspects in Megan’s disappearance.

(L-R) Cheryl Sarkaria, Stevie Wise, Amalia Adiv and Gabe Combs | Photo: Soular Radiant Photography

Blurred reality

Giving a multi-layered performance as Rachel, Sarkaria, a veteran of television and film in both New York and Los Angeles, convincingly manifests Rachel’s unexplained need to find Megan through a fog of alcoholism and memory impairment. Her performance convincingly captures the blurred lines between reality and illusion.

Both Antea, as Detective Gaskill, and Hassan, as Dr. Abdic, stand out in the ensemble-driven production. Gaskill successfully captures the proverbial “matter of fact” persona, and Hassan is professional and alluring, adding spice to his relationship with Rachel.

Director Wolf’s choice to play The Girl on the Train close to the vest adds a dark quality that heightens the audience’s involvement with an underlying desperation that propels the plot, culminating in an electrifying conclusion. Wolf might want to consider adjusting the blocking of several scenes because they are played downstage on the stage floor, making it difficult to see from where I was sitting in the fourth row. Overall, it is a solid presentation of this page-turning novel brought to the stage.

Scott (Stevie Wise) confronts Rachel (Cherly Sarkaria) in ‘The Girl on the Train’ | Photo: Soular Radiant Photography