Strangers On A Train - The Lowry - 30/05/06 by Jeni Pemberton

Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, was published in 1950 and was an immediate success. Alfred Hitchcock made a film based on the novel which was released the following year. 

This plot of this thriller, set in fifties America is about a chance meeting on a train journey between the wealthy and manipulative Charles Bruno and young architect Guy Haines. They have an alcohol fuelled conversation about the problems in their lives which lead Charles to propose that he kill Guy’s ex-wife and that in return Guy kill Charles’ hated father. He surmises that these will be perfect crimes as there will be no connection between the murderers and the victims.

The cast included a number of TV soap stars. Alex Ferns (Eastenders) played Bruno very successfully although it might have been nice to see him move away from his usual TV role as a villain. Will Thorp (Casualty and Strictly Come Dancing) made a believable Haynes who on occasion I felt gained some sympathy from the audience for his predicament.

Colin Baker, best known for his role as Dr Who, resisted the temptation to turn the rumpled detective Arthur Gerard into Columbo (but only just) and brought a welcome new dimension to the latter stages of the play.

The staging made clever use of lighting to move the action from place to place on the set in a ‘split screen’ approach. It was however generally rather drab and as the play is primarily dialogue based there were occasions when an increased use of colour would have been helpful.

The main point of Strangers on a Train is that there should be an atmosphere of chilling suspense and in this production it’s missing. It was good but not exciting and at times was rather laboured.