Theatr Clwyd: Laura Whitmore leads touring production of The Girl on the Train
Presenter Laura Whitmore will take on the role of Rachel Watson in the touring production of The Girl on the Train when it arrives at Theatr Clwyd in Mold from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 July.
Laura began her career aged 22 after winning MTV’s Pick Me MTV campaign. Between 2008 and 2015 she hosted news bulletins across Europe and fronted MTV special events, before going on to present shows such as This Morning, Survival of the Fittest and Love Island.
In 2020 she became a team captain on Celebrity Juice, and last year launched her own ITV1 chat show and a documentary series on ITVX. She also co-hosts the BBC Radio podcast Murder They Wrote with her husband Iain Stirling and released a self-help book in 2021.
“I remember years ago my mum saying ‘Have you heard about this new Girl on the Train book by Paula Hawkins?’ Everyone was talking about it, so I devoured it,” Laura said.
“I set my alarm early every morning so I could read a chapter before I got out of bed, and I remember being on a train, reading the book and thinking ‘Oh, I’m a girl on a train reading The Girl on the Train!’”
Paula Hawkins’s novel was first published in 2015 and quickly sold millions of copies worldwide. The story follows Rachel, who commutes daily and becomes obsessed with a couple she watches from the window of her train.
When the woman in that couple goes missing, Rachel finds herself drawn into an investigation that blurs memory and reality.
Laura said the stage version stays closer to the book than the 2016 film.
“It’s visually very clever, as is the staging, and you go on a journey with characters that you really care about,” she said. “You really feel immersed in the story.”
Audiences first meet Rachel in a fragile state. “She isn’t in a very good place. You see someone who appears vulnerable, but what we learn as the show goes on is that there’s a lot more strength and hope in her. One of the big things about the show has to do with her memory – what she remembers and how she tries to fit all those pieces together.”
Laura has faced her own challenges on stage and screen.
In 2016 she competed on Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Giovanni Pernice.
“I was extremely uncomfortable with him. In the end, I felt broken. I cried every day,” she said. “That experience taught me a lot about digging deep into a role.”
She balances acting with presenting. “I always said I wanted to get back into acting and balance the two. Now I get to indulge both of my passions,” she said. “Live theatre is my favourite – it’s all in the moment, a real rollercoaster, a whodunit where everyone wants to play detective at the interval.”
Tickets for The Girl on the Train at Theatr Clwyd are available from the box office on 01352 344101 or at theatrclwyd.com.
Performances run at 7.30 pm daily with a 2.30 pm matinee on Saturday 19 July.
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