Helen Maybanks
Former EastEnder Samantha Womack is swapping Walford for Richmond as she embarks on her first dramatic tour...
After playing Ronnie Mitchell for eight years in BBC soap EastEnders, Samantha Womack is no stranger to traumatic plotlines. From baby swapping to drug abuse, Samantha has covered them all. And there is not much light relief in her new role as Rachel in the stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ best-selling thriller The Girl on the Train, which rolls into Richmond in February.
“Oh this is quite dark,” says the 46-year-old Londoner. “The characters are all broken, especially Rachel. I think that is what drew me to her.”
The plot revolves around Rachel – a newly-single woman struggling to come to terms with the fact that her husband now has a new family. In her despair, Rachel becomes transfixed with a woman she sees through the train window on her commute to work. The woman seems to be enjoying the life Rachel so craves, yet things take a deadly turn when the woman seemingly disappears.
“I loved the book and read it before I took the part. It felt very real and I immediately identified with her as I used to do a commute like that and always looked at the houses, and be like, “Ooh they’re having a loft conversion, I like that patio,” she laughs. “I also love that at times Rachel is so badly behaved with a real devil-may-care attitude. She has nothing to lose.”
Samantha has been a regular presence on our screens since the 1990s when she starred in BBC sitcom Game On and police drama Liverpool One, where she met her husband and fellow actor Mark Womack. But since quitting EastEnders for good back in 2017 she has toured the country in shows such as Guys & Dolls and the Addams Family.
“I love doing musicals,” she admits. “There is such a great atmosphere on and off stage as there are always so many people about who are great company. There are only seven of us in Girl on a Train so it’s much more intimate and while it will be emotionally draining, it’s only two-and-a-half hours per night so I am hoping I will be able to leave her behind at the end of the evening.”
Samantha has been vocal about her views on how she was written out of the popular soap, going as far as to say she “hated” her exit, which saw her drown on her own wedding day. Fans threatened to boycott the show, but after a successful return to the stage, Samantha is pleased with her way in which her career is going.
“Being on stage is much more rock ‘n’ roll,” she says. “I love it, love it, love it. It’s so immediate and I am a bit of a control freak so I like the fact that I am in the driving seat, there is no editing. What you see is what you get and it’s all in the performance.”
The Girl on the Train is at Richmond Theatre from Feb 11-16. Visit: atgtickets.com
