The drama starts as soon as the curtain rises, with a young woman fainting at the train station.

On a train bound for England, Iris Carr (Joss Chalmers) meets the kindly governess Miss Froy (Penny Day). They swap stories and exchange pleasantries, but when Iris awakens from a nap, she finds Miss Froy has vanished. What’s more, everyone onboard insists she was never there to begin with. Has Iris gone mad, or has something terrible happened to Miss Froy?

Adapted by UK writer Derek Webb from Ethel Lina White’s novel The Wheel Spins, this comic-thriller draws more from the book than Alfred Hitchcock’s better-known 1938 film. In Webb’s hands, the story retains its period wit and builds on the colourful cast of characters.

Up against a mystery she doesn’t understand, our unlikely heroine Iris is blunt and entitled. She pouts and flutters her lashes, expecting men to rescue her, and flippantly describes Miss Froy as colourless, faded and “too insignificant to murder”.

The conspiracy thickens as the eccentric supporting ensemble prove unwilling to assist. Each traveller seems wrapped up in their own curious agenda – from the boisterous Mrs Barnes (Brooke Ryan with her outrageous loud laugh) and her Reverend husband (Ben Pobjie), to the glamorous Todhunter lovers (Liminka Panther and Billy Allagiannis). Webb adds a new twist with the inclusion of the dithering Flood-Porter sisters, Evelyn and Rose (Lynn Roise and Sandra Bass), whose eccentricity offers comic relief. Meanwhile, fellow Brits Max (Jono Lukins) and the Professor (Ron Ringer) are initially sympathetic allies, though even their trust begins to waver as Iris’s desperation builds.

It seems certain that the mysterious Doctor (Gabriel Jab’bar) or widowed Baroness (Susan Carveth) must have something to do with Miss Froy’s disappearance. Even the bumbling waiter (Anastasia Vokhmyakov) appears too conspicuously incompetent to be what she seems.

Director Emily Saint Smith keeps the pacing brisk and the staging clever. Oversized sliding panels reveal dining cars and sleeper cabins, while the ever-present chugging of a train in motion anchors the action in suspense.

The Lady Vanishes is a gleeful blend of intrigue and nonsense, a theatrical whodunnit that relishes its own melodrama. With vintage expressions (“sweet Fanny Adams” makes an appearance) and dashes of slapstick, it’s a night of old-school fun that embraces the absurd and rolls full steam ahead into mystery.

3.5 stars.

The show runs for approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, including 20-minute interval. The Lady Vanishes is playing at Genesian Theatre Company, until the 26^th July 2025.

For tickets visit Genesian Theatre