Louisa Lytton is a passenger on "The Girl on the Train" at the Birmingham Alex

Her latest role is Rachel in “The Girl on the Train” which is on a whistle stop tour of the UK, pulling into The Birmingham Alexandra Theatre next week.

Louisa is excited, but also a little apprehensive about coming to Birmingham.

“Have they sorted the bins out yet?  It’s all everyone’s talking about,” she laughed! Nice to see our second city has such a great reputation at the moment!

This was the ice-breaker to what turned out to be a really informative and enjoyable interview.  You instantly warm to Louise Lytton.  Maybe it’s her Cockney charm, or perhaps just the fact that she has a very understated, humble approach to her work, beneath which lies a steely desire to succeed, and talking to her, makes you realise just how much work she has under her belt.  There is nothing this actress cannot tackle. 

Despite not coming from a theatrical family background, Louisa trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London from the age of ten and there was never any doubt that she would be successful. 

“I came out of theatre school pretty much into a full time job, which was crazy, and I have sort of gone on ever since really,” she told me. Eastenders must have been quite a challenge, but she grabbed it with both hands.

I wondered if Louisa prefers TV or theatre.  “I think I prefer theatre a little bit more to be honest. With theatre you get an immediate reaction, a live audience and you get the chance to do something different every night, whereas with TV whatever is taken is your performance that airs out,” she said.

The thriller “The Girl on the Train” is an exhausting, but highly rewarding role.

“It is based on the book and is about a young woman who has had quite a turbulent few years.  She has turned to alcohol, she can’t have children and she becomes obsessed with a couple that she watches from her train on her daily commute to work.  When the female of the couple goes missing, Rachel is involved in solving the case,” Louisa told me. 

“The whole play follows her story.  I never leave the stage and I go from scene to scene with different characters and you see her journey from being quite a mess at the beginning to pulling herself together toward the end,” she continued.

Rachel is a troubled character, and so I wondered how hard it is to portray someone with so many issues.

  “It is exhausting in a way because you have to tap into certain things and take yourself to a place where you can play her, but it is great for an actress to play because it is such a huge role, such a huge journey and a great character to portray,” Louisa said.

“It’s not fun, it is quite depressing in a way.  I have not lived through anything that Rachel experiences thank goodness, so I don’t really bring any of myself to the role, but emotionally you have to go there.  Anger is anger, and heartbreak is heartbreak after all, and it definitely plays on your anxiety,” Louisa told me.

That is the skill of a good dramatic actress; being able to share those emotions with an audience and then go back to your own life.  

“I do tend to play a lot of dramatic victim roles in a way, so I am used to that, but I think my next job needs to be a comedy; something a bit light-hearted,” laughed Louisa!

She read Paula Hawkins’ novel some years ago, but decided not to re-read it as her involvement with the role approached.

 “I felt like I just wanted to put my own stamp on it and the theatrical script is actually quite different to the novel and sometimes you can confuse yourself,” said Louisa. 

Taking the leading role in a play where you never leave the stage is not only potentially exposing, but also there are a huge amount of lines to learn, which is something Louisa has had to undergo on her own.

“Normally I learn my lines as I go with other cast members, but in this instance, I rehearsed on my own.  The cast were already on tour and I ended up rehearsing with an associate director and on my own and so by the time we came to the live show, I had only run the show with the cast once,” she told me.  

“It was very stressful and daunting, but in a way I now feel like, throw it at me!  What’s next?” she said. “It’s been quite an achievement. I have had a lot of theatre experience over the years and so I can bounce off people.”

“My co-stars are lovely and very supportive.  I have a nice team of people around me, which is great, because the first couple of performances I was relying on everyone else to help me out.”

Obviously the play is on a UK tour, but I wondered how audiences around the country varied in their response.

Louisa said, “I think southern audiences are more reserved and northern audiences are more vocal, and it really depends on the venue too.  If audiences are closer to you, you can really feel a difference. I prefer it if they are closer because when audience members are further away, you don’t know if things land as much.”

 Previous “Rachels” have included Samatha Womack and Giovanna Fletcher and now Louisa of course, three very different,  but equally talented actresses.  “People go back and see the play because they want to see someone else in it,” said Louisa.  “It helps to keep it fresh and a different take on it.”

The future certainly looks rosy for Louisa.  “I would love to do a period drama, something in the West End maybe and because a lot of the work I have done has been modern, it would be nice to do something period and a bit different” she said.  

“After this play I am going to go on a nice holiday with my family because I feel as if I don’t see enough of them, and then see what comes up next,” she laughed.

Catch Louisa Lytton in “The Girl on the Train” from April 29-May 2.  For tickets visit agttickets.com or call 0333 009 6690.