Review: TRAINSPOTTING LIVE, Riverside Studios
Photo credit: Geraint Lewis
As the usher handed us glowsticks she said: “do you know what to expect?” We thought we did, we had been warned about the nudity, language and the “worst toilet in Scotland”, but what followed was a way more intense, funny and harrowing experience than we’d ever imagined.
Trainspotting, the tale of Mark Renton (Andrew Barrett) and his mates, has been adapted by Harry Gibson from Irvine Welsh’s famous novel. Also a globally successful film, responsible for Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller’s rise to fame, a lot of you will be familiar with this dark comedy depicting the Edinburgh heroin scene in the 80s and 90s.
We enter the studio in the midst of a rave. Under psychedelic lighting, Renton et al punch the air in a trance-like state to the sounds of thumping music. The cast throw us into the tiered seating at the sides of the floor level stage, so despite a tip off to avoid sitting by the aforementioned toilet, which is placed in the audience, we find ourselves behind it!
Buckle up! This is not for the timid. The audience has a part to play. We are told not to touch the actors, but that does not stop them invading our space. The characters sit amongst us, stroke our hair, chat up close and throw things at us.
This holds nothing back in portraying the lives of heroin addicts. We see them shooting up, having sex and wiping themselves down after some drug induced bed soiling.
Scenes are narrated as they are played out before us. We laugh a lot; the script and situations the gang find themselves in are funny. As Renton frantically fishes for suppositories in the toilet bowl, we are sprayed with its contents. But in a heartbeat, we are choked up as we see the death of a neglected baby, one of the realities of the lows.
The cast are excellent. The dialogue is quick and the performances high-octane. We feel their desperation to score and exhilaration when they are high. Sublet’s portrayal of Begbie is menacing and violent with an arrogant air as he beats his chest and kicks his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach. He also plays the heroin supplier, Mother Superior, with a laid back persona and charm.
Barrett is brave as he appears from the soiled bed fully nude executing superb comic timing. Sickboy’s (Michael Lockerbie) despair is palpable, crying as he holds his dead daughter in his arms.
Delivering the dialogue with impressive pace, Greg Esplin’s Tommy is hilarious when he attends a job interview on speed. Tommy doesn’t touch heroin at first and is seemingly the most together of the gang, but a break up leads him to try it. Esplin’s portrayal of Tommy’s descent into a poverty stricken and dying addict is heart-breaking as he lies on a mattress in the foetal position.
Olivia Caw, the understudy for June and Allison and part of the ensemble, is exceptional. She gurns and falls amongst us when she’s under the influence and with ease switches to Renton’s concerned mother who locks him away to kick the habit. As Begbie’s pregnant girlfriend, she cowers on the sofa in the wake of his violent episode. Her energy is like nothing we’ve seen before.
Trainspotting Live thrusts us into the world of addiction for 75-minutes of the most visceral theatre we’ve seen. A must see!
***** 5 stars
Reviewed by: Victoria Willetts
Trainspotting Live plays at Riverside Studios until 6 November before visiting Southampton’s MAST Mayflower Studios from 9-12 November. Tickets are available here.