It’s back, ‘Trainspotting Live’ has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in three years. The immersive stage play takes audiences on a journey of drugs, sex, alcohol and the worst toilet in Scotland, following the disastrous lives of Renton, Tommy, Sick Boy, Begbie, June, Mother Superior and Alison. ‘Trainspotting Live’ is running at the specially built Cromdale Tunnel in the Pleasance EICC at 18:00 and 21:00 until 28th August (except 10th and 17th).
Andrew Barrett is incredible as Renton. The energy, the aggression, the unfiltered humour and the physical drive is staggering in this blistering portrayal. There’s so much to commend this actor for, one is for the actual emotional and physical sustainability he manages to smash through, it’s unfathomable. Second of all is the openness of engaging the audience in this piece, he doesn’t shy away from dragging the audience into the dark and disgusting antics of this play, this helps give the impact of the production, giving the audience an experience unlike any other theatre production or form. This is a insanely talented actor who has the audience eating out the palm of his hands.
Lauren Downie hits many different notes with her portrayals of June & Allison, she also portrays a few other supporting roles. There are moments of sheer raw emotion in her portrayal of June which carry the impact of disturbing the audience greatly, this was the purpose of the text, Lauren’s heart-breaking portrayal achieves her character’s objective. However, there is great versatility in Lauren’s performance is she transforms into one of the interviewers, there is a nice comic nuance present which dilutes the darkness of the text.
Greg Esplin gives Tommy a thrilling and devastating journey on stage. Once again, we see a performer who shows great versatility. Greg supplies brilliant energy and a rollercoaster in terms of Tommy’s stability. We see him sober; we see him out his face, we see him overwhelmed and we see a shallow version of this character, the portrayal is so varied and complex. This is a brilliant performance.
Michael Lockerbie brings us a much more unstable Sick Boy, one fueled with rage and loss. There is still the suave (and built) attraction to the character, but there is much darker emotions and habits present within this portrayal. It brings the audience more depth and gives Sick Boy more humanity in reaction to the dark world surrounding him. This is a great portrayal with much originality compared to the interpretations of this character we have seen previously.
Oliver Sublet is utterly terrifying as Begbie. The audience sh*t themselves as soon as he starts to aggressively interact with audience members, no one is safe. The adrenaline starts flowing in each audience member as he makes an appearance, you do feel threatened, you feel the unpredictability and the craziness just radiates from him. Oliver does make Begbie funny, there is brutal comments delivered perfectly which make the audience laugh, but this version of Begbie is much more vicious than anything we’ve seen from Robert Carlisle. There’s a darkness there, an aggression which really disturbs you rather than just humour you. Oliver also portrays Mother Superior, a complete polar opposite of Begbie, which Oliver approaches with a different flavour of madness, he supplies an equally as perfect portrayal of this character as he does with Begbie. This is an incredible performance of two infamous characters from Oliver.
Olivia Caw, Toby Holloway and Kyle Matson all understudy the characters and act as ensemble in the opening scene in this play.
This production is directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher with Greg Esplin and Ben Anderson. The three directors bring us the best incarnation of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting’. Harry Gibson’s script for this play is taken and made into an immersive event which thrills the audience for 75 minutes and makes them feel like they have been on drugs with the rollercoaster of emotions. Not only that but the visual representation in this play supplies no filter and you really are overwhelmed with what you witness, Clancy Flynn’s lighting design helps trip out the audience and overwhelm them. Tom Lishman’s sound design helps transform us back to the 90s. This creative team are the crème de la crème when it comes to immersive theatre in Scotland, and possibly the UK.
Choose Life. Choose Trainspotting Live. It’s back and better than ever. This cast are incredible. If you love ‘Trainspotting’ then this is the best way to experience it.
Get your tickets for ‘Trainspotting Live’ below:
Theatre Scotland 
Leave a comment