Trainspotting (2010)
by Harry Gibson (adapted from the novel by Irvine Welsh)
Directed by Peter Stevens
Performances: Tue 20th – Sat 24th February Production Year, Prompt Corner
Contents
Introduction
Text about the play
Cast
- Mark Renton - Tom Hancock
- Tommy Murphy/Simon 'Sick Boy' Williamson - Karl Gibbons
- Alison/Lizzie MacIntosh - Holly McFarlane
- Franco Begbie/Johnny Swan - Steve Imrie
Crew
- Set Designer - Mark Bullock
- Stage Manager - SM Name
- Lighting Design - Designer Name
- Lighting Operator - Operator Name
Reviews
Hazel
This is an amazing and adventurous play brilliantly directed and realised by Peter Stevens with the set designed by Mark Bullock. The play takes place on three sides and on multi levelled platforms, with the audience encouraged to encroach on the floor area to be a part of the set. I can't remember all the names of the cast- gulp sorry - but there are utterly believable and mesmerising.
suej
You know that you are in for an uncomfortable ride with the subject matter anyway and the choice of promenade performance just sucks you in and makes it all the more powerful. The set is fantastically supported by excellent lighting choices and use of monitors pushes the point of dissociation that ( I assume) the fix gives you. It s unrelenting,graphic,the humour in bad taste but for all that makes you laugh. Trainspotting will not be for everyone and granted you may prefer to sit through your theatre but I urge you in the spirit of SLT 's pride in pushing the envelope occasionally-get up from your comfort cushion and suffer a little for this art.
Katwoman
Big congratulations to cast and crew for 'going on with the show' in the face of a rather enduring power cut. And all the people who rallied round to make sure that there was light.
I'm not crazy about being made to stand around in the theatre and certainly hadn't engaged with the play when I read it on the page. But this uncompromising production, with imaginative sound, lighting and film clips really drew me - and I think the rest of the audience - into its dark little world.
Which is something you need when faced with a bunch of pretty unsympathetic Edinburgh junkies drowning in squalor and a fair bit of self pity - though leavened throughout with humour (Helen's Moira Stewart impression on the TV …).
There are excellent performances from Tom Hancock as the lynchpin, Renton, a cast against type Steve Imrie as the profane psycho, Begbie and newcomers to SLT, Karl Gibbons and Holly McFarlane - both of whom were brave and completely undaunted by the demands of their parts.
I hope that a larger audience is able to see and feel what our smallish one (25-30 people) did) - and suspect that those sitting down may have missed a fair bit of the action. Perhaps a little more audibility - and more use of the rostra ranged around the walls - would have made the action more accessible. And I was unconvinced that the miming 'helpers' added much to the story - it felt a bit tacked on.
But overall, really worth seeing - and once again a production that shows how worthwhile it is to push the boundaries of content, taste and style.
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
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See Also
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Or add anything that is related within this site. The author's page for instance or other plays with a similar theme.
References
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