Perth -raised actor Andrew Barrett has been playing the central character in Trainspotting Live - the acclaimed immersive adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s life-affirming humorous tale of shooting up in 80s Leith.
The notorious over-16 show comes with countless warnings: nudity, very strong language of a violent and sexual nature and heavy drug/needle use.
“This punchy, 75-minute production recaptures the passion and the controversy of the famous novel, then globally successful film, and repackages it into an immersive production,” reads the billing.
Imagine seeing Trainspotting enacted right in front of you. Who would want to be in the front row during the infamous ‘worst toilet in Scotland’ scene? Many, it would seem.
Except for during the pandemic hiatus, Andrew has worked as skinny-addict-trying-to-go-straight Mark Renton since 2018, when he took the part as a break from his Shakespearean roles he’s previously had while based in America.
He was living in New York and was the perfect fit when the iconic Scottish drug drama began to cast for a US tour and he has never looked back.
“It was epic, we were off-Broadway for seven months, the tour was extended twice,” he revealed.
Covid put the Trainspotting Tour on hold but 2022 saw it firmly back on the programme at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Andrew was performing Trainspotting Live in the story’s home city and in a tough year when ticket takings for all shows were down.
But Trainspotting’s run of August 4-28 had steady sales and fantastic reviews.
On the show’s final night, the novel’s writer Irvine Welsh came to watch and Andrew found himself out at the pub with Trainspotting’s creator.
Andrew spoke to the PA about starting his acting in Perth as a boy at Perth Youth Theatre and how Trainspotting is going on tour around the UK later this month - with him nightly going through the shakes of Renton’s heroin comedown journey.
“Due to the immersive nature of the performance, it’s been three years since we last were able to do the show,” Andrew explained.
“We’ve adapted it slightly to keep the audience and performers safer from the transmission of Covid, while still retaining the no-holds-barred nature of the piece.
“The 2022 Edinburgh Fringe went a lot better than expected. Although across the board ticket sales were down 25 per cent on the Fringe of 2019, we ended up selling more tickets than we ever have at the Fringe and filled our 268-seater venue most nights.
“Every review we received at this year’s Fringe got five stars, and we had Irvine Welsh in the audience for our final performance, who repeated his claim that our production is better than either the book or the film.”
Andrew said Welsh was “extremely supportive” and the visit to the set was recorded as part of a BBC Scotland documentary about the celebrated author.
After the show closed, the cast went out to celebrate with Irvine posing for a picture with Andrew.
Another highlight was being able to do the show with his parents - Perth councillors Liz and Peter Barrett - in the audience at Pleasance at EICC.
Trainspotting as a stage show has been around for 21 years. The original book is now required reading for some older school students.
A busload of Perth High School students went to view Trainspotting in Edinburgh. Andrew was delighted as PHS is where he studied after coming to Perth aged six and first attending Kinnoull Primary.
He said: “We had the higher and advanced higher Drama class from Perth High School - my old stomping ground - in to see the show last week, and did a Q&A with the students and my former higher Drama teacher Hannah Davies afterwards, talking about all things Trainspotting, as well as giving advice about working as a professional actor.”
Before he moved to Dundee as a 17-year-old, Andrew got on stage with Perth Youth Theatre.
“I knew I wanted to be an actor when I was seven,” he told the PA.
Andrew did Perth Panto and as a teenager - and like fellow Perthshire acting export Ewan McGregor - worked in Perth Theatre’s workshop helping create sets.
Andrew trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
His first professional role aged 20 was in Perth Theatre, playing Donald Bain in Macbeth when the Scottish play was staged by former artistic director Rachel O’Riordan.
He kept up links with Perth Theatre, recently working with Colin McCredie on the early draft development of Oh When The Saints, the St Johnstone community production that went down so well this summer.
“It was brilliant to be in Perth Theatre again,” Andrew said. “I’d not been in since the renovation and the backstage rehearsal rooms and facilities are truly first class.”
An early acting career experience for Andrew was premiering Tectonic Plates by Jonathan McGrath in Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq and he worked in dozens of refugee camps across five countries in Europe with the Flying Seagull Project.
Whilst in NYC, he lent his voice to the statue of Robert Burns in Central Park as part of the Talking Statues installation, played Puck and Cassio in Shakespeare & Company’s touring productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello, before making his Off-Broadway debut as Mark Renton in a seven-month run of Trainspotting Live at the Roy Arias Stages.
Since returning to the UK, Andrew has played the role of Sam in Crush and recently filmed on Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming spy thriller Argylle.
The UK Tour of Trainspotting Live includes London, Manchester, Glasgow and Corby.
Andrew said: “The audience are literally part of the action, including the unforgettable, appalling scene where I climb out of a toilet - you’ll know the one I’m sure!”
When it opens on September 27 at Platform (formerly the Arches) this will be the first time Trainspotting Live has come to rival city Glasgow as previously it has only been shown in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival.
“I’m really excited about taking it to the Glasgow venue, which I remember from years back as The Arches,” explained Andrew.
“I think we are the first production in there since it reopened under new management. I was in a clown show at The Arches in 2014 when I lived in Glasgow during my studies at the Royal Conservatoire. I wonder what it will be like performing Trainspotting Live in Glasgow with it being so associated with Edinburgh culture. I can’t wait.”
