AFTER a three-year hiatus, Trainspotting Live has made its return to the Edinburgh Fringe.
A year after the publication of Irvine Welsh's iconic 1993 novel, playwright Harry Gibson adapted the work for the stage.
It is that particular interpretation which served as the inspiration for Trainspotting Live – which puts its own spin on Gibson's work.
The show launched in Leith in 2013 and had been on every year up until 2019, including tours in New York and Australia, when performances had to be halted owing to the pandemic.
“At first there was so much pressure because the people of Edinburgh rightly have this ownership of the work and we knew people would tell us what they think,” says Greg Esplin, the co-director and co-producer of Trainspotting Live.
On stage, Esplin is Tommy, whose tragic arc sees an initially clean character descend deeper and deeper into heroin addiction.
He continued: “I think the best way to look at it is that there’s three ways to access Trainspotting. You have this, the film, and the book.
"We get people coming along who haven't seen the film or read the book and then they go do so which is great."
As anyone who has encountered the original work will know, Welsh’s novel is fragmented, flowing freely through a series of chapters detailing various moments in the characters' lives.
Esplin said: “We’ve adapted it so there’s a bit more of a narrative.
“It’s closer to the book in that it follows Tommy’s story. There’s that arc of Renton getting clean and then what happens to Tommy with Begbie and Sick Boy mixed up in amongst all of it.”
Fans will also know it's not for the fainthearted, tackling themes which range from drug abuse to domestic violence.
Esplin added: “The book has a lot of dark elements so, as actors, it’s a case of trusting each other and really being able to speak up in rehearsal if we’re feeling uncomfortable.
“The themes aren’t something we take for granted. We worked closely with recovering addicts for them to come and see the show and to make sure we were doing it justice and not glamorising it.
“In New York, we also worked with a charity that deals with overdoses so it’s something we take really seriously.”
As a work closely associated with Scotland, performing in front of international audiences brought its own challenges.
“It resonates everywhere it goes but we have had some issues with slang words, some people didn’t know the word ‘ken’ or ‘hoose’ – they thought that meant a punch," Esplin says.
He continued: “People in America were a bit more offended by the language. We quite freely use the ‘c-word’ over here as they do in Australia, but in America it’s not so common.”
Trainspotting is synonymous with 90s culture. Think of that decade and you’re just as likely to think of Ewan McGregor running down Princes Street to Iggy Pop's Lust for Life as you are the Spice Girls or GameBoy Colours.
However, that’s not to say the play doesn’t hold a great deal of relevance today.
Esplin adds: “It’s still relevant now, particularly in the UK when you consider the government we have.
“It’s not far away from the world this book was set in. It was post-Thatcher, it focused on austerity and unemployment.
“Just recently I was watching a documentary about drug problems in Glasgow. It’s a play about real people and real issues so it still has a place.”
In spite of all that darkness, Esplin wants to stress that mixed in amongst all the tragedy is something inherently enjoyable, particularly the play's opening.
He said: "It's just great to be back.
“It’s fun, the first half an hour is mental. It’s a rave and quite immersive. It’s both a fun play and very hard-hitting.”
Trainspotting Live runs from August 4 to 28 (not including 10, 17 or 22).
