THEATRE REVIEW: Trainspotting ★★★★★

Trainspotting
The Vaults, London
Sunday 27th November 2016

With the sequel due to to be released in 2017, with the trailer looking just as fantastic and feeling very nostalgic from the original, Trainspotting is a Irvine Welsh novel to which in 1996 got a film adaptation. The film is still so incredibly popular today from young people discovering the film as this is probably due to their parents and grandparents raving about it when it originally came out due to it's authenticity of Scotland and the themes around drugs, so this theatre production which premiered in Edinburgh 2013 really had me excited to what I was about to get involved in, especially after hearing such unanimous reviews about how immersive the experience was to be.

I personally loved every aspect of this production, from the dingy venue layout that was hidden down an alleyway in London, to then walking into this boarded front of house foyer with a bar and spray paint all up the ways to add to the authenticity, to then entering the auditorium, which was in a traverse staging style with the performers in the middle, and two other seating areas either end of the platform. A nice touch that I really enjoyed though most was the use of the glow stick bracelets that was handed out as tickets, because when we entered the auditorium the actors were there dancing and raving in a club setting, and witnessing all these different coloured bracelets moving around the room instantly connected yourself with the actors on stage.

The action onstage itself was electrifying, making you feel like you actually had taken drugs prior to the performance just from the sheer fact of how relentless the pace was throughout! I loved the interaction with the audience and the way that multiple conversations with the help of the actors was playing out throughout the production, especially when they came to sit next to you or having dirty bed-sheets thrown at you, no matter how disgusting that may seem. There was also moments of male and female nudity which got a big reaction from the audience; this just really amplified the realism of the story and how they would not hold back to fully give their characters justice on stage.

Overall, Trainspotting was a production like no other due to the time and effort that had clearly been put into creating such a crazy journey that we experience following these characters that some may have known for the twenty years!