Writer: Davie Carswell
Director: Jonty Cameron
Choose life. Or don’t. Fifteen years after excessive drug use and even more excessive debauchery, can four friends reunite without falling back into their old ways? Will they choose to mend broken bridges and forge a new path? Will they choose life?
Based on the Irvine Welsh sequel to his seminal novel Trainspotting, the story of Porno may be more familiar to cinema-goers in the form of the Danny Boyle-directed follow-up to the original 90s movie classic. Adapted for the stage by Davie Carswell and directed by Jonty Cameron, this theatrical production originally debuted at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival to sold-out crowds and rave reviews
Centered around the pub setting – of which Sickboy, played by Tony McGeever, is the humble proprietor – the stage is kept bare, so as to allow the wooden table, chairs and cluttered bar to stand out. The Scottish pub aesthetic is continued into the space of the audience as the walls of the auditorium are coincidentally lined with framed photographs and instruments befitting such an establishment.
After the events of Trainspotting, Renton (Liam Harkins) hides away in Amsterdam after stealing a truckload of money from his friends. Fifteen years go by and Begbie (Chris Gavin) is released from prison while Spud (Kevin Murphy), with a wife and son, still laments Tommy’s death. Renton returns home when his mother falls ill to find that some people have changed, some people have changed a little and some people can never change.
The characterisation of Welsh’s cast of crazy personas is phenomenal. Harkins embodies the push and pull of a man torn between his old, wild life and his new, ‘boring’ one, while McGeever’s Sickboy perfectly conveys a man making the same decisions and mistakes he made when he was in the body of a boy. Jenni Duffy’s Lizzie is salacious but brings the heart where it is needed when she delves into the dark hole of body image problems. Gavin’s Begbie gives Robert Carlyle a run for his money, as this audacious and lethal bruiser is more imposing and hilarious in the flesh than on screen.
In the film, the familiar Trainspotting world is brought about by some canny music choices, such as Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life. This doesn’t carry on into the pub setting, however, leaving the auditory background silent. Locations other than the pub are mainly signposted by a projector hanging from the curtain, which the show could do without. Its use of stock images is unnecessary and cheapens the authenticity of the play as a whole.
Overall, this adaptation would shine with a few more creative decisions, as the insanity, surrealism and explosive energy of the filmic version are largely absent from the play. However, when Porno chooses to focus on the heart and soul and vulgar profanities of its tortured and kooky characters it excels.
Runs until 10 December 2023
