Theatre Review: Trainspotting Is Absolutely Gross, And You Might Like It
While one woman laughed out loud at having Renton’s ass in her face, another man was completely disgusted at having a diarrhea blanket tossed at him; both walked away with completely different experiences of Trainspotting Live. Playing at the Roy Arias theater, the play warns you it is an immersive experience that includes “splatter”, but no one was prepared for doo-doo or urine-filled condoms to fall under that category. While some loved the nasty grime of this nose-dive into the life of heroin addicts, some could not handle it.
Yes, I know this may seem like a “cop-out”, in terms of a review, but Trainspotting Live truly is a love it or hate it show. Personally, I was not a fan of Begbie (Tom Chandler) publicly asking me to blow him, but, at the same time, high heroin addicts are not known for their chivalry. With how immersive Trainspotting Live is, there are moments, oddly enough, when you forget that you are watching addicts actively search for their drug. Led by Renton (Andrew Barrett), your mind speed balls through all that his happening. From the chaotic dancing to physically comforting Sick Boy (Tariq Malik) and Tommy (Greg Esplin) through their highs, you get involved in these addicts’ lives and the glamor is stripped away.
If you think you are going to see Trainspotting the movie…….you are not. While the movie had some fantastical, surrealist elements, this live version is hardcore and un-aggrandizing. There is no way you can make shooting up heroin “visually stunning” or watching a man get beat up seem cinematic vivid. As you enter the set of graffiti walls and a disgusting toilet, you are in the tragically seedy world of addiction. In some ways, paying to see Trainspotting Live is like rich people paying for a ticket to impoverished locations, except you are a sober person asking to go into a drug hovel. I state this perspective because it will help you prepare for what you get, and also admire the dedication or Trainspotting Live’s actors and director Adam Spreadbury-Maher.
Written by Harry Gibson, Trainspotting Live is an emotional work. Within 75 minutes, its actors must portray cringing situations like, overdose, the loss of a child, feverish needs for a hit, domestic abuse, and the overall depression of being an addict. This play is the Olympics of acting, and you may not recognize it, again, because it so immersive. Having addicts offer you speed or watching ladies flashing their breasts may distract you from a tale that is about how losing your sobriety is connected to losing your spirit.
Barrett’s Renton and Esplin’s Tommy are the two hearts of this play, and they are absolutely breaking. Really focus on their particular soliloquies of addiction because they say how much self-loathing goes into putting a needle into your skin and letting an outer substance turn you into the zombie version of yourself. When you allow the worst to happen to you it is because you feel the best either should or cannot. Make no mistake! Trainspotting Live is grotesque with its literal potty humor and its “in your face” drug usage, but, again, it is an immersive experience into the tragic lives of addicts. Thus, if you see it for what it is, you have to admire it. Trainspotting Live Will Play until August 25. Click Here To Buy Tickets.
Roy Arias Theater is Located: 777 Theater (Off Broadway)
