I’ve often wondered which movie marketing bod, decided to call the Trainspotting sequel Trainspotting 2 and not Porno, which is in actual fact the title of Irvine Welsh’s follow up novel. This new stage adaptation by Davie Carswell retains Welsh’s title and is now playing at the Pleasance Courtyard as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Of course, the movie sequel is more of a mash up of the two novels, with a few extra bits added in to support the transition to the screen. This Porno is a more faithful telling of the story, and Carswell has done a good job of picking up the key plot points.
It is heavily abridged to fit the hour run time that is so often the case at the Fringe, so some of the more nuanced elements of the plot have had to be sacrificed here, however, I believe there’s an upcoming tour which features an expanded script.
Everyone’s favourite recovering heroin addict, Renton, returns to Edinburgh from Amsterdam. It’s been fifteen years since he did a runner with several thousand pounds of his friends cash. With Spud back on drugs and contemplating suicide, Begbie newly released from Prison, and Sick Boy now the landlord of the Port Sunshine, Renton’s return isn’t likely to be easy.
It’s a strong cast; Chris Gavin is simply terrifying as Francis Begbie, while Kevin Murphy was born to play the role of Spud. Scott Kyle’s Renton allows the audience to be charmed all over again, while Simon Weir is perfectly suave as the crooked Sick Boy.
Another thing the film version did was to tone down the language. Not so in Porno which must have the highest count of obscenities in the whole of the Fringe. Audiences should come prepared to hear the kind of foul language that would make Gordon Ramsay blush.
Not only has Porno retained the name of its source material, it has honoured the spirit of it. It’s some years since I read the novel, but within the first few scenes it felt like I had only turned the last page yesterday. A fantastic stage adaptation that promises to be even better when allowed a longer running time.
