It is exactly 30 years since Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting characters burst into the nation’s cinemas.
Now Renton, Spud, Begbie and Sick Boy are to re-emerge on Scotland’s stages – in a Trainspotting musical created by the writer.
Welsh’s native Edinburgh will host the beginning and end of an ambitious UK tour of a production the writer has spent years working on with long-time musical collaborator Steve McGuinness.
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Trainspotting The Musical, which will premiere in the West End in London in July before opening at the Edinburgh Playhouse in October, is being developed by leading theatre director Caroline Jay Ranger.
She has previously worked on stage adaptations of Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers, and with stars including Tim Minchin, John Cleese, Steve Coogan, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.
Rehearsals are already underway on the Trainspotting musical, which the Edinburgh-born author has promised will be “explosive, provocative and entertaining”.
It will feature a cast of relatively unknown young Scottish actors, including Robbie Scott as Renton, Sheridan Townsley as Sick Boy, Kieran Andrew as Spud and Frankie O'Connor as Begbie as Welsh’s characters navigate poverty, addiction and friendship in 1980s Edinburgh.
Other cast members include Finlay Paul as Tommy, Gordon Cooper as Davie Renton, Rebecca McKinnis as Cathy Renton, Ashley J. Russell as Colleen, Rosie Dignan as Alison, Yana Harris as Kelly and Sophie Hutchinson as Lizzie.
Music from the soundtrack of director Danny Boyle’s iconic 1996 movie will be brought together with a collection of new songs penned by Welsh and McGuinness for the new musical.
The UK tour of Trainspotting The Musical will open at the Edinburgh Playhouse from October 19-24, before runs at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen from January 11016, the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline from March 1-6 and the Theatre Royal in Glasgow from March 14-20 before returning to the Playhouse from March 22-27.
Welsh admits the musical, which has been in development for years, has taken so long to bring to fruition that he had to fend off accusations of an elaborate wind-up whenever he talked about it.
He told The Herald: “I’m just so relieved that it is finally happening.
“Everyone has been thinking I’ve been living in some kind of fantasy land because I have been talking about a Trainspotting musical and being asked about it for so long.
“These things always take much longer than you think they are going to take, but we are finally underway now. People who call me a deluded fantasist have plenty of material, but that part of it has gone now.
“I always quite confident that it would happen. The producers I have been working with are pretty determined when they get their teeth into something. They put a lot of time and money into developing it so I knew it would happen at some point.”
Welsh was adamant that any musical adaptation of Trainspotting would have to feature original songs and music if it was to have any credibility.
The styles of music will range and soul and disco to heavy metal, punk and country.
Welsh suggested the musical's audiences could expect to be greeted by "a big high-energy sonic explosion".
He said: “I really felt that if Trainspotting was ever going to become a musical it would have to be done in a specific way. It had to be a proper musical with original songs telling the story.
“There are so many shows that have a 1980s or 1990s jukebox around a play, or have some perfunctory music added to it to give it musical status. I didn’t want it to be some kind of half-arsed nostalgia trip.
“I have been working with Steve McGuinness for the last 10 years on various music projects. He is well known as an dance music producer, but he understands every genre of music. He has a massive musical IQ.
“We have developed a kind of joint skillset across all sorts of different genres of songs and music.
“I felt there was a real opportunity for us to a proper piece of musical theatre together rather than have something that was just sort of cobbled together.”
The characters Welsh created for Trainspotting, which was published in 1993, went on to appear in five subsequent novels, while Trainspotting was first turned into a stage play in 1994. An immersive version of Harry Gibson’s original adaptation has been running at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for years due to popular demand and will return this summer.
Welsh, who has predicted that the new generation of Trainspotting stars will become “household names” after appearing in the show, has worked on a number of previous stage productions, including Babylon Heights and Performers.
However the author, who is involved in the ongoing rehearsals for Trainspotting The Musical, admitted he was already nervous about the response when the show is performed before its first audiences in both London and Edinburgh.
He said: “I will be absolutely shitting myself. I’m really excited about the show, but I’m also really nervous.
“Watching a performance is a bit like being a football manager.
“You are saying every line for every actor. You want every line to go down well and you want them to do well. You have to get it right every time with live theatre.”
The promotional campaign for Trainspotting The Musical promises a “an unforgettable experience which will have even the most sceptical leave on a consciousness-altering high”.
Welsh is hopeful that the production will have a similar cross-generational appeal to las year’s Oasis reunion.
He added: “Those Oasis shows were such a huge thing because they got people to go out and have a collective experience, singing, dancing and just experiencing the joy of being together. It felt like a real cultural turning point.
“I would love to get that kind of audience along to this show – people who were there when Trainspotting came out in the 1990s and people who are now able to have that collective experience for the first time.”
Tickets for all Scottish dates of Trainspotting The Musical will go on sale from Trainspottingthemusical.com on May 13.
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