Trainspotting The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

****

Music & lyrics by Stephen McGuiness & Irvine Welsh

Directed and developed by Caroline Jay Ranger

The cast of Trainspotting The Musical

Mainlining straight back to the 90s, Trainspotting The Musical achieves that elusive high of transforming abject human misery into an evening of sharply crafted entertainment. Irvine Welsh whose 1993 book inspired the story’s iconic film, has penned the show and together with Stephen McGuinness has written a dozen or so new songs that fabulously fit this modern fable.

Focussing on the lives of five young men from Edinburgh, Welsh’s tale, much of it drawn from and inspired by his own experiences of 18 months as a heroin addict, delivers an evening of devastation as we witness the drug ripping through their lives.

Lewis Kidd plays the focal, narrative, Renton who tells of his world, his family and his friends. Onstage for almost the entire show, Kidd’s Renton breaks our hearts as he navigates the depths of his addiction. 

Alongside Kidd, Sheridan Townsley is the damaged Sick Boy and Kieran Andrew is Spud. Finlay Paul plays Tommy whose own decline leads to perhaps the show’s most harrowing moments. Completing this leading quintet is the brilliant Frankie O’Connor as the psychopathically menacing Begbie, vividly vicious yet also capable of moments of surprising compassion.

In support, Rebecca McKinnis and Gordon Cooper as Renton’s parents Cathy and Davie make fine work of their modest roles, their anguished pain witnessing their son slide into the opioid’s grip proving almost unbearable to watch.

Rosie Dignan’s Alison together with Ashley J. Russell’s Colleen deliver equally strong grief and anxiety-fuelled performances. 

Death’s tentacles sprawl through the evening and it is a remarkable credit to both the cast and the creatives that a story of such physical and emotional horror can at times prove to be as witty as it is tragic.

The music lifts the show - the classic songs from the movie’s soundtrack are retained with Lou Reed’s Perfect Day closing both halves. As the first act finishes on a moment of unbearable pain, the irony of the full company powerfully delivering Reed's classic makes for a bittersweet symphony of feelings.

The show’s original compositions are as brilliantly written as Welsh's original novel, highlights including the sardonically Country-themed The Eckies And The Brown and One Skin Too Few, both of which are deservedly reprised.

Caroline Jay Ranger has directed and developed the show, helming a production that is as much a poignant social commentary, as it is a historical take on how grim life can be for those who are either denied opportunity or who lack the ability and vision to strive for it. Ranger’s work is neatly  nuanced, complemented by Colin Richmond’s simply effective sets and Douglas O’Connell’s video projections, transforming the visuals from a row of impoverished city tenements through to the sensations of heroin coursing through Renton’s veins – with some impressive underwater photography that cleverly suggests the character’s escape into the Siren-like embrace of the narcotics. Stuart Morley's band are a blast throughout.

The staging is authentically Scots, with dialects to match and for all that the Scottish brogue is convincingly delivered, there will be moments for many unsophisticated southern ears that may prove unintelligible.

Make no mistake, this is brave and bold new writing. Brilliantly bleak.

Runs until 5th September, then on tour

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

Sing Street - Review

Lyric Hammersmith, London

***

Music & lyrics by Gary Clark & John Carney

Book by Enda Walsh

Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney

Directed by Rebecca Taichman

Grace Collender and Sheridan Townsley

Together with Gary Clark, John Carney has taken his 2016 movie about the power of music, love and dreams to conquer the poverty of 1980’s Dublin, translated it into a musical.

It’s a tall order for any story to be so transformed and (for the show’s first half at least) the photographed beauty that underscored the movie fails to be replicated on Hammersmith’s Lyric stage. Enda Walsh has been drafted in to write the musical’s book, but for all Walsh’s innate understanding of Irish culture, his storyline lurches clumsily through too much expositional cliche.

The evening’s strengths however rest on the extraordinary talents of its young cast of gifted actor-musicians, many of which are making either their London or professional debut in the show.

Sheridan Townsley and Grace Collender (respectively Conor and Raphina) lead the narrative as the young lovers destined to be together. Both have a vocal strength  and charisma that suspends disbelief and drive the story through its cliched backdrop. There is great work too from accomplished singer Adam Hunter as Conor’s older brother Brendan.

It is Carney and Clark’s songs however that power the show, restoring this jaded reviewer’s faith in new writing. Where so much new musical writing can fail to land, in Sing Street, and in the second half in particular, as Walsh’s book fades into insignificance, the songs and more importantly, the passion and power with which they are delivered, make the evening soar.

This show's actors and songs are fab. With a sharper storyline and the 2hr 40 running time trimmed by half an hour, this could yet be a fantastic show.

Runs until 23rd August

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan