Review: Irvine Welsh’s outrageous Trainspotting sequel at the King’s Theatre

Set fifteen years after the original, Porno sees Renton return to Edinburgh on a hospital pilgrimage to visit his dying mum, and in the process, mend some cinder-scorched bridges, after he infamously double-crossed his three other mates, Begbie, Sickboy and Spud, at the original novel’s conclusion… And in the process finds himself wrapped up in a sleazy, SickBoy-inspired scheme to start a ‘porno’ production company.

Begbie has finished a manslaughter prison sentence, Sickboy is running his aunt’s dead-end Leith boozer, and life’s tragi-comic figure Spud is considering suicide, certain his life insurance is worth more to his ex-partner and son, than he is alive.

Cramming a 470-paged sequel opus of one of the most era-defining novels in modern history into a stage production was never going to be an easy task, however David Carswell’s adaptation just about manages to seamlessly stitch the play together.

Porno is offensive, hilarious, outrageous, tense and surprisingly affecting in places, ultimately asking the question of whether any of the ‘much loved’ characters are willing or worthy of redemption.

It’s a very honest reflection of youth, the blind-loyalty to friends you treasure in your twenties, very rarely remains as you transcend into middle age, and yet, refusal to give up on the tourism-of-youth remains a powerful hypnotic elixir for most in society.

Begbie played by Chris Gavin, admirably fills the shoes of Robert Carlyle’s cinematic psychopath, and a presence of foreboding danger eclipses the room whenever he appears on stage. The murderous Francis eternally-powered by the hopeful glimmer of enacting an avenging archangel level of violence on one-time best friend ‘Rents’.

New character Lizzie, based on Nikki in the book, played by Jenni Duffy is a powerhouse performance, a confident woman in control of her sexuality, wrapping the men or ‘dogs’, as she calls them, around her finger, while subconsciously, devastatingly insecure and seemingly battling an eating disorder.

If there could be any minor criticism of the ambitious theatrical production, it's simply not long enough.

More time on top of the near-two hours spent with the relatively despicable but nevertheless endearing characters would be a joy, the King's stage manages a depth of heavy-lifting, when considering it takes place using barely four backdrops.

The on-stage rapport between Liam Harkins's Renton and James McAnerney's SickBoy feels like a long-strained but recently resuscitated kinship, and the quick, daggered dialogue spat between the two feels like it could only come from a decades-weathered now venomous ‘friendship’.

Kevin Murphy's Spud is the heart of the show, fleeting moments in a graveyard spent talking to deceased heroin victim Tommy, or chatting about wanting the best for his ex-partner and kid, whatever the cost to himself are touching. The reunion between Renton and Spud is an emotional touchstone of the whole play.

A wild storyline that includes bigoted policemen, Sister Act, deviant behaviour, drug taking, theft, Edinburgh-Glasgow hatred, Hearts, Hibs and Rangers, death, deception, generational divide, a whole lot of swearing and implied violence, sets Porno up to be an offensively entertaining time.

Does Begbie finally get to enact his Medieval style act of vengeance on ‘Rents’? You'll need to watch the play or read the novel to find out.

A must-see when you get the opportunity, and rest-assured that when you do, you'll likely leave the theatre, shocked, with a slightly debauched but undeniably reinvigorated Lust For Life.