Based on PORNO by Irvine Welsh

Adapted by Dave Carswell

Tickets from £13.00

The sequel that divided a nation: some wanted it more than anything, and others thought it was pointless after such a well-wrapped tale. But it cannot be denied that PORNO, the sequel novel and eventual stage-play and film adaptation to TRAINSPOTTING, carries the same depraved nature and cutthroat honesty to Scotland’s less Brigadoon-themed culture into fruition, building on the rogue of characters which have become a part of the cultural zeitgeist as William Wallace or Desperate Dan.

Structured with a series of monologues, with the occasional cross-over between characters, PORNO flows calmer than the youthful and sporadically more action-orientated TRAINSPOTTING, instead channelling the violence and frustrations of our older characters into the language and performance. So then, just what have Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie been up to? Well, one of the crucial double-edged natures of the show means the group haven’t been up to a lot.

While Begbie serves time in jail, Spud battles with his crippling addictions, and Renton attempts to escape the life he had in Scotland with his pal’s stolen money in Amsterdam. While Sick Boy (Simon) might have tried the life of a Londoner, hasn’t changed in the least bit upon his return to Leith. Welsh’s accurate character creation means that deep down, these characters haven’t evolved – they were never meant to. They’re the same pessimistic and rotten bunch: save for Spud who receives the plot’s kindest thread. And that’s PORNO’s biggest drawback – there isn’t a necessity for this story.

The depravity is present however, it’s right there – and some capture it more strikingly than others like Jasmine Main’s Lizzie, though a late-comer to the narrative, revels in shocking the audience with words that cut through the tasteless and into the debauched. It’s fascinating to watch, even sadistically enjoyable in hearing the groan from even the most stoic of Glasgow audiences. Adapted by David Carswell, there’s an understanding of balancing the dark farcical nature with a more lethal and earnest honesty – one which is carried to fruition, only let down by key issues within the original story itself.

It’s fifteen years later, and not much has changed. Drugs still run rampant in Scotland, as does poverty and a lack of opportunity. Attempting to make amends, Renton returns to his hometown to visit his dying mother, and to re-forge his friendship with Simon. Outlander actor Scott Kyle makes for a perfectly pitched Renton: a solid everyman for the audience to fall behind, but enough of a git for us to secretly enjoy it when he gets knocked back a little. The role is carried well, the humour flows, and the emotional moments hit hard at times, with great chemistry with Kevin Murphy’s Spud: necessary when sitting amidst the muck of the rest of the show.

Playing the role of a man still living in his twenties, still carrying out the same schemes and self-centred, James McAnerney is almost too good at playing Sick Boy. It’s their interactions with Renton and Jim Brown’s local law enforcement which make up most of the show, their back-and-forth nature always keeping audiences on their toes as to how this will all work out. The lack of character growth between TRAINSPOTTING and PORNO limits where McAnerney can take the role – which is sort of the point Welsh is trying to make, but one which translates with difficulty to the stage.

It’s a stark difference to Begbie – an unquestionable villain, but one you cannot help but become enraptured by. Chris Gavin’s volatile nature is brutally captured in a performance as iconic as the great Robert Carlyle. Begbie is still unhinged here, but there’s a sense of a wounded jackal – a man for whom age is rounding the corner. Not fast as he was, or as strong, and out of place in this new world. But don’t say that to his face because the fear Gavin still instils into the theatre is palpable.

But the crucial power of the narrative lies in the hands of Spud, Carswell’s adaptation carries such a sincere sense of suffering and recognition of the inescapable nature of it for many in Scotland. Murphy’s performance is the most sobering of the night, the one man of reflection and emergence against a series of peers doomed to make the same mistakes over. The power of Welsh’s novel and ideas exists here, and Murphy excels in projecting it to the Glasgow audience: it’s the closest you’ll get to a happy ending with this band of characters.

There’s an acknowledgement early into the script that the sequels are never as good as their predecessor. And it’s difficult to argue that PORNO would ever have lived to the enormous shadow of TRAINSPOTTING – and though it stands apart from Welsh’s classic, this stage adaptation cannot shake off the overwhelming power and influence of the original’s interactions, connections and volatile humour and dark underbelly. What Carswell works with is something special and will both disgust and delight audiences on its UK tour, but struggles in capturing something which isn’t there in the original book, but the entire team work damn hard to deliver it successfully.