Trainspotting - Choo Choo (Rehearsals Week 5)

Choo choo!

Well, it’s nearly due to arrive.

Due to the fear of mastering Scottish accents, authentically depicting junkiedom and doing Irvine Welsh’s masterful text some justice, we’ve being giving rehearsals the entire sock drawer the past few weeks.

We’re nearly at the stage where the entire play is blocked, the scenes are looking in pretty decent shape. We’re lucky to have such a good piece of core material that gives the actors so much to chow down on. Harry Gibson’s adaptation has put a lot of lovely theatrical devices into play and we’ve really relished the character’s asides, narrative monologues, multiple playing, abstract scenarios and musical sequences. Yup… I said it… musical sequences.

We had our first rehearsals last week with the drug paraphernalia and it was pretty intense to be honest. Everybody was a little bit freaked out by the sight of the needles and syringes. Horrible, sharp fuckers. We had ourselves some cooking lessons, so to speak, just to get the hang of preparing heroin. It’s gonna need a lot of practice but we’ll get there. We want to be very responsible with this production and we don’t want to give any false impressions of heroin addiction or the use of the drug so we’re trying to be as authentic as we possibly can be with the portrayal of drug use. Of course, we drew the line at preparing with real heroin….we just used gravy. Suffice to say, it smelt manky. Don’t ever try and heat gravy up with a spoon and lighter.

As some of you may have seen, Paddy Dunne’s wizardry on the design front has so far produced 4 amazing character posters with another 5 in the works. Not to mention a main, all encompassing poster and the teaser poster of our take on the iconic Trainspotting skull motif. So yeah, Paddy’s been a busy man and I’m sure he’ll be offering some words of wisdom on his creative process in the coming weeks… when he finally gets to drag himself away from Photoshop of course. All in all, 11 posters for a 5 night run of a play might be seen as being too much but fuck it, it costs us nothing but our time and imagination… and a little blutac. We get very excited by this whole theatre lark and we’d like to get other people excited about it too, likesay, ken?

The costumes are looking lovely too. Well, as lovely as drab costumes for a bunch of junkies, thieves and psychopaths in 1980’s Edinburgh can look. Most of the bits and pieces have been put into place and the look of the characters is taking shape. We’ve gone back to the book for ideas on how the characters look, rather than fall into the trap of emulating some of the film’s designs. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who were quite taken aback by the fact that Ross is not sporting the Ewan McGregor shaved head look. Instead, we’ve gone with Mark Renton as he is in the book, a pasty faced unhygienic ginger sort. And as you can see from the Renton character poster he’s sporting a ginger do that’s reminiscent of Bowie during his Berlin era.

We’ve had a lot of design meetings these past few weeks and the set is also coming together pretty well. Eddie, our set designer, has been drawing up his plans and stock piling material and it’s going to be a lovely ramshackle mess methinks. Check out our ‘Trainspotting Design’ album to see a couple of ideas and visual pointers for the look of our production. It ain’t pretty that’s for sure.

We’ve also just embarked on our PR blitz and we’re trying to get the play out there as much as we humanely can. So, pass the word around!

The tickets are booking for the play so if you wanna ensure seats 056 – 7761674 is the number to ring. We’re 3 weeks off the play at this stage which is absolutely mind boggling. I’m gonna go now and be a little terrified.

Choose tea.

John Morton
Co – Director
Trainspotting

Tommy Says Rehearsals Are Barry, Ken?

So the rehearsal process continues at Devious Towers (our super sexy rehearsal location smack in the middle of Kilkenny). What with the bank holiday weekend upon us, this week has been pretty intensive so far, and continues to be with two more lengthy rehearsals scheduled for tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday).

Speaking from an actors point of view (I’m playing Tommy, don’t you know) I’ve had a reasonable week thus far, knocking out accent kinks wherever possible with the daes and wis, naes and likesays, ye ken?

Proper junkies that we are, we’re also weening ourselves off scripts this week - at least for the scenes that have been blocked, and blocked, and drilled into your head. Next week should see the entire play blocked off, scripts binned, full props at the ready and regular runs of the show set for the following week.

We’ve also got our press hats on this week (what a scoop!) so expect a flurry of activity over the coming week with regional and national press releases, sneak photos from the rehearsal process and more promotional posters than you could shake a stick at. Or a fist. Or a Scottish flag.

I’m sure there’ll be someone along soon to fill you in on how the week continues to go. In the meantime, enjoy your lunch on this fine Wednesday afternoon.

Ken

Trainspotting: Character Promo - Begbie

“Ah’m no they type a cunt thit goes lookin’ fir bother, likes” - Franco Bebgie

The third in our series of character posters for Trainspotting shows Niall Sheehy as Franco Begbie for our upcoming production of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting. A violent sociopath, Begbie terrorizes his “friends” into going along with whatever he says, assaulting and brutalizing anyone who angers him. This violence is reflected in the manner in which he speaks. He is the only one in the group who does not use heroin and, although he considers junkies to be the lowest form of life, he is himself thoroughly addicted to alcohol, amphetamine, and violence.

Niall is a newcomer to The Devious Theatre Company, having worked previously with Dreamstuff Theatre (as the majority of us have over the last seven years).

These character posters for Trainspotting serve to introduce the many faces of Irvine Welsh’s work, or even reintroducing them to people familiar with the previous incarnations of the characters.

As designed by Paddy Dunne, the posters will be unveiled in the weeks leading up to the performance. Other posters to come along in the series (collect them all!) include Renton, Tommy, Diane, Lizzie, Sick Boy and Mother Superior.

Tickets for Trainspotting are already available in The Watergate Theatre and can be purchased at 056 – 7761674.

Trainspotting will arrive onstage from June 24th to the 28th.

Trainspotting: Character Promo - Alison

“This is mad….What planet are we oan?” - Alison

The next in our series of Trainspotting character posters sees the introduction of Alison.

Played by Maria Murray, Alison is another of the wayward souls who populate the dark underbelly of 1980’s Edinburgh. An unrepentant drug abuser, Alison can’t see anything beyond her own addiction, not even her infant daughter.

Maria Murray has previously worked with Devious Theatre on our production of Cannibal! The Musical and this marks her debut lead role with us.

These character posters for Trainspotting serve to introduce the many faces of Irvine Welsh’s work, or even reintroducing them to people familiar with the previous incarnations of the characters.

As designed by Paddy Dunne, the posters will be unveiled in the weeks leading up to the performance.

Tickets for Trainspotting are already available in The Watergate Theatre and can be purchased at 056 – 7761674.

Trainspotting will arrive onstage from June 24th to the 28th.

Happy Birthday Devious Theatre

Well, how could we let this one slip by? Quite possibly in the mix of all the Trainspotting activity going on at the moment and having the entire Devious Theatre crew running around like headless chickens the past few weekends, we forgot to mention - and raise a glass to the fact - that The Devious Theatre Company is now two years old!

Yes, turning the clock back to 2006 when a select few of us at the time (myself - Ken - , John, Kevin and Niamh) had just finished work on a production with Dreamstuff theatre out of Young Irish Film Makers, the decision was made to spark a theatrical revolution in our fair city.

Copious amounts of tea, breakfast meetings, dinner meetings, secret ballots, white smoke, red smoke, morse code and more were used but within a week or two of the production finishing, we had our new theatre company established and had already started work on a new (and as it turns out afterwards, unperformed) production.

Swapping one production and one venue for an original and comedic piece of genius in the guise of Heart Shaped Vinyl and bringing theatre back to Cleere’s in Kilkenny, The Devious Theatre Company was born and the rest, as they say, is history…

Living history at that as we haven’t taken the foot off the pedal once in two years.

Just like this time last year (well, May 9th if we’re going to get all official about it), we “missed the boat” (to use a much-loved DT phrase) on celebrating our birthday. Alas, such is the joy of running a theatre company. But we’re a nice bunch really.

So to mark our second birthday, I would like to take the opportunity to those who have helped us along the road in the past two years - the Arts Office here in Kilkenny, Johnny Holden and the staff at Cleere’s Theatre, Ger Cody and the staff at the Watergate Theatre, John Cleere, Paddy Dunne, Edwina Grace, Tess Felder, Pius Meaghar, Eddie Brennan, Alan Dawson, Michael Keogh, Stephen Colfer, Colm Sheenan, Richie Cody and those who worked alongside the company on Heart Shaped Vinyl through it’s many iterations in 2006 and 2007, Jason McHugh and those behind Cannibal! The Musical!, local and regional media including KCLR96FM, The Kilkenny People, Voice and Advertiser, The Munster Express, KilkennyMusic.com, Mycrofilms, our beloved Coffee Club (RIP) and their wonderful staff, Kate St John, Young Irish Film Makers and everyone else we’ve worked with over the past two years.

We strive to entertain you and continue to promote new, fresh and original pieces of theatre.

We’re performing Trainspotting (if you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere you might have missed that bit of news) this June 24 to June 28 and hope to return with another original production this coming August (dates TBC). Come out and see us some time, introduce yourself, then hang around for the aftershow parties.

Trust me.

They’re WELL worth it.

Happy Birthday Devious Theatre!

Trainspotting: Character Promo - Spud

“It’s a fuckin’ miserable life man. It’s nay life at all, ken?” - Spud

This is the first in a series of upcoming promotional images, each one showcasing our lovely actors and a first look at characters that inhabit the underbelly of 1980’s Edinburgh. Presented here for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure, perhaps?) is Stephen “Pip” Colfer as Danny “Spud” Murphy. Stephen is a familiar face in the Devious troupe: In Cannibal! he took to the stage as James Humphries.

We will be rolling out these character images on a regular basis in the run up to the show, so keep an eye out for them!

Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, an adaptation by Harry Gibson, arrives at the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny on the 24th to the 28th of June. Tickets are on sale now and can be booked at +353 56 61674.

Trainspotting Auditions Close

The audition period for Trainspotting has come to a close, casting decisions being made this weekend. We hope to have an announcement of the cast online come Sunday night.

Trainspotting, the first production on our 2008 programme of theatre, runs from June 24th to June 28th in the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny. Booking queries (groups and individuals) may be directed to the box office at the Watergate Theatre by phoning +353 56 7761674.

Trainspotting Announced For June

The Devious Theatre Company are proud to announce that they will perform Irvine Welsh’s TRAINSPOTTING, adapted by Harry Gibson, at the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny from the 24th - 28th of June 2008.

One of the most seminal novels in British literature over the past 20 years, Trainspotting was adapted by Gibson into a hugely successfully play before Danny Boyle’s smash hit movie version hit cinemas in 1996. Welsh’s novel was first released in 1993 and was described by The Sunday Times as ’the best thing to happen to British writing for decades.’ Set in Edinburgh in the late 1980’s, Trainspotting depicts the decaying friendships of a bunch of no hopers, heroin addicts and petty criminals as they attempt to escape the boredom of their lives. Depicted mostly in monologues, the stories at the heart of the play are unflinchingly shocking, darkly humorous and full of Welsh’s raw observations of life.

This will be the first performance of the play in Kilkenny and we are delighted to be bringing such an iconic piece of fiction to the Watergate Theatre. After the success of Heart Shaped Vinyl and Cannibal! The Musical over our first two years, we are delighted to promote another theatrical premiere on the local stage. Our production team are currently busying themselves working on Trainspotting in preparation for its debut this coming June.

Anybody interested in being involved, contact us at info@devioustheatre.com or click here for our contact form. For more updates on Trainspotting and our current program, keep it here on DeviousTheatre.com (oooo very radio like, aren’t we!).

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