Surprised? Perhaps rolling your eyes a little and thinking 'does everything have to be a musical?' That's ok, writer Irvine Welsh thought the same.
"But then I thought, I'm probably better doing it rather than someone else."
The foursome have seen many adaptations over the years, going from book to screen to straight stage adaptation. But, upon the musical's announcement earlier this year, we were given words like "explosive, provocative and entertaining" to build the hype anew.
This is hardly surprising, as edginess has been baked into Trainspotting's DNA from the get-go. Its ability to merge heart and humanity with the most confronting parts of poverty and addiction has been its superpower in both book and film form, although the writer did admit to drawing a line in the infamous 'worst toilet in Scotland' scene: "In some of the old stage performances, the audience actually got covered in s**te! But this time around none of it is actually going to reach the audience, you can go along and be quite nicely dressed." – A relief I'm sure.
To keep fans happy, the show has set out to keep the most well-known scenes, although the writer promised "the shock of the new" as well. Fringe characters like Renton's parents and the boys' girlfriends will have much larger roles, and plotlines from Welsh's sequel Skagboys has also been drawn into the script.
Most of all, Welsh wanted to show more of the context around the central four: "It's not just about these four little bad j**kies in their own little world, their behaviour affects an entire community, so it's got a much bigger emotional canvas."
This sentiment is widely shared, as Trainspotting is often considered to be a perfect capsule of '90s music, fashion and culture. In particular, the 'choose life' monologue is known and loved for how it made fun of the faux optimism of the time – also known as 'Cool Britannia'.
He went on to say the story's two biggest themes – addiction and existential crisis – are "more acute than ever," saying:
"At least when the industrial working classes were all paid off back in the '80s, they would say things like 'you're going to be the beneficiaries in the long run, because we're going to emerge leaner and better, and we're going to have a stronger and bigger economy,' but now it's middle class jobs that are being destroyed by AI and technology, and there's no apologetic spiel, so that the existential crisis is even deeper.
"You've also got the influence of big pharma, and the idea that you can just dial up and, you know, you get a drug. So, we're in this mad cycle of addiction and it's much more comprehensive now than ever."
"It becomes hard to choose life because it's about a rejection of what is offered and what is easy. It's about servicing our human needs, we have to service our community, we have to service each other, basically, we have to love each other."
The show has confirmed it will run from Monday to Saturday at 7:30pm, with matinees on Thursday and Saturday at 2:30pm, and has a running time of two hours, including a 20 minute interval.
19 — 24 Oct 2026 — Edinburgh, Edinburgh Playhouse26 — 31 Oct 2026 — Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall2 — 7 Nov 2026 — Manchester, Palace Theatre9 — 14 Nov 2026 — York, Grand Opera House16 — 21 Nov 2026 — Hull, New Theatre25 — 28 Nov 2026 — Ipswich, Regent Theatre30 Nov — 5 Dec 2026 — Birmingham, Alexandra7 — 12 Dec 2026 — Leeds, Grand Theatre14 — 19 Dec 2026 — Blackpool, Opera House5 — 9 Jan 2027 — Stoke, Regent Theatre11 — 16 Jan 2027 — Aberdeen, His Majesty’s Theatre18 — 23 Jan 2027 — Nottingham, Theatre Royal25 — 30 Jan 2027 — Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre1 — 6 Feb 2027 — Southend, Cliffs Pavilion8 — 13 Feb 2027 — Bradford, Bradford Live15 — 20 Feb 2027 — Oxford, New Theatre22 — 27 Feb 2027 — Sunderland, Empire1 — 6 Mar 2027 — Dunfermline, Alhambra Theatre9 — 13 Mar 2027 — Brighton, Dome15 — 20 Mar 2027 — Glasgow, Theatre Royal
How to get Trainspotting the Musical tickets
Trainspotting the Musical tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster and LOVETheatre, starting from just £15.
Buy Trainspotting tickets at LOVETheatre
For more recommendations check out the Going Out section or listen to our new podcast In the Interval. Plus, our Jesus Christ Superstar review and Beetlejuice review. We also have events like the Peaky Blinders immersive experiences and best West End shows.
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