Hey all- been abit I know, but I have been at it once again. This month I took on an old project with a new twist… Trainspotting. Where did it all begin? OH YEAH! We had just pulled into Charlotte from New York… it was 6pm. I had time to change my socks, have a beer and book it to rehearsal at 6:30 where I would spent almost all of September. “Trainspotting?” you say… Yes Trainspotting. Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. (Adapted for stage by Harry Gibson.)
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I ran it three years ago at the World famous Milestone where Lucio was the lead actor.
Here’s what they had to say:
From Arts a la Mode
TRAINSPOTTING
Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh
Adapted for the stage by Harry Gibson
Directed by James Cartee
A Citizens of the Universe Production
The Milestone Club, January 23-25, 2008Kudos to producer/director James Cartee. Not since Artzilla has Charlotte seen such an original, subversive production. And yes, it's that Trainspotting. You may have seen the 1996 film which has become a cult favorite. Also adapted from the book, the film is a gritty black comedy about a group of young, socially disaffected heroin users in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1980s. It doesn't get much blacker (comedically) and grittier than the stage production at the Milestone Club. It is definitely not for those with delicate sensibilities. Age should have nothing to do with it, though. A person can be old at 20, and young at 80, so don't let that stop you from attending the closing performance tonight.
There is a reason, if not a message to all three incarnations of this story. We are mostly guided on our "tour" of the mean streets by Mark Renton (John Wray) who looks around him and is not impressed with what he sees. You'll probably recognize much of the dialogue, "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a ******* big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers…" Then, the crux of the play, "I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reason? There are no reasons – who needs reasons when you have heroin?" As mentioned, this is not a message play. The audience simply goes along for the ride. There isn't a plot per se either, but a series of escalating scenes that shows the brutality of addiction. Renton is intelligent, he tells us he is a dropout university student, but alienated and staring at the "truth" as he sees it in the beginning; you are born, suffer and die, without much fanfare or making a difference. Yet, if you become addicted, all your fears, anxieties, and problems just become one big problem - scoring heroin.
Also along for the journey are the multiple characters portrayed with zeal by the ensemble cast, all giving every ounce of energy to the multiple scene changes, costumes, and Scottish accents they use. John Wray is outstanding as Renton, the sarcastic, alienated, anti-hero. He maintains the accent throughout, but is understandable. If his performance doesn't work, the play doesn't work, but he does an excellent job of making Renton just human enough that there is empathy in the face of his depraved behavior. That's not easy. Joel Sumner is a standout in his roles, especially as the initially sweet, naive Tommy. Jenny Wright is one of those actors who bring energy onstage whenever she's in a scene, and is interesting to watch. She has one of the grossest scenes in the play, but somehow makes it work. Diego V. Francica is the most intense actor in the production and suitably scary as Berghie, although at times I couldn't understand his thick accent. The other actors: Stephen West-Rogers, Kaddie Sharpe, and Teresa Abernathy also add nicely to the mix.
The "comedy" alternates with the torturous, shocking scenes of Renton trying to kick his habit when he's physically sick and bodily functions are out of his control, or he callously uses other people. Because Renton doesn't preach to the audience, merely reporting on his debased life as an addict, the audience can witness everything without being forced to make a decision of right or wrong. It simply is the way it is. Renton's explanation about why he choose heroin? "Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you're still not near it." Then you see the result of that choice.
The Milestone Club provides good atmosphere for this particular play. The program is a bonus and unlike any I've ever seen with CD's of songs donated by various local and regional bands. The technical folks deserve special consideration that so much was achieved with so little, but wear warm clothes. The near capacity audience sat in their coats throughout the play, although it didn't dampen their enthusiasm. Trainspotting is quite an accomplishment.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva
Good times. We only ran three days, so I wanted to bring it back someday. Story Slam here in Charlotte’s Plaza- Midwood area offered up everything at the right time. (In fact, I ran a couple of rehearsals by phone from New York.) This time the crew was: Berry Newkirk, Jenny Wright, Stephen West-Rogers, Joel Sumner, Mimi Harkness, Chris Freeman, Kaddie Sharpe Costumes and Props by: Rebecca Brown & Amanda Liles, Music & light design by: Xavier Neuro, Set Design: Diego Francica, Stage Art and Painting: Bread & Water, Light & Sound op: Kim Sellers
And what a damn good crew it was. So let’s jump into this why don’t we?
COTU unloads the ultimate gross-out
September 22nd, 2010 by Perry Tannenbaum in Arts
I’ve been married to my dear indulgent Sue for more than 11 years and dragging her to see local theater productions for more than 12. But before last Saturday night, she never had a better reason to ask me, “How could you take me to see such shit?” For in the current Citizens of the Universe adaptation of Trainspotting, the sensational 1996 Brit flick revel in the pitfalls of heroin addiction (based on Irvine Welsh’s novel), flying shit bespatters the walls of the Story Slam performing space at the end of the opening scene. Then bookending Act 1, it comes splashing toward us, out of the nastiest toilet bowl in Scotland, just before intermission.
Fortunately, the two scenes forming this fecal sandwich are nearly as funny as they are gross, certainly among the most hilarious I’ve seen this year. Even more fortunately, director James Cartee and his guerilla chemists aren’t simulating the smells of these scenes along with the sludgy sights. Otherwise, Sue and I would have made a beeline for Central Avenue. We were courteously warned, by the playbill and Cartee’s curtain speech, that the front rows should be considered splash zones (although sewage was not mentioned), so we did retreat to the second row. Tipped off during the break that there would be no further shit in Act 2 – or I should say shite, since most of the Edinburgh folk have accents thicker than diarrhea – we returned safely to the front.
The font of all the shite spewage is our narrator/hero Mark Renton, whom we first encounter waking up in a strange bed that he has thoroughly befouled, aside from the aforementioned solids, with vomit, urine, and a sprinkle of semen. Such are the repellent degradations experienced by a truly devout junkie, and it would be cruel to divulge how Mark’s private shame hilariously and unforgettably explodes at his hosts’ breakfast table. Suffice it to say that Berry Newkirk, so scintillating last month as the mastermind in Queen City Theatre’s Rope, is every bit as perfect here and far more charming. And let’s not overlook Mark’s redeeming qualities, for it is on the road to kicking his dependency that Newkirk must muck around in that ugly, graffiti-decorated toilet. The graffiti, by set designer Diego Francico, is lavished over a scenic concept best described as urban outhouse.
It’s Stephen West-Rogers who turns this production into something of a foreign language travail without the benefit of subtitles, for I may be wildly exaggerating if I claim to have understood 40% of the slang-infested brogue he speaks as Francis Begbie, Mark’s best bud. Still the violent vehemence of this obviously cynical and embittered young man needs no translation, and West-Rogers is mercifully intelligible in his other six roles.
Everyone else in the cast has at least three different roles as this picaresque kaleidoscope unfolds. Joel Sumner is the most affecting as Tommy, the clean-cut friend who too easily persuades Mark to cook up his first dose of smack – and is a totally lost soul from that moment on. Chris Freeman is most memorable as Johnny Swan, the déclassé local drug dealer who isn’t above it all.
Women have lesser roles here – we are back in the 80s, after all – but they can be vivid nonetheless. This is especially true for Mimi Harkness, who is an abused girlfriend, a battered wife, and perhaps most indelibly, a stoned dominatrix among her seven incarnations. Kaddie Sharpe is quite capable as a couple of the girlfriends we encounter along the way, including the one whose home Mark wakes up in at the start, but she’s not the sensation she was last year in Fight Club. On the other hand, Jenny Wright is haunting as Allison, a rather criminally unfit mother – to us and to Mark, who hallucinates about Allison’s dead baby in the throes of withdrawal.
A top 10 film in BFI’s list of the 100 best Brit flicks of the 20th Century, Trainspotting wasn’t exactly drawing a sellout crowd at Story Slam last Saturday night when we went. So this week, they’re reducing tickets to $10. At that price, you’ve got to see this shit.
TRAINSPOTTING
Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh
Adapted for the stage by Harry Gibson
Directed by James Cartee
Citizens of the Universe
Story Slam
September 15-26, 2010Based on the cult novel by Irvine Welsh which follows the lives of several young people in Leith, Edinburg all of whom are either addicted to heroin or whose lives revolve around others with such addictions, Trainspotting is a energetic, obscene, sometimes poignant evening. Set in the 1980s, the play revels in the lowest levels of humanity. No bodily function is off limits and any fluid that can be emitted by the male or female body is referred to at least once. Usually this is to good effect, and some good laughs are created by taking the audience to the edge of their comfort level and beyond. Still, with scene after scene after scene of depravity one begins to wish for a little something more. Welsh’s novel both celebrates and lampoons the disaffected youth of 1980s Scotland.
The play makes some attempt at touting redemption, but this seems perfunctory. It is clear the play, like the novel, is more interested in shocking us than in truly examining these lost souls. Still, despite all of this, its youthful, angry, anti-establishment, rant is heartfelt and effective it just never really adds up to anything concrete. So should you see this morally ambiguous mess? Yes, absolutely! Citizens of the Universe‘s production is so sincere, so devoid of self importance or snobbery, that it takes what is essentially an aging hipster’s wet dream and transforms it into a sad riff on the seductive trap of addiction.
The ensemble, though uneven, does a nice job of projecting the too-cool-for-life sentiment of the heroin chic. Accents are handled well-enough and Stephen West-Rogers’ homage to Sean Connery in one brief scene gets a well-deserved laugh. Berry Newkirk, last seen in Queen City’s Rope gets more opportunities to emote here as Mark. His character tries to be good despite the lack of anything for him to live for. He slowly becomes aware of the sinking ship he and his friends are on, and eventually tries to save himself. Newkirk conveys all of this nicely. Jenny Wright holds her own against the depravity of the men in this ensemble, able to shock as well as the best of them, but still finding some small moments of reflection and tenderness. Stephen West-Rogers does well as Begbie (and others) and is perhaps the best at the thick dialects which forms the core of one quite humorous monologue. For the most part the cast is quite good and it is clear all are quite committed to this production. Every now and then you see an ensemble that feels more like you’re watching the members of some indie punk rock band than an acting troupe, that’s what I felt here!
Special mention must be made of Diego Francica’s phenomenal set. Setting the play in a men’s room is inspired and appropriate. The wall-to-wall mural of Bread and Water also enhances the nihilistic environment. The minimal lighting equipment is put to good use by Eric Winkenwerder. Though I like the use of original music, some preshow music and other choices were confusing to me. Though the text of the play seems set very clearly in the eighties with its mention of AIDS as a certain death sentence, the music is quite contemporary. Another minor quibble—no mention in the program (unless its in the microscopic print at the bottom which no one can read) is made of this being based on the novel of the same name nor of the author Irvine Welsh. Its clear that COTU celebrates the arts and the artist, and I imagine this slight was certainly unintentional.
When I attended on Friday night, the crowd was small but appreciative. I hope people will find the time to support this exciting theatre troupe. Like Queen City Theatre, COTU has a strong identity and a clear mission, I hope they can find the large audiences they deserve. Trainspotting is good, shocking fun. So leave grandma and the kids at home and head out to Story Slam! Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson
Tim Baxter-Ferguson is an associate professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.
Trainspotting Review
by Colby Davis on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 2:35am
Choose This Show
by Colby DavisI did not see Trainspotting when it was first produced here in Charlotte by the Citizen's of the Universe, nor have I read the novel it is based on. I hear there is an Alec Guinness movie as well. I’ll have to check that out. As virgin as my experience was to this rollercoaster of disgusting hilarity, I knew it involved one thing at least: Heroin. That’s it. Well, there are a lot of things that come to mind when you think of heroin. Things like spoons, needles, rubber bands, and even HIV. But what the common junkie doesn’t grasp a hold of is clearly portrayed by Jimmy Cartee’s Scatpack. Choose life, because the antithesis is an oxymoronic disillusioned reality of peaks and valleys. Even when someone does “choose life” they still have to account for their past decisions. Decisions that would haunt normal people, but who needs reasons when you have heroin?
I was impressed at how the show, almost simultaneously, made me want to gag and laugh at the same time. There were multiple times when, I warn those faint of stomach, I embarrassed myself trying to keep from throwing up. I say embarrassed because I didn’t want to take away from what was going onstage. “Just think of it as oatmeal and chocolate syrup”, another show seer said to me. I was not able to. The show sucked me in like blood in a syringe and shot me up with dose after dose of brutal, raw, uncensored glory. Censoring this show is akin to digitally putting Jabba back in to the original Star Wars film. Don’t do it!
The cast was a fantastic ensemble, changing hats and wigs at a whim, and always bold with their characters. Berry Newkirk leads the group as the main protagonist of the story and brings you along his journey from smack, rehab, and everywhere in between and after. He only leaves this character for a brief…ummmm…period...during in which he plays an out of towner at a local pub. The bar maiden, Jenny Wright, uses her sex to her advantage in a scene I will not soon forget. Joel Sumner and Stephen West Rogers both are as hilarious as they are threateningly present. The rest of the cast, Chris Freeman, Mimi Harkness, and Kaddie Sharpe have fantastically sexy and sadistic cameos that leave you wanting for more. I’m relapsing as I type.
The set is beautiful. Black walls with art you might see tagged on any poor building in Charlotte. Three bathroom stalls are the main coming and goings for the characters, props, and effects. Fitting with the themes in the piece, the toilets to me are gateways to possibilities. All throughout, the negativity of the material world is flushed away by the monologues of tempted youths. The show does a great job at showing you what it truly means to be in a fully orgasmic state of mind, but is keen on focusing more on the horrors of its aftermath. Some get a chance to move on, hooray. Some don’t, ah well. But for any theatre goer with a brain open to fantastic storytelling, this won’t be so easy to get over.
Trainspotting is running at Storyslam September 15th-19th, and 22nd-26th. All shows are at 8pm. Visit www.citizensoftheuniverse.org for ticket information. 9/16 is pay what you can night, and 9/22 is "Actor's Night" in which the actors will split the ticket sales.
We ended up finishing strongly but I still felt extraordinarily slighted by the Charlotte Theatre community regulars. I pull in more people who are outside of the community at almost every show than I do them- hence a nod for Theatre person of the year at the 2009 MTA awards. I’m trying very hard to grow an audience and show them that not only is classic theatre a great time but show the classic theatre community that the new stuff out there is as great a story as say- I dunno, Uncle Vanya. That is why when the mover and shakers of the community come out in droves to support a product of grossly inferior showmanship, ethic and value; I fume to the high heavens when they don’t bother to come out for what is- in my opinion- some of the best work I’ve ever done. Honestly, I don’t do this for them. I do this for the love of doing it- seeing each person I work with grow in their respected own ways. Opening up possibilities and coming together as a group in ways that I haven’t seen before. But give me a damn break. We go out of way to put on the best damn show we can. We offer up solid and exhilarating performances… We are making our own community and I’ll be damned if I will let it die cause the establishment doesn’t care to come out. I do feel that a corner is about to be tuned though- we were nominated for 6 MTA’s this year (we don’t do this for awards, but damn it feels good to get nominated.). And for a company’s first year with the MTA, I have been told that unheard of. Here are the nominees:
Outstanding Production
Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the UniverseOutstanding Supporting Actor – Male
Tom Ollis (Mr. Blond) - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the UniverseOutstanding Cameo
Biniam Tekola (K-Billy the DJ) - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the Universe
James Lee Walker III (Holdaway) - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the UniverseOutstanding Choreography
Kara Wooten - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the UniverseOutstanding Special Technical Effect
Amanda Liles – makeup and blood effects - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the Universe
Rebecca Brown – makeup and blood effects - Reservoir Dogs – Citizens of the UniverseI was even nominated for best Cameo in the Southern region for my work on Much Ado About Nothing. SO- long story short (too late), we had an awesome show and had an awesome time doing it. There are many things now growing out of this experience that I did not foresee- and they are all good, so stay tuned.
MEANWHILE, at the children’s theatre… I had a great job and gave it up due to many an issue. However, cause I needed the money to keep doing what I love, I signed on for Aladdin. It’s a cute little, fast- paced show where I get to run the flies for Agrabah- making carpets fly and doing all that is the best of theatre magic here in Charlotte. Gotta say, the show has grown on me- but when KC comes… I’m there 100%... and I’m damn looking forward to it. That means I’m super psyched folks- I’ve dyed my shirt… polished my leather… I even still have all of my hair (cough* lucio*cough) but that’s not going to last. I’m planning on doing a fundraiser to help out my next big project- The Princess Bride. Yes you read that right- COTU is doing the Princess Bride in March. What’s the fundraiser you ask? I’m stepping back into GONZO land as Hunter Thompson in my solo showing of A Brutal Chrysalis. You might remember me getting kicked out of a spot in Plymouth, MA for doing that show. Yeah- it’s that damn good. So if you’re around in November… come on out. It’ll help me do something no one is going to forget for awhile when we launch Bride.
Ok- I guess that’s enough shilling for me for the moment. I hope everyone out there is doing well, we hope to you out in Carolina soon! KC- we’re coming!
Alright- goodnight folks, sweet dreams-
-x
