"Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family…" and so on. Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting is a wonderfully powerful look into the nature of addiction that manages to be brutal and brutally coherent. Naked Lunch was a lot more accomplished, but Welsh's work kept the nature of addiction very, very grounded in reality in a story that nonetheless had a very clear and energetic pulse.
This month, Off The Wall Theatre stages an adaptation of the novel. 17 year-old Luke Walaszek plays Renton--the central character of the drama populated by strange phantoms of human beings in Scottland in the '80s.
The show is directed by Jeremy C. Welter. The cast includes some more established talent including Kurtis Witzlsteiner as Sick Boy and Jocelyn Ridgely as Alison.
The immediacy of one of Milwaukee's smallest stages is being harnessed for the production under the direction of Jeremy C. Welter who has appeared onstage with the Off the Wall countless times. He knows what works and he wouldn't've chosen this drama if he didn't love it. So here's hoping it's good.
Off the Wall Theatre's production of Trainspotting runs October 25th - November 4th at Off the Wall's space on 127 east Wells Street. For ticket reservations, call 414-327-3552.
