Trainspotting – Hill Street Drama Lodge **

Thumping rave music greets the audience as they enter the performance space and signifies the intent of this production by In Your Face Theatre. This immersive piece has the audience dispersed around a room with the young, energetic and dedicated cast in this version of Trainspotting. As much praise as one can give to the performance, based on how little one manges to see, there is a major problem with sight line. Scenes mostly takes place in the corners and sides of the room and given the lack of stewarding, the audience inevitably crowd around the performers. It does not take many before it is four of five people deep and any meaningful view is lost unless you feel like elbowing your way to the front. Then the question is whether there is enough in the production to justify the format, for which the answer will have to be no. Most of the actions are static and make no interaction with the space, they can very well takes place on a proper stage. At least then the actors can have the attention they deserve. The format is completely redundant apart from a few pats on the shoulders with the audience. The immersive format is not easy to pull off without clever audience manoeuvring and interaction with the space which are both sadly missing in this.