AUTHOR Irvine Welsh revealed he is turning Trainspotting into a stage musical for the West End.
Welsh, 63, said he's working on plans to bring characters Renton, Sick Boy, and Begbie to life on the stage.
The writer told the Scotsman he is working with Phil McIntyre, one of Britain’s leading entertainment producers, on the musical.
Welsh said he has created 14 new songs for the show and hopes it will go straight onto London's West End.
The 1993 novel was adapted for the stage within nine months of its publication.
Harry Gibson’s production for the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, originally starred Ewen Bremner in the lead role of Renton.
After being overlooked for the part in Danny Boyle’s film in favour of Ewan McGregor, Bremner took on the role of Spud.
A new version of Gibson’s production was launched in 2017 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was performed in a tunnel beneath the EICC.
Welsh said: “I don’t want to jinx something that’s in development, but my songwriting partner Steve and I have done 14 brand new songs for a Trainspotting musical.
"We do a kind of techno act together, but we’ve stepped up to write urban house, blues, jazz, disco and rock ‘n’ roll songs and power ballads.
"We’ve got the songs and we’ve got a script for it.
"We’re looking at things like casting, choreographers and set designers.
"We’re looking at doing it about a year from now at the earliest, but I think we’ll probably try to go straight into the West End.
"That’s the ambition for it.”
Welsh also revealed Edinburgh author Jenni Fagan is working on the adaptation of his novel The Blade artist into a TV series, which will see Robert Carlyle reprise Begbie.
He said: “We’ve had masses of people expressing an interest in it.
“We want to take the heat off it for a bit now and just get working on developing the scripts.
"Jenni is such a brilliant writer and will do a fabulous job.
“I didn’t want do to it myself because it’s too recent a book for me.
“I want to be excited by it again.
”I think Jenni will give it something else and another twist that will make it more interesting.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel