Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
Hello! My name’s Greg Esplin and I am 30-year-old Scottish actor living down in London. I am the co-director of Trainspotting Live and play Tommy in the show.
How would you describe your show?
Trainspotting is a 75-minute punchy, exciting, and harrowing piece of theatre. It’s set up like a ‘hit’ of drugs, it starts off great, fun, exhilarating but ultimately those highs must have a low, and this show really explores both of those extremities. It’s theatre for everybody. I want people who feel like theatre is not for them and come see this show. I grew up thinking theatre wasn’t for me and only for the very upper class of society and I’m glad I realised that isn’t the case.
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
This will be my seventh time performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. I really do love it. Let’s not pretend it’s perfect though. The fringe festival was started to give people who weren’t in the international festival a chance to showcase their work but that’s becoming more difficult. I’m from Falkirk and I studied and lived in Edinburgh for five years and I know how much the locals love the city and have a love hate relationship with the festival. The rise of Airbnb’s and ridiculous rental prices is making it a very difficult place for working class people to experience the Fringe. I’m aware how lucky we are that we have had success at the Fringe, but the reality is most people take a loss at the festival. I don’t think people always minded that, but those losses get greater with the increased rental rates, and I don’t claim to have the answer here, but we must make sure that the Fringe remains accessible for working class artists and audience members otherwise it will lose its soul.
What differentiates it from other festivals?
I hope the above didn’t come across too negative! I only say all of that because of how special the Fringe Festival is and how much I really want it to survive. It’s different because it’s literally the biggest arts festival in the world. The whole city changes for a month. It feels like you have more chance of walking into a Fringe venue than not anywhere you go. It’s exciting, people from all backgrounds coming together to share and celebrate their art. Putting themselves out there and taking a risk with something they truly believe in, it’s a beautiful thing.
What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?
I sometimes wonder this myself because I never grew up in a particularly ‘arty’ family. I just always felt like I wanted to do acting. Silly really but I remember being obsessed with the Lord of the Rings 12 hour long special features on the DVD. It was amazing footage of a cast becoming a family, having fun, and creating this magical world and I just remember something switching in me and being like I want to do that.
My first real inspiration – apart from that DVD ha-ha – was my high school drama teacher, Mr Easton. He made me believe that acting was for anyone and why shouldn’t I be able to go for it? I owe a lot to him; I probably wouldn’t have pursued it as seriously if not for him.
How has your background, upbringing and education had an impact on your artistic career?
I grew up in a working-class town that never had any art galleries, pretty much no theatre and very rarely any noteworthy gigs. But it was full of characters and stories. Going to football games, home and away surrounded by these guys who loved to embellish these great stories, it gave me the confidence to start telling stories and I realised I enjoyed that.
I think that’s why I was drawn to stories like ‘The Hard Man’ which was the first play I performed, ‘Black Watch’, the first play that impacted me, and Trainspotting, because it felt like it was full of real, relatable characters.
I went to a school where not a lot of boys chose drama. I remember people questioning me when I dropped PE to study drama for my A-levels, but I knew that if I didn’t choose it then, then it would be too late. That feels like a pivotal moment for me and I’m forever grateful to 16-year-old Greg for being brave enough to do that in an uncomfortable environment.
What is your earliest childhood art memory?
Well, my favourite art form, probably just – a tiny bit – more than acting, is music. So, my earliest memory would be watching my dad cook while he was listening to Van Morrison, The Clash, Echo and the Bunnymen and more. It’s always stuck with me. I adore music so much; I connect my phone to my speaker every morning and take my headphones everywhere with me. It has such an amazing ability to evoke emotion and memories, I love it.
Also, ‘The Singing Kettle Live’ – that was a very different first art memory ha-ha!
If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?
I love the outdoors and working outside has always appealed to me. I do a lot of production work in-between acting which is all over the Highlands, Peak District, the borders and more and I love that. So, I think maybe a job in the Forestry Commission up in the Highlands would be quite nice. Maybe I’m just romanticising that though and maybe in reality I couldn’t hack it!
Did Covid-19 change the way you create work? Do you approach shows with a different mentality now?
This is the first show back we’ve put on since Covid and it’s not a new creation so that’s a tough one. One thing it has given me is a greater appreciation for the arts because man I missed it!
We obviously may have to adapt some parts of our immersive shows like drinking the audience member’s drink just to be a little more precautious, but I don’t think we have to change too much. It is funny though; I’d be lying if I said Covid wasn’t always at the back of my mind now when thinking about the show. Maybe something interesting will come from that? A new piece of blocking or a new thought on a scene. Who knows?
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?
Concerning. Political. Transitional. Worrying. Hope.
Do you subscribe to the idea that art should be exempt from ‘cancel culture’?
Oh, that’s a big question. I won’t lie, it’s not something I’ve sat down and thought about massively.
Like recently, we had that idiot Laurence Fox who made his profile picture a swastika out of pride flags. That’s not up for discussion in my book. Get him cancelled, he’s doing his best to insight hate there and isn’t looking for anything other than a reaction. So f*ck him.
However, I think we must be careful with cancel culture because it could quickly spiral to the left and the right wanting to cancel each other because they don’t like what the other side are saying, and then we end up stuck in our own echo chambers. I’ve also seen instances of people digging up something someone may have tweeted/posted online as a teenager without really understanding what they were talking about nor being a fully rounded adult yet, and calls for them to be cancelled because of that. I think it was Bryan Cranston who talked about that and said how dangerous that can be, and perhaps we need to give people the chance to explain and to apologise and be forgiven in those situations. The gift of forgiveness can be powerful and can bring around new trains of thought for the person being forgiven.
This is a subject I would like to think more about if I’m honest though. People like R-Kelly, a convicted rapist should be cancelled and never allowed to perform again in my own opinion. But that’s very different to just not liking a piece of theatre or art that makes you feel uncomfortable because its expresses and opinion or view you do not agree with, so you want that cancelled.
Art is one of the last things that the government cannot fully regulate, and we need it to hold a mirror up to society. To be able to show the beautiful and the ugly sides of society so we can make people think about it and understand it more. We can’t sanitise art down to the point where it’s just enjoyable but nothing else. We need art that questions the uncomfortable subjects and issues in society. Good art can inspire a reaction for change in people and I think that’s a good thing.
If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?
Oh, that’s a question and a half. I’m so torn between three, but I think it must be Matthew McConaughey. Why? He’s just an incredible actor. His performance in Dallas Buyers Club was one of the best I’ve ever seen on screen and Inception was beautiful. I know that’s probably a boring answer, but I really would love to share a scene with him. He also seems like a very considered and interesting character. I’ve watched a lot of his YouTube videos and read his book and I quite like the way he thinks.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?
When I started taking shows to the fringe, I had just turned 21 and felt fearless and I really think that helped. There was a group of about five of us who wanted to put work on that was challenging and exciting. I saved up some of my student loan and was working about 30 hours a week in a bar while at university to be able to save some money to get a show on and buy some costumes and props etc.
I also must appreciate how lucky I have been that our shows have done well and sold out, which obviously generated some money to be able to reinvest in our next shows. That fact does not escape me and nor should it. We need luck in this industry.
Am I in a place at 30 on how to advise people to bring a show up now in a much tougher economic climate, I don’t know if I am. However, I will offer whatever advise I think could be helpful. Don’t waste whatever money you have on expensive costumes, props or set. Anything we got was either from charity shops or borrowed from someone. People aren’t coming to the fringe expecting to see a West End show and good storytelling is simply that, good storytelling. I know it’s exhausting but you must get out there and flier and sell your show, we would spend 2-3 hours every show day doing this, hangover, or no hangover, you must get out there. One year I remember they worked out the average audience per show was nearly in single figures when you worked it out of the 3000 shows so getting 2 or 3 extra people from a flier is a good achievement.
Twitter. I don’t love social media, but It’s probably sold thousands of tickets for us via word of mouth online. Don’t be scared to do a 20 second speech at the end of your show and ask people to post online with your hashtag if they enjoyed your show, we’ve been doing this for years, no one’s complained about it, and it has helped us massively. Do it.
At the end of the day, the harsh reality is that it’s hard and its expensive and the audiences may be smaller than you hoped for. But you never know who’s going to come see your show and how they can help you, so perform every show like it’s sold to rafters. And remember, you’re doing it and that, is amazing. You’re taking a risk, creating, collaborating and being vulnerable enough to allow people to come see your show and that is a win in my book. So, good luck and I’ll see you on the mile!
When and where can people see your show?
Catch us every night (except Wednesdays) from 18:00 and 21:00 at the Pleasance at the EICC! We are also going straight on a UK tour after this so check out www.trainspottinglive.com for tour dates and cities!
And where can people find, follow and like you online?
I do enjoy a bit of twitter so you can catch me on there at @gregesplin and occasionally I like to post jump fright videos of my flatmate on Instagram at @gresplin. Thanks for having me, much love!
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