Educating Ronnie- Edinburgh Festival

Assembly George Square

Thursday, August 2, 2012 - Sunday, August 26, 2012

A World Premiere. Created by Joe Douglas and Gareth Nicholls

Produced by macrobert and Utter in association with HighTide Festival Theatre

‘Brother, I need £20 to stay in school. Help?’

Tickets: £8-£12. £6 (previews)

Winner - FRINGE FIRST 2012 AWARD

FOUR STARS - The Scotsman, Whatsonstage, The List, The Independent. 

BOOK HERE

Overview

When Joe was 18 he went to Uganda, a typical gap-year kid - safaris, orphanages, new-found friends - he ticked all the boxes.
 
Little did he know that one friendship would follow him for ten years all the way back to Manchester and beyond. 
 
Educating Ronnie is the compelling true story of Joe and Ronnie and the faith they put in one another. It’s the story of Ronnie asking for help and Joe trying to bridge a 4000-mile gap. Performed by Joe himself it explores charity, friendship and how good intentions can easily become guilty burdens.
 
Following work in progress performances at HighTide Festival 2012 and the Imaginate Festival, Educating Ronnie premieres at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
 
Joe Douglas is a freelance theatre director. He trained at Rose Bruford College where he graduated in 2006 with a BA (hons) Directing. His directing credits include: Our Teacher’s A Troll (National Theatre of Scotland), Videotape (Oran Mor, Glasgow), One For The Road and Fantasy Football (BAC), 5+1 (24:7 Theatre Festival), Face to the Wall and A Christmas Carol (Rose Bruford College).
 
Gareth Nicholls is a theatre director based in Glasgow, Scotland but working throughout the UK and Europe. He makes theatrical performances that are both provocative and entertaining with a sense of play, innovation and investigation at their heart.
 
Running time 60 minutes approx. No interval.
 
Start Time: 13.15
End Time: 14.15
 
Join in the conversation @ Twitter #ronnie
 
Suitable for ages 14+
 
Part of Made in Scotland 2012
 

Cast/Creative

Written and Performed by Joe Douglas

Directed & Dramaturged by Gareth Nicholls

Set Designed by Lisa Sangster

Video Designed by Tim Reid

Composed and Sound Designed by Michael John McCarthy

 

Meet the Playwright

Tell us in a sentence why we should see Educating Ronnie.

Because I did this weird thing, in giving money to Ronnie, and I’m not sure whether it was always the right or wrong thing to do, but I reckon our story’s interesting and it will make you feel and think.

Why did you decide to become a writer?

I don’t really think of myself as a writer – I’m a theatre director by trade, so its weird to call myself a writer.  But I wanted to make a show out of this autobiographical story and I was the only person who could write it. The first thing I did was get a director on board who I could trust, someone who’d give it to me straight. Gareth Nicholls is the ideal collaborator.  He won’t sentimentalise my relationship with Ronnie, nor will he dismiss it as naive. Finding someone as curious as me in the subject matter was key.

What inspired you to write this play?

My relationship with Ronnie and the emails and texts he sent me about his life there. I’ve wanted to make a show  that questions the inequalities between our lives in the UK and life in much poorer countries, like Uganda – using this small, personal story seemed the best way to explore bigger issues.

Who inspires you and how do they inform your work?

Great theatre directors and innovators, people who take on big, bold ideas in their work and communicate them truthfully and beautifully; favourites include Peter Brook, Annie Castledine and Thomas Ostermeier. Working in Scottish theatre and with the artists there has given me an appreciation of a more populist style and audience, without diminishing the quality of the work. And artists with a strong moral conscience but who tell a good yarn with it, like George Orwell, Bill Hicks or Jeremy Deller.

Reviews

Read about the Made in Scotland 2012 programme in The Herald.

A fascinating story simply told. Whatsontage, FOUR STARS.
 
This is as thought-provoking as they come. The Independent, FOUR STARS. 
 
A gift of a story. The List, FOUR STARS.
 
A beautiful, quiet eloquence and ingenuity. The Scotsman, FOUR STARS.

Book Now

Tickets can be booked through the Assembly website here. 

N.B There will be no performance August 13 and 20.