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About the Event · About the Actor · About the Play · About the Director · Related Links · Sponsors · Reviews
Conversation with a Tramp:
An Evening with John Muir
Pre-Edinburgh Festival Fringe Performance of
Lee Stetson's One Man Play
Saturday, 27th July 1996
at Dunbar Primary School 6.00pm
Tickets £3/£2 conc.
To help celebrate the 2nd birthday of Dunbar's John Muir Association (DJMA), Theatre of the Heart have very kindly agreed to preview their Edinburgh Festival Fringe production of Lee Stetson's one-man play - 'Conversation with a Tramp: An Evening with John Muir'.
True adventure stories from the life of visionary Scottish-American wilderness warrior John Muir. American actor Bill Ritch and Scottish director Stewart Friendship bring John Muir alive on stage to retell in Muir's own words the joyful encounters with the wilderness that led to Muir's spirited defence of wild lands and wild creatures. Soar to the excitement of riding a tree top storm - share his thrilling escape from Yosemite Falls.
Before the performance begins, birthday cake and drinks will be served.
Muir's own battle to save and preserve the world's landscapes and wildernesses are vividly brought to life by Bill Ritch's portrayal of the man who is as famous to Americans as Abraham Lincoln of Andrew Carnegie, yet in Scotland is largely unknown.
Bill Ritch is a former US army Major and rifle platoon leader in the Vietnam War. He's replacing military tactics with theatrical moves in his own personal battle to overcome post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his experiences in Vietnam.
Bill says "I see parallels in Muir's writings and his emotional convictions to fight on for what was right and to keep battling despite the odds. The emotions mirror my own life experiences in the Vietnam war and my subsequent realisation that destruction - in this case, war - has to be stopped despite the odds against it."
And it is this theatrical-based outpouring of determined courage to stand up for nature and its emotional parallels with Bill's Vietnam experience that has led him down the theatrical path to spiritual and emotional peace.
Said Bill "The play contains the spirituality of the man through flashback scenes from Muir's childhood through to his struggle to preserve areas of wilderness from man's destruction. That same dogged, determined spirit is within us all."
Bill continued: "I particularly relate to that with regard to war causation and the peace movement and I thought that if we all looked at things in those terms, the world would be a more peaceful place. That thinking was a huge revelation for me."
Bill first saw the play when the author, Lee Stetson, performed it in 1986. He was so moved by it that he kept in touch with Stetson, but it took Bill TEN years to persuade the playwright that he was the man to stage the production in Scotland.
Bill said triumphantly: "Seeing what I've done over the past ten years, the deep connection that I've had with community theatre and the process of my healing and coming to terms with what had gone on in my life, convince me that I was the man to perform his play. I hope I do it justice."
Written by American author Lee Stetson this will be the first time the play has been performed by anyone other than the playwright himself. The theme of the play is the life of visionary Scottish-American wilderness warrior John Muir, whose own personal battle led him to the spirited defence of wild land and wild creatures in America. Muir is the world pioneer of nature conservation and the passion with which Bill relates Muir's adventures of his private war to preserve the wilderness of Yosemite National Park, comes straight from the heart.
The play is directed by Stewart Friendship a former member of Rag Tag, East Kilbride's first professional company. He is well known as an actor and director on the drama circuit in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. His experience covers productions in many SCDA (Scottish Community Drama Association) amateur drama festivals, writing scripts for local community groups and designing and buiding sets for his productions. Stewart is also a teacher at Kennyhill School in Glasgow.
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