Ron Nicol

Ron became an actor with the Lyric Players while studying for a BA degree at Queen's University Belfast. In his final year he was auditioned by Perth Repertory Theatre, was accepted, and started the following week. He didn’t return to university, but went on to spend several years in professional theatre, gaining first-hand experience of repertory, pantomime, music hall, variety and touring productions. He was stage manager and stage director at Perth Rep, stage and company manager at Lincoln Theatre Royal, stage manager at Harrogate Theatre, production manager for John Ridley Projects at Chelmsford Civic and Theatre and stage director at York Theatre Royal.

When Ron left the theatre he settled in Scotland. He gained his BA, added a post-graduate teaching qualification from Moray House College of Education in Edinburgh, and became a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, going on to train radio broadcasters at Glenrothes College in Fife, lecture in theatre with the University of St Andrews Adult Education Department, and act as adviser to the Scottish Community Drama Association.

In 1978 he and his wife Norma, a former professional actress, co-founded Glenrothes Theatre Company in Fife. For the next 46 years he wrote and directed the company's productions, with most of his plays and pantomimes being accepted for publication. In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours Norma and Ron were both awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to Amateur Drama.

A member of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators, he’s adjudicated at festivals throughout Scotland and Ireland - and as far afield as Hong Kong. He’s also been judge of the Geoffrey Whitworth Playwriting Competition and of the Scottish Community Drama Association’s Play on Words and Monologue Writing Competitions.

Ron is now published in the UK by Stagescripts, in the UK and USA by Concord Theatricals/Samuel French, and in the Netherlands by Toneeluitgeverij Vink - in Dutch. There have been over 600 productions of his plays throughout the UK and in Ireland, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, China, Pakistan, Singapore and Hong Kong. His one-act plays have won 5 Writing Prizes and appeared at drama festivals in the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada - including 5 Scottish National Youth Finals and an Irish National Final - winning a total of 170 Festival Awards.