One man show brings all the emotions to the Tron Theatre... as well as dogs!

Man's Best Friend brings Douglas Maxwell's award-winning combination of humour, emotion – and for the first time, dogs to the Tron Theatre!

Article Source: Tron Theatre
Last Updated: 13 May 2025 14:06

Image Credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Tron Theatre Company is delighted to be presenting Man's Best Friend, written by one of Scotland's finest playwrights Douglas Maxwell, and directed by the Tron's Artistic Director Jemima Levick.

Man’s Best Friend is a one man show, performed by the incredibly talented Jordan Young, playing the role of Ronnie. Poor Ronnie has really been through it, and after a difficult lockdown he has been walking his neighbours’ dogs to keep him from losing himself and giving up on life. The dogs and their quirky characters are his daily companions and distraction, but when the inevitable happens and disaster strikes with the dogs making a run for it and disappearing off into the woods, Ronnie is forced to take chase and confront some hard truths along the way.

Jordan Young is a popular Scottish actor well known for his lead role of Alex Murdoch in River City as well as series regular PC Jack McLaren in BAFTA-winning comedy Scot Squad. Jordan also has a long list of theatre, TV and film credits including Vigil, Doctors, Shetland, Still Game and Rebus (BBC), A Scottish Love Scheme (Hallmark), Filth (Logie Pictures), Chemo Savvy (Gilded Balloon); News Just In (Random Accomplice); Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), What the Animals Say (Òran Mór).

After almost exactly 25 years since the world premiere of Douglas Maxwell’s very first show at the Tron, Our Bad Magnet, it is a treat to open Man’s Best Friend on the same stage with this funny tale of love, loneliness, and fluffy companionship.

Writer Douglas Maxwell says of the play: “I had my debut play staged in the Tron, way back in 2000. Since then, every time I’ve had work on there it’s felt special. The humour, sadness and hope in my writing tends to strike a chord. A one person show is an intimate thing. But it can create a powerful theatrical connection between a skilled storyteller and an audience, built in empathy, imagination and shared experience, which in the end becomes something much bigger. That’s also what Man’s Best Friend is about. Our need to connect with the world, to be of use, to be bigger. And dogs. It’s also about dogs.”

Originally staged at Òran Mór as part of A Play, A Pie and a Pint, this is a new longer and fully staged incarnation on the main Tron stage and directed by the Tron Theatre’s Jemima Levick.

Artistic Director Jemima Levick says: “The first play I ever saw in the Tron Theatre was as a drama student in the year 2000. It was called Our Bad Magnet by Douglas Maxwell, and I completely loved it. So, to present one his plays in my first season, really is an honour. Douglas is undisputably one of Scotland’s leading playwrights – his work speaks to audiences on a profound level. His humour and depth of feeling is hard to compete with, so it felt right to turn to his back catalogue when looking for a show we might tour nationally and reach audiences across Scotland. Set in Glasgow, Man’s Best Friend has a universality to it; a heart that speaks to dog lovers, to people living with loneliness and loss, and to anyone that needs to settle into where they belong.”

After the run at the Tron Theatre the production will head out on tour to Ayr, Dumfries, Inverness, Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh from 03 - 27 September.

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