One Off: A Newcastle man's experiences of prison life at HMP Durham are retold through theatre
A Newcastle man is sharing his experiences of his time as an inmate at Durham prison - and the impact of prison suicides with a new play
A Newcastle man is sharing his experiences of his time as an inmate at Durham prison - and the impact of prison suicides with a new play
Ric Renton wrote One Off - which is prison slang for an inmate taking their own life - after his time inside, and has brought it to Live Theatre in Newcastle
He tells us he wanted to use his voice to share the story, for all the people who wouldn't otherwise get the chance;
"One Off was all the dignity afforded to those who could take no more. No names. Not even their number. One off.
"I am DV7786.
"And I write this for all the dead boys, and for night watchman Jock, who, without his invisible, persistent presence, unseen in the corridors of HMP Durham, I too may have just been another One Off."
Ric was born in Denton Burn, and spent time as a young adult in HMP Durham, which at the time had the highest suicide rate in the country.
Whilst behind bars, Ric learnt to write - and One Off is the story of his time in prison, and the people who he met there.
Ric tells us it felt good to be able to set down his story;
"It was brilliant because I've lived it!
"Living it was the hard part - re-doing it is the fun part, I get to reframe all these memories.
"I'd recommend it to anyone, anyone who has had a difficult experience, write it down, put it out there
"It's a fantastic way to reframe some experiences which could have been a little bit better."
Ric also stars as central character Shepherd, and is joined by North East actor Ryan Nolan, and South Shields born Ricky Shah as his fellow prisoners, and Malcolm Shields as Jock the security guard who Ric says helped change his life.
He tells us it's been a joy to bring the show to Newcastle - and it feels fitting that the Quayside location of Live Theatre is the starting place for the show;
"The idea of it coming to Newcastle and beginning life at Live, which sits a very low effort coin toss to the crown courts where this story all began, means a huge amount to me.
"January 5th this year - when I had a meeting with Live, and I took a minute to linger on the Quayside right outside the Crown Court, a building I've walked into maybe 15, 20, 25 times - and this time I got to walk past it and down Broad Chare, and take a left into Live.
"The entrance to Live sits exactly opposite the exit of the crown court building where I was tussled into and flung into one of those really unglamorous meat wagons and I looked and it was just this moment of validation - like 'yeah my life has changed.'"
One Off is on at Live Theatre until the 26th of November, with BSL interpretation, Audio Described and Captioned performances all available.
You can find out more about Ric via Twitter and Live Theatre online.