Educating Fronnie
SEE IT AT THE ADELAIDE FRINGE
TWO SHOWS ONLY
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 28TH AND WEDNESDAY MARCH 5TH 2008
8pm.
One hour duration approximately.
South Australian Folk Centre.
Corner George Street and South Road, Thebarton
A Play - A Satire - A Social 
Experiment
We are promised an educational revolution, but does our government know want we want? Educating Fronnie is a play about competing views of what our education system is supposed to be doing. It gives the audience the opportunity to hear the arguments, barrack for the good ones, reject the wrong headed, vote in winners, send a message to politicians, and be much entertained in the process.
Meet Rex Right. He's a likeable, no-nonsense sort of bloke and he reckons schools are there to give kids the skills they will need to get a good job. Or is he really a stooge providing factory fodder for capitalist corporations? He is bitterly opposed by Libby Left, a strident advocate for social justice. Or does she just want to hold school kids hostage to her loony-left agenda?
Rex and Libby, as well as the audience, are on a spaceship about to settle on a new planet. Committees have been formed to look at Law and Order, Health, the Economy and so on. The audience plays the role of the General Assembly sitting in on the discussions of the discussions of the Education Committee.
Rex and Libby are joined by Peter Pastor. He thinks education's task is to bring children up as decent, moral people. Or does he just want to indoctrinate them with his own prejudices? Chris Childs wants it to be all about meeting everybody's individual needs, but maybe she is on another planet altogether.
In contrast, Siggy Sykes declares children are little animals, the teacher's task is just to keep a lid on things and they should be left to get on with the job.
Frank Fronesis is the chair, struggling to manage the arguments and trying to come up with a compromise.
The audience members barrack for their choice of hero and at the end cast votes. Winners and losers are declared.
This witty and topical theatrical satire engages the audience who thereby send a message to politicians, bureaucrats and teachers. If Education is a political football, we all want a kick!
Educating Fronnie is written and presented by Paul Jewell who researches and lectures in the philosophy of education at Flinders University. He will publish the results of the audience vote.
Directed by Clare McCarty.
Starring: Josh Coldwell as Francis Fronesis, Jarrod Chave as Rex Right, Richard Potter as Peter Pastor, Emma Maguire as Libby Left, Brianna Stratford as Chris Childs and James Reed as Siggy Sykes.
Join them in the battle for children's minds. The future is in your hands!