WITNESSING a close one suffer a debilitating neurological illness has spurred the founder of a theatre group to travel the country with their newest show in hopes of raising much-needed funds and awareness for charity.

Adrian McDougall, the founder of Bracknell-based Blackeyed Theatre, hopes his company's production of American classic The Great Gatsby will help raise money for Ataxia UK and boost awareness of the condition after watching a close family friend, a bridesmaid at his wedding, deal with the condition which has left her wheelchair bound. 

The show will come to South Hill Park arts centre at the end of September as part of a national tour with a pound from the sale of each programme being donated to Ataxia UK - a charity which researches cures and treatments for the condition but which relies entirely on donations. 

Mr McDougall hopes the money will go a long way to support the charity's work and audience members will leave with a greater understanding of the condition which affects the balance and coordination of around 10,000 people in the UK.

He said: "This show is the biggest show we have done and we are going to 30 theatres across the UK, it's going to be seen by a lot of people and we're hoping to raise awareness through the programme by explaining what Ataxia is and what the charity do.

"Awareness is important because it affects a relatively small number of people and the charity doesn't receive any funding from the government - a cure could be found but they don't have the money to do the research it needs."

The 15-year-old girl who inspired Adrian's charity push didn't wish to be named but is described as a 'very bright' girl with dreams of going to university after achieving an A grade in her Science GCSE she took a year early.

The girl's mother praised Ataxia UK as 'amazing' and said: "There's always someone at the end of the phone to talk to you. They're an amazing charity who do such great work but they're very small and receive no public funding so it's so important to raise awareness. We hadn't heard of Ataxia until our daughter was diagnosed in 2008. 

"It means the absolute world that Adrian is raising money through the show, it's going to be fantastic and the donation is the best gift Adrian could possibly give us."

For tickets to the show visit www.southillpark.org.uk