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Gerda Stevenson, actor/writer/director, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, where she won the Vanbrugh Award. She has worked for over 30 years on stage, television, radio and film throughout Britain and abroad. She has dramatised many Scottish novels for BBC Radio 4, most recently Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s SUNSET SONG, broadcast in Spring 2009, and Sir Walter Scott’s epic THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (in which she played the heroine Jeanie Deans), nominated for the 2008 Sony Awards.
She has been nominated twice for theCATS awards (Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland), in the Best Actress category for her performance as Nancy in FROZEN by Bryony Lavery (2007), and for her solo performance in The Lasses, O, by Janet Paisley (2009).  
She received a BAFTA Best Film Actress Award for her performance in Margaret Tait’s feature filmBLUE BLACK PERMANENT (co-starring with Celia Imrie and Jack Shepherd), appeared in BRAVEHEART as the mother of Murren, and played a leading role (Anne Muir) in THE BOYHOOD OF JOHN MUIR, an American film for PBS TV. She has appeared in many TV series, including MIDSOMER MURDERS, HEARTBEAT, TAGGART and THE BILL.
Following the success of BBC Radio 4’s THE SULLIVAN MYSTERY, Gerda was on the airwaves once more last year, playing the role of Steve again - wife of Paul Temple, in THE MADISON MYSTERY, a new BBC recording, part of the legendary PAUL TEMPLE MYSTERIES series. More exploits of Paul and Steve to follow!
Gerda has directed productions in theatre, opera, film, and radio, and many plays at Glasgow's lunch-time theatre venue ORAN MOR, including those by Peter Arnott, Catherine Czerkawska, Anne Donovan, Jackie Kay and Rona Munro.
In 2006, she directed THE MEMORANDUM, by Vaclav Havel, a co-production between Communicado and Perth Repertory Company, (see Communicado's website: www.communicadotheatre.co.uk).
In winter 2005/6, she co-wrote, edited and directed a large-scale community drama, PENTLANDS AT WAR, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War. The script of this play, with an introduction by Gerda, was published by Scottish Borders Council Art Services, in 2007.
She is a published writer of poetry, prose, and children's stories. Her writing has appeared in The Scotsman; Cencrastus; Spectrum; Parnassus: Poetry in Review (New York); Cleave (Two Ravens Press), New Writing Scotland, and The Eildon Tree. She was runner up in the latter’s Wilderness competition, and published in the subsequent competition anthology. She was a finalist in Aesthetica magazine poetry competition, December 2008, and more poems will appear in the forthcoming issues of Chapman and Edinburgh Review.
Gerda is a trustee of the Scottish International Education Trust, was the founder of Stellar Quines, and is Associate Director of Communicado Theatre Company.

FEDERER versus MURRAY, a play written and directed by Gerda Stevenson, performed at Oran Mor, May 2010.

photos: Leslie Black

  “… hilarious and heartbreaking. Beattie and Mulgrew turn in fine performances. The finale is a coup du theatre.” The Herald, May 2010.

“Meaty stuff, all batted back and forth across the net by Beattie and Mulgrew like the pros they are. Stevenson produces fine rallies and shows acute human insight.” The Scotsman, 2010.

“The play’s strength is its ability to straddle the personal and political, public and private. Balancing sorrow and comedic timing assures we linger on nothing for too long...we truly sense the acute intensity of their emotions. The last scene is literally and figuratively one of transcendence.” The Big Issue, 2010.

Federer versus Murray by Gerda Stevenson is a hugely uplifting play that combines humour, tragedy, complex characterisation and snappy dialogue into a seamless and emotionally satisfying blend. Using the match between Federer and Murray as a framing device, the play addresses a huge variety of issues, from a couple’s communication problems to patriotism and the aftermath of war for those left behind. The superb acting by Gerard Mulgrew and Maureen Beattie feels totally organic and makes their two characters immediately endearing to the audience, while Konrad Wiszniewski’s saxophone playing adds an extra layer of symbolism and emotion. Alexa Ispas, Oran Mor’s Critics’ Circle.

Federer versus Murray. I was totally enthralled with the performance today. I thought there was so much in the content; raw emotion, anger, grief, humour, and political comment all thrown into a long term relationship where so much is taken for granted and yet there is hope for salvaging the relationship and moving on together. I am from Sydney Australia and just loved the venue. Philip Harcourt, Oran Mor’s Critics’ Circle. 

What a wonderful play! So much emotion in such a short time. Maureen Beattie is superb and Gerry Mulgrew is a class act. Do not miss this highly topical and emotional play. Sandra Burnett, Oran Mor’s Critics’ Circle.

 

 

Photographs on this website by:
Andrew Wilson
Richard Campbell
Graham Hart
Sean Hudson
David Lyon
Douglas McBride
Murdo McLeod
Barbara McDermitt
Eamonn McGoldrick
Murdo MacLeod
Gerda Stevenson
Leslie Black

 

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The Lasses, O. by Janet Paisley.

"...so passionately inventive and well-made, that on Saturday night in Melrose, some of the audience were moved to a standing ovation...a new perspective on Burns...a passionate and beautifully pitched performance from Gerda Stevenson. John Bett's production, is one of the most subtly feminist shows I've seen in a while; one in which the desire, creativity, nurturing energy and tradition-bearing power of women take a memorable leading role, even as they celebrate the life and song of a rare man who, instead of fearing the sensual power of women, matched it with his own, allowing it to soar free."
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, April, 2009.

Photography and Lighting Design by Andrew Wilson www.gobolight.co.uk

"The Lasses, O - skilfully written, subtly directed by John Bett for the Rowan Tree company, performed with terrific commitment and no little virtuosity by Gerda Stevenson, and accompanied by three young (and female, naturally) musicians, is about as neat a small-scale show about Burns as you could ask for - original, amusing...thoughtful and celebratory."  The Times, March 2009..

"Oh, the Lasses were a hit! Gerda Stevenson played all four women in a magisterial performance – her Scots perfect, her evocation of Janet Paisley's characters precise and immediate.
The musicians, Seylan Baxter, Lillias Kinsman-Blake and Rachel Newton, were themselves an integral part of the stories, their exciting music and singing like a Greek chorus. The audience was spellbound." The Southern Reporter, April, 2009.

“…a delightfully subtle act of subversion…a full and faithful picture of the man, his passions, his politics, his literary success and his desperate, premature death…in the hands of fine actress Gerda Stevenson (who plays all four women and the other characters) and a wonderful trio of female musicians, director John Bett's production becomes an evocative evening of drama.”  Paisley's excellently researched script is given beautiful expression through Stevenson's energy and skill, and the wonderful music and songs (all by Burns).” The Sunday Herald, April, 2009

more images from The Lasses, O

 

contacts

Agent: Meg Poole, Richard Stone Partnership, 2 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8PS
Tel: 0207-497-0849.  
Fax: 0207-497-0869
e-mail: 
mpoole@thersp.com

email: Gerda