SKELETON WUMMAN, a play in Scots for stage

“A stunning elegiac piece of theatre. Weaving lyricism, choreography, sign language and ethereal music … this play is like a little sister to the late Angela Carter, a fragile, sensitive work of sensuality and haunting beauty with a wonderful cast of three. Catch it when it comes to the Traverse in Edinburgh, or later at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, before it swims away and is gone for good…perhaps.” Across The Arts

“Stevenson’s theatre-poem Skeleton Wumman, is inspired by native American tales as well as by Scotland’s huge tradition of sea stories; it’s a visionary story, wild and fascinating. Never to be forgotten. Its strange, ecstastic ending leaves the audience gasping, with the power of its poetry and storytelling.” The Scotsman.

“Gerda Stevenson has pooled her talents as playwright and poet to create a beautiful modern Scottish sea myth. This is a compelling tale of the enduring power of love that lets the listener dip through the vital versatility of the Scots language … a fine comment on environmental issues takes place alongside this poetic tale that is filled with tenderness.” Edinburghguide.com

Gerda Stevenson

Gerda Stevenson, actor/ writer/ director/singer-songwriter, trained at R.A.D.A., London, winning the Vanbrugh Award. She has worked on stage, television, radio and film throughout Britain and abroad. In 2014, she was nominated as one the Saltire Society’s OUTSTANDING WOMEN OF SCOTLAND. From the Stevenson family of musicians (her father the composer/pianist Ronald, sister composer/harper Savourna, and niece composer/fiddler Anna-Wendy), Gerda is known for her singing in many theatre productions. She was nominated in 2014 for the MG ALBA TRAD MUSIC AWARDS, in the SCOTS SINGER OF THE YEAR category. With support from Creative Scotland, a highly acclaimed CD of her own songs, NIGHT TOUCHES DAY, was released in 2014 (Gean Records, produced by Mattie Foulds), her vocals accompanied by an array of fine Scottish musicians: James Ross, Konrad Wiszniewski, Inge Thompson, Seylan Baxter, Rob MacNeacail, and Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Kyrre Slind.

She is one of the MADGE WILDFIRE trio,with Patsy Seddon and Kathy Stewart.
In 2011, Gerda was nominated by the League of Professional Theatre Women (New York) for the Gilder/Coigney International Award. Her many film and TV appearances include BRAVEHEART, MIDSOMER MURDERS, HEARTBEAT, THE BILL, and TAGGART. She received a BAFTA Scotland Best Film Actress Award for her performance in Margaret Tait’s feature film BLUE BLACK PERMANENT, and has been nominated twice for the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland.
Founder of Stellar Quines, Scotland’s leading women’s theatre company, and Associate Artist of Communicado, she’s also a trustee of the Scottish International Education Trust, and a Scots Language Ambassador for Education Scotland.

She has written extensively for radio and is regularly heard in BBC Radio 4’s popular PAUL TEMPLE MYSTERIES, playing Steve, feisty wife of the eponymous hero.

She performed in, and directed her stage play FEDERER VERSUS MURRAY (published by prestigious American literary magazine SALMAGUNDI), touring the production toNew York in 2012, as part ofthe Scottish Government’s NYC SCOTLAND WEEK celebrations.
She is a visiting lecturer at Glasgow University, where her writing is studied as part of the Contemporary Scottish Literature course.

Gerda’s poetry collection, IF THIS WERE REAL, (pub. Smokestack Books, 2013) was reviewed in The Sunday Herald as: “The best of the new in contemporary Scottish poetry – not to be missed.”

Find more writing by Gerda Stevenson