Gerda Stevenson Explained

Birth Place:Peeblesshire, Scotland
Nationality:Scottish
Occupation:actress, director, writer

Gerda Stevenson (born in Peeblesshire, Scotland) is a Scottish actress, director and writer. She has played many parts in the theatre, including the title role in Edwin Morgan's English translation of Racine's Phèdre, and Lady Macbeth, and has appeared in many television dramas. She was Murron MacClannough's mother in the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, and her voice is familiar to listeners of British radio, as a reader of short stories and adaptations. In particular, she has performed several poems and songs by Robert Burns for the BBC.[1]

She was, described by The Scotsman in 1999 as "Scotland's finest actress".Her play Federer Versus Murray toured to New York in 2012, and her poetry collection If This Were Real was published by Smokestack Books in 2013. In 2019, her poems illustrated the paintings of her one time neighbour, Scottish painter Christian Small, in the book Inside & Out - The Art of Christian Small, published by Scotland Street Press.[2]

She has adapted a number of works for radio: Self-Control by Mary Brunton in which Stevenson played the part of Laura Montreville; For the Love of Willie by Agnes Owens in which Stevenson played the part of Liza; The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott for BBC Radio 4, nominated for a Sony Award in 2008, in which Stevenson played the part of the heroine Jeanie Deans; and Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.[3] She has written radio plays including: Island Blue,[4] Secrets: The Punter's Tale, Secrets: The Escort's Tale[5] and The Apple Tree.[6] She directed the Afternoon Play The Price of a Fish Supper.[7]

Stevenson's partner was the late Scottish Gaelic poet Aonghas MacNeacail.

Her father was the musician and composer Ronald Stevenson.[8] [9] Her sister Savourna Stevenson (born 1961) has recorded works on the Scottish harp, the clàrsach. She is a graduate of RADA.

Theatre

!Year !Title !Role !Theatre Company !Director!Notes
1982 Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites Hameliness play by Sir David Lyndsey, adapted by Robert Kemp
1985 Life of Galileo Virginia Scottish Theatre Company
2010 The Government Inspector The Governor's Wife Commudicado Gerry Mulgrew play by Nikolai Gogol

Radio

Date Title Role Director Station
The Bride of Lammermoor BBC Radio 4
Watching Waiters BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
Fair Kirsten BBC Radio 3
The Interview Reader Bruce Young BBC Radio 4 Morning Story
Blood and Ice BBC Radio 4 The Monday Play
Witchwood BBC Radio 4 Saturday Playhouse
The Upshot BBC Radio 4 Thirty Minute Theatre
The Secret Commonwealth BBC Radio 4
Tam o'Shanter BBC Radio 4

(Recorded on 22 February 1998)
Camelot[10] Nimue BBC Radio 2
The Last Days of Mankind BBC Radio 3 Sunday Play
Telling Liddy Bridie BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off Mary, Queen of Scots / Marian BBC Radio 4
Every Bit of It Georgia Susan Roberts BBC Radio 4
A Hundred Miles[11] BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie[12] Jean Brodie BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial
Inspector Rebus

The Falls[13]

Jean Burchill BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play
Self-Control Laura Montreville BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
The Whole Story and Other Stories

Gothic by Ali Smith

Reader BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading
For the Love of Willie Liza BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
The Gowk Storm Innkeeper's Wife BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
Wooden Heart Uta BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
A Breath from Other Planets Mathilde BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
Christabel's Anarchist Christabel BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play
Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery[14] Steve BBC Radio 4
Reader BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading
The Heart of Midlothian[15] Jeanie Deans BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial
The Muse of Rose Street[16] Reader BBC Radio 4
Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery[17] Steve BBC Radio 4
Distributing Dave[18] BBC Radio Scotland Drama
The Three Knots[19] Old Woman BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
Paul Temple and Steve[20] Steve BBC Radio 4
The Second Mr Bailey[21] Margaret BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
The Culture Café: Completely Burns[22] Reader BBC Radio Scotland
The Book Café[23] Reader BBC Radio Scotland
Secrets: The Punter's Tale[24] Cara BBC Radio Scotland Drama
Hume, the Philosophical Historian[25] Reader BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature
A Case for Paul Temple[26] Steve BBC Radio 4
I Confess: The Power of the Confession[27] BBC Radio 3 The Essay

Film and television

Stevenson won a BAFTA Best Film Actress Award for her role in Margaret Tait's feature film Blue Black Permanent, and has been twice nominated for the CATS awards.[28]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/works/readers/gerda_stevenson/ BBC – Robert Burns – Works read by Gerda Stevenson
  2. Web site: Scotland Street Press Bookstore Inside and Out . 2022-06-07 . www.scotlandstreetpress.com . en.
  3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j2j2g BBC – Classic Serial – Sunset Song
  4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0084fk1 BBC – Woman's Hour Drama – Island Blue
  5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yzgdn BBC – BBC Radio Scotland – Secrets: The Escort's Tale
  6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011plrz BBC – Afternoon Play – The Apple Tree
  7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00776vk BBC – Afternoon Play – The Price of a Fish Supper
  8. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/694 Gasser, M., "Ronald Stevenson, Composer-Pianist : An Exegetical Critique from a Pianistic Perspective" (Edith Cowan University Press, Western Australia, 2013)
  9. News: Braveheart actress composes song for local school . Peebleshire News . 31 July 2009 . 20 December 2022 .
  10. http://castalbums.org/recordings/Camelot-1998-BBC-Radio-2-Cast/24129 CastAlbums » Camelot » BBC Radio 2 Cast
  11. http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/detaile.cfm?EID=24257 Scottish Theatre Archive – A Hundred Miles
  12. https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/sep/01/features.review167 Radio – Scattered dreams – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Sue Arnold, The Observer, 1 September 2002
  13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fkqzh BBC – The Saturday Play – Inspector Rebus: The Falls
  14. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/paultemple/pip/i0hk9 BBC – Paul Temple – Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery
  15. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007y2cq BBC – Classic Serial – The Heart of Midlothian
  16. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00938p6 BBC – The Muse of Rose Street
  17. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/madisonmystery/pip/qwuhl BBC – Paul Temple – Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery
  18. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p32dp BBC – BBC Radio Scotland – Distributing Dave
  19. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pcjh4 BBC – Afternoon Play – The Three Knots
  20. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sms54 BBC – Paul Temple – Paul Temple and Steve
  21. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tt6fs BBC – Afternoon Play – The Second Mr Bailey
  22. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12250280 BBC – BBC Radio Scotland – The Culture Café: Completely Burns
  23. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y8svf BBC – BBC Radio Scotland – The Book Café
  24. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yrjnb BBC – BBC Radio Scotland – Secrets: The Punter's Tale
  25. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xwgd BBC – Sunday Feature – Hume, the Philosophical Historian
  26. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013fj19 BBC – Paul Temple – A Case for Paul Temple
  27. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015szf4 BBC – The Essay – I Confess: The Power of the Confession
  28. The Government Inspector theatre programme, Communicado, 2010