Gerda Stevenson
About Gerda Stevenson
My play Skeleton Wumman, written for three performers, is a magic-realist work, based on an Inuit creation myth, which I’ve transposed to a futuristic Scotland. This future seems not so far off now that climate change is clearly a looming disaster for our planet if we don’t act urgently. So, to quote T.S. Eliot, what I’m asking in this play is: ‘Were we led all that way for birth or death?' Theatre is one of the most powerful ways of asking questions through connecting people gathered together in a single space, sharing one live moment - its beauty, like the human imagination, is ephemeral. But that’s not possible in these unprecedented times, when Covid-19 imposes isolation. Skeleton Wumman herself is a profoundly isolated character, so its strangely apt that through this excellent initiative from NTS, here is another way of sharing a small part of my play, and, as writer/director, I’m delighted to be reunited with the terrific Amy Conachan, the original Skeleton Wumman.