Muriel Romanes | |
---|---|
Born | Muriel Rose Romanes 18 March 1946 Cambridge, England |
Occupation(s) | actress; stage director |
Years active | 1980–2015 |
Muriel Rose Romanes MBE (born 18 March 1946) [1] is a Scottish former theatre, television and film actress and award-winning stage director. She is best known as a cast regular in the Scottish Television drama Take the High Road ; and as the artistic director of the Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh.
Born in Cambridge, Romanes began her acting career as a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. [2] Having worked in Scottish theatre for many years, she played the part of schoolteacher Miss Welch in Gregory's Girl (1981). [3] In 1980, she joined the cast of Take the High Road and, until 1989, played the part of Alice Taylor (née McEwan), one of the programme's longest-running characters. [2] Other television credits include An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman (BBC), Schools (BBC) and Wallace Warbler (STV). [4]
After leaving Take the High Road, Romanes returned to theatre where she had many successes. [5] She became an associate director at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh where she directed several acclaimed productions, including The Deep Blue Sea, A Listening Heaven, Lavender Blue, A Streetcar Named Desire , The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie , and Anna Karenina . [6] In 1993, she was a founder member of the Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh and, in 1996, became its first artistic director. [6] [7] Romanes held this post until she retired in 2015. [8] Romanes was a frequent visiting lecturer and director at the Drama School of Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University where she directed a number of productions.
Year | Title | Role | Company | Theatre | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | The Guid Sisters | Pierette Guerin | The Tron Theatre Company | Tron Theatre, Glasgow | Michael Boyd | play by Michel Tremblay, translated into Scots by Bill Findlay and Martin Bowman |
1991 | The Bruce | Isabel, Countess of Buchan | Brunton Theatre Company | Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh | Charles Nowosielski | Edinburgh International Festival production of the play by Robert S. Silver |
1992 | The Jesuit | Lady Spottiswoode | Fifth Estate | Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh | Allan Sharpe | play by Donald Campbell |
Other theatre work includes touring with Jimmy Logan in For Love or Money: An Ideal Husband (Perth Rep), Schellenbreck (Netherbow), Deacon Brodie, Othersise Engaged, Dr. Angelus, The Tempest , Blythe Spirit , A View from the Bridge and The Marriage of Figaro (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), We, Charles II and The Archive of Countess D. (Fifth Estate). In 1992, she assisted Allan Sharpe with his production of Trevor Royle's Buchan of Tweedsmuir and directed Lambrusco Nights for Fifth Estate. [9] [4] [10]
On 12 June 2016, following her retirement, the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) presented Romanes with the prestigious "CATS Whiskers" award for outstanding achievement "in supporting and strengthening women’s role in Scottish theatre", most notably as the first artistic director of Stellar Quines. [11] She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to drama. [12]
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist.
Joseph McFadden is a Scottish actor, best known for his roles in The Crow Road,Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, Heartbeat and Holby City. He won the 2017 series of the BBC One series Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Katya Jones.
Dundee Repertory Theatre, better known simply as the Dundee Rep, is a theatre and arts company in Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house with some shows co-produced by other theatres and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United Kingdom including drama, musicals, contemporary & classical dance, children's theatre, comedy, jazz and opera. It is home to Scotland's principal contemporary dance company, Scottish Dance Theatre. ‘’'The Rep'’’ building is located in Tay Square at the centre of the city’s "cultural quarter" in the West End.
Forbes (Robertson) Masson is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances in London's West End. He is also known for his comedy partnership with Alan Cumming. Masson and Cumming wrote The High Life, a Scottish situation comedy in which they play the lead characters, Steve McCracken and Sebastian Flight. Characters McCracken and Flight were heavily based on Victor and Barry, famous Scottish comedy alter-egos of Masson and Cumming. Masson also stars in the 2021 film The Road Dance, set on the Isle of Lewis as the Reverend MacIver.
The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) are an annual event awarding performances "substantially produced in Scotland, or developed, rehearsed and premiered in Scotland".
The Driver's Seat is a novella by Muriel Spark. Published in 1970, it was advertised as "a metaphysical shocker". It is in the psychological thriller genre, dealing with themes of alienation, isolation and loss of spiritual values.
David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director. His work has been performed at many of the major theatres in Britain, including the Traverse Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and been produced around the world.
Eileen McCallum, MBE is a Scottish actress who is best known for playing the part of shopkeeper Isabel Blair through the complete run of soap opera Take the High Road from 1980 to 2003, and as Liz Hamilton from 2005 to 2018 in the BBC Scotland soap River City.
Vivien Heilbron is a Scottish actress.
The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by architect C. J. Phipps at a cost of £17,000 on behalf of James B. Howard and Fred. W. P. Wyndham, two theatrical managers and performers whose partnership became the renowned Howard & Wyndham Ltd created in 1895 by Michael Simons of Glasgow.
Joanna M Tope is an English actress. She has appeared in many TV programmes including Emmerdale Farm as Dr. Clare Scott between 1973 and 1977, The Omega Factor as Julia Crane in 1979 and The Tomorrow People as Mrs Boswell.
The Girls of Slender Means is a novella written in 1963 by British author Muriel Spark. It was included in Anthony Burgess's 1984 book Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
Maureen Jane Beattie is an Irish-born, Scottish actress of both stage and screen.
Established in 1993, Stellar Quines is a women's Scottish theatre company and charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her plays have been translated and performed in many countries across Europe and the globe.
Rachel O'Riordan is an Irish theatre director. She is currently the artistic director at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.
Laurie Sansom is a British theatre director. He is currently the Artistic Director of Halifax-based theatre company Northern Broadsides.
Dark Road is a 2013 play written by Ian Rankin and Mark Thomson. It made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in September 2013, and is expected to embark on a UK tour in 2014.
Local Hero is a musical with music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler, and a book by Bill Forsyth and David Greig. The musical is based on the 1983 film of the same name, written by Bill Forsyth. It tells the story of an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Furness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. The musical made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in March 2019.
Jemima Levick is a British theatre director. From 2016 to 2021 she was artistic director of Edinburgh-based Stellar Quines Theatre Company, from 2021 - 2024 she was the Artistic Director of A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Òran Mór. In April 2024 she became the Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.