Ged Stephenson

About Me

Having started out as an actor/musician I have had the pleasure of working with a number of exciting practitioners in the UK as well as in other countries. I was also a senior lecturer in Performing Arts/Theatre in further and higher education, as well as guest lecturer at a number of universities.

I am a co-founder of Shoebox Theatre Company and continue to work with them as a performer/clown as well as with other companies as director, actor, songwriter, scriptwriter. I was involved with my first devised performance in 1978 and fell in love with this approach from the start. Devising remains one of my key strengths, it is how Shoebox creates performances. I was invited (twice) to teach devising as an approach by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and have also, for quite a few years now, been working with Bogdan Renczynski (Cricot Teatre, Poland) on the workings of the Polish practitioner Tadeusz Kantor - an amazing advocate of devised work. That said, am I equally at home working with script.

What a feeling and a happiness to be able to say...
To write about someone beautifully.
Cause you can only speak beautifully about an artist...

You feel him beautifully.
This is meeting with Ged.
Several during many years, those meetings had always left
dreams, wishes and plans.
But always with the future.

His "Tadeusz Kantor" had always surprised me,
because in spite of I've known him personally,
I've been with him over 40 years, Ged always was
talking about "his own Tadeusz Kantor", like he was
describing the piece of art in general. In this way about
an artist can speak only another artist.

Ged was always surrounded by his students (as he never came to Poland alone),
They always listened, when he was talking about
the Poland of T. Kantor and holocaust.

I was trying to keep up with him, with the level of knowledge and sensitivity.
Those young people are the future of England, hope and good.
England, England be proud.

Your Friend,
Bogdan

Bogdan Renczynski
Cricoteka, Krakow, Poland