Muriel Rose Romanes (born 18 March 1946) 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 Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

drama ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

''; and as the artistic director of the Stellar Quines Theatre Company in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Career

Born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Romanes began her acting career as a student at the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

. Having worked in Scottish theatre for many years, she played the part of schoolteacher Miss Welch in ''

Gregory's Girl ''Gregory's Girl'' is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronh ...

'' (1981). In 1980, she joined the cast of ''

'' and, until 1989, played the part of Alice Taylor (née McEwan), one of the programme's longest-running characters. Other television credits include ''An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman'' (BBC), ''Schools'' (BBC) and ''Wallace Warbler'' (STV).''The Bruce'' theatre programme, Edinburgh Festival Society, August 1991 After leaving ''Take the High Road'', Romanes returned to theatre where she had many successes. She became an associate director at the

Royal Lyceum Theatre 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 a ...

in Edinburgh where she directed several acclaimed productions, including ''The Deep Blue Sea'', ''A Listening Heaven'', ''Lavender Blue'', ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...

'', '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', and ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

''. In 1993, she was a founder member of the Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh and, in 1996, became its first artistic director. Romanes held this post until she retired in 2015. Romanes was a frequent visiting lecturer and director at the Drama School of Edinburgh’s

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a public university located wholly within the county of East Lothian on the outskirts of Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret (1045–1093). The university can trace its ...

where she directed a number of productions.

Theatre

Other theatre work includes touring with

Jimmy Logan James Allan Short, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, RSAMD, FRSAMD (4 April 1928 – 13 April 2001), known professionally as Jimmy Logan, was a Scotland, Scottish performer, theatrical producer, impresario and Theatre director, ...

in ''For Love or Money: An Ideal Husband'' (

Perth Rep Perth Theatre is an entertainment venue in Mill Street, Perth, Scotland. It opened in 1900 and was extended in the 1980s. The building is category B listed by Historic Environment Scotland, and is operated by the charitable organisation Horsec ...

), ''Schellenbreck'' (Netherbow), ''Deacon Brodie'', ''Othersise Engaged'', ''Dr. Angelus'', ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'', '' Blythe Spirit'', ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with '' A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, ...

'' and ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), ''We, Charles II'' and ''The Archive of Countess D.'' (Fifth Estate). In 1992, she assisted

Allan Sharpe Allan Richard Sharpe (13 January 1949 – 5 June 2004) was a Scottish actor, theatre director and playwright who co-founded the Fifth Estate Theatre Company based at the Netherbow Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Early life Allan Sharpe was bor ...

with his production of Trevor Royle's ''Buchan of Tweedsmuir'' and directed ''Lambrusco Nights'' for Fifth Estate.

Honours

On 12 June 2016, following her retirement, the

Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland 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". Awards ceremony The ceremony is itinerant in terms of location, sw ...

(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. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for services to drama.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Romanes, Muriel 1946 births Living people British women theatre directors Members of the Order of the British Empire Actresses from Cambridge Scottish soap opera actresses Scottish television actresses Scottish theatre directors Scottish women theatre directors Take the High Road