Artists & Speakers

STEFAN SMART

Actor & Storyteller

From telling stories to students in the classroom to performing before sell-out audiences in notable theatres of the world, Stefan Smart is dedicated to the word and to the art. The grip he has on audiences during performances of I AM MARK eaves people stirred by the experience. Why? “The scripture rings true,” he says.

Indeed, Stefan’s one-man, word-for-word presentation of the complete Gospel of Mark brings alive this biblical writ as never before. The depiction of Jesus Christ from His baptism in the Jordan River to His call to proclaim the good news throughout the world becomes a heart-absorbing event for audiences new to the story or life-long readers of the Bible. Or, as Archbishop Rowan Williams put it, “Sometimes it takes a living voice, like this one, to make you hear the Bible for the first time.”

Originally from Watford, UK, Stefan Smart studied English literature at the University of Southampton. He taught English and drama for more than 30 years in secondary schools, learning from his students that excellence in storytelling will invariably secure an audience’s attention.

Combining his education, his God-given creativity, and the Christian faith he adopted as a young adult, Stefan dreamed of a day when he could communicate gospel truths through dramatic presentations. Such a dream began to materialise, however modestly, in early iterations of I AM MARK performed at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park.

He recalls how even people of other faiths, including a large group of Muslims, “were reduced to a stunned and admiring silence” there at “Mark in the Park.” “I can never fully predict how people will react to hearing the greatest story ever told,” Stefan was once quoted as saying. “All I can do is tell it.”

Buoyed by the Hyde Park shows and performances at Speakers’ Corners elsewhere in the U.K., Stefan went on to bring “MARK” to many schools, conferences, churches, cathedrals and theatres across four continents.

Three runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival received rave reviews, and highest praises elsewhere have heightened the demand for the show.

“My aim in all of this,” Stefan allows, “is to tell the story of Mark and his Master to as many people as I can, for as long as I am able.”

Clearly, the dream of this faithful man – Stefan Smart – lives on.

Learn more at  iam-mark.com.

DAVID ROBINSON

Actor

David has been acting and writing professionally now for over thirty years. National and international tours have taken in venues such as The Swan Stratford and nearly twenty annual visits to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Productions include The Screwtape Letters, Chamberlain: Peace in our Time, Noel Coward and Friends, Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy and Woodbine Willie: Poet and Padre, Titanic: The Last Hero and The Last Coward, Chariot: The Eric Liddell Story and most recently Tickled: The Ken Dodd Story which he also wrote.

Davidalso regularly tours a two-man comedy show called Would You Adam and Eve it? He is the Artistic Director of the Searchlight Theatre Company based in Dudley in the West Midlands.

Previously he was Artistic Director of the Saltmine Theatre Company for over twenty years and was a key player in introducing full length Christian productions to a broader UK audience. He recently played The King of France in All’s Well that Ends Well at the beautiful Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

Learn more at searchlighttheatre.org.