Born Glasgow 1937; married, with three children. Educated Glasgow University, Edinburgh and Strathclyde Universities. MA (Hons) 1st Class, English Language & Literature. Post-grad Diploma in Russian Language. Senior Lecturer, Historical & Critical Studies, Glasgow School of Art.  Extra Mural Tutor, Creative Writing, Glasgow University. Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama.

Following a prolific second career writing original plays for radio and television, Stephen began translating plays, mainly from Russian, in the late 1980s. Published and produced work ranges from the great 19th Century classics – Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov, etc – to contemporary drama by Gelman and Petrushevskaya. His adaptation of Yerofeev’s cult 1960s novel, MOSCOW STATIONS, for whose performance in which Tom Courtenay won the London Evening Standard’s Best Actor award, was staged in Edinburgh, London and New York, and has been re-translated into several European languages.

After having retired from academic life, Stephen’s translations, published mainly by Nick Hern Books and Oberon Books, included versions of Ibsen, Molière, Pirandello, Strindberg, Beaumarchais and others. English Touring Theatre premièred his SEAGULL and CHERRY ORCHARD by Chekhov and also Ibsen’s GHOSTS and JOHN GABRIEL BORKMANN.  His translation of Chekhov’s UNCLE VANYA for the same company was chosen by Sir Peter Hall to open the new Rose Theatre at Kingston on Thames, and his last works include Ibsen’s A