Gerda Helena Wrede-Paischeff (26 November 1896 – 17 November 1967), better known as Gerda Wrede, was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

actor and

speech therapist Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

. Born in Piikkiö, Gerda Wrede attended the

Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre ( sv, Svenska Teatern) is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja ( sv, Skillnaden) square, at the end of Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden). It was the first national stage of Finland. His ...

's acting school in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

between 1914 and 1916. After finishing her training, she worked at the theatre as an actor until 1921, and then again from 1927 to 1928. In 1931, she became the acting director of the school, and was promoted to the position of rector in 1941, a position she held until 1966. For a period she was also the theatre's stage manager and from 1954 to 1959 she was its deputy director. Wrede also worked as a director on several Shakespeare productions, including ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', which the theatre performed at

Kronborg Castle Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was inscribed on the UNES ...

in Denmark in 1947. The following year, her production of Hamlet was performed as a guest performance at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the aunt of the film and theatre director

Caspar Wrede Baron Casper Gustaf Kenneth Wrede af Elimä, known as Caspar Wrede (8 February 1929 in Viipuri, Finland – 25 September 1998 in Helsinki, Finland), was a Finnish theatre and film director. He was long active in the English theatre, co-founding t ...

. Wrede received the

Pro Finlandia Medal The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

in 1954.

References

1896 births 1967 deaths People from Kaarina People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish people of German descent 20th-century Finnish nobility Finnish actresses Speech and language pathologists {{Finland-actor-stub