A PROFESSIONAL actress, originally from Brentor, is returning to Devon to appear in a play following the journey of the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage 100 years ago.

Stevie Thompson, who attended Tavistock School but now lives in London, will be performing in 'Oxygen', a play by Natalie McGrath which will tour from Land's End to Hyde Park in London —the same route walked by a group of women who campaigned for the women's vote.

Stevie said she has always been into acting: 'I did a lot of drama at school. A group of us asked English teacher Phil Dyson if we could set up a youth theatre group, which we did, and it ran for a couple of years — the Pinhole Youth Theatre.

'After school I went to work as a resident actress at the Barbican Theatre, then went on to do a degree in Newcastle and have been acting ever since.'

Stevie has since worked for Travelling Lights doing shows for children, worked for an outdoor theatre company and trained in Italy at a masked theatre for three months as well as being involved in many other works. She is now with Dreadnaught South West Association, a new organisation for which 'Oxygen' is the first production.

Oxygen celebrates the centenary of the Great 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage, where women from eight locations across England and Wales marched to Hyde Park.

'This production echoes the footsteps of these amazing women,' said Stevie. 'By the time all the routes had met in Hyde Park, 45,000 had signed the campaign.

'I think it's amazing. These particular women were spat at, had things thrown at them — they had a really hostile response to what they were doing but they kept going — it's inspirational.'

The play will be performed at various theatres along the route of the South West pilgrimage, including Sterts Theatre in Liskeard on June 22 and the TR2 in Plymouth on June 28 and 29.

Stevie is pleased to be returning to the area where her family still live. Her mother and stepfather still live in Brentor and her stepfather works in Bookstop in Tavistock, where there will be a small exhibition and fliers about the 'Oxygen' tour.

For more information and individual box office details visit http://www.dreadnaughtsouthwest.co.uk">www.dreadnaughtsouthwest.co.uk