Directing a new play about the dark side of fame

From a young age Katharine Farmer’s StA’11 family encouraged an appreciation of the arts and by 16 years old Drama was her favourite subject. Whilst at Worth Katharine studied the subject at A Level and was thrilled to have a part in the production of Master and Margarita whilst also attending acting classes at the Junior Guildhall School for Music and Drama every week. But it was a teacher at Worth who influenced her career path. Katharine says, “Mr Boughton, my Drama teacher, was a huge inspiration. The impression he left has shaped each decision I’ve made pursuing a career in theatre and he opened my eyes to the range of different roles within professional theatre”.

After Worth, Katharine read Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick University and her career really started by taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival during her first summer holiday at university. She has subsequently gone on to direct various plays, including Pig Farm by Tony Award Winning Writer Greg Kotis in the West End.

Katharine is now directing The Least We Could Do by Kath Haling which will be at The Hope Theatre, Islington from 10-28 October, a new play about toxic media and what can happen to individuals caught in the unforgiving gaze of the public eye. As she describes, “Directing this play has been a fascinating dive into the relationship between a prime time TV personality and a gossip columnist, and how their lives become inextricably intertwined, and working with the cast and creatives has been such a pleasure.”

Wishing Katharine the very best of luck with the production. Tickets are available here.