Kate is now one of three women on the Equity Register of Fight Directors since 2001, and has enjoyed working as a fight director for more than twenty years. 

Being a retired competitive boxer and qualified coach, she knows how to choreograph a physical fight, be it a bar brawl to battle scenes to make it look as effective as possible. While making sure the actors do it as safely as possible. 

She is the one that creates those fight scenes that make you move in your seat, grip your arm rest a little tighter and make you gasp with shock. For all the right reasons!

Her work spans across screen and SO MUCH theatre!

For screen she has worked on: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Sky Pilot including adverts for Toyota. 

Her stage and screen crossovers include, Death of England (2022) starring Rafe Spall, and Romeo and Juliet (2021) starring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor for the National Theatre. 

For theatre, she has worked at The National, RSC, The Globe, West End, Donmar, Royal Court, Royal Opera House New York and Regents Open Air Theatre to name a few. 

Some honourable mentions of her fight work were found on:

• King Lear, 2018, with Ian McKellen
• Cyrano de Bergerac, with James McAvoy
• Midsummer Nights Dream at the Bridge Theatre
• Frankenstein, National, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller
• Othello, National, with Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear 
• Curious Incident, National and West End
• Salomé, NT, and King Lear at the Almeida, with Yaël Farber

In her words:

“I love telling the physical story of the play through my fights - exploring what motivates the characters to commit such hideous acts of violence. I always work closely with the actors and I see my job as guiding them to a place of choreography that becomes an integral part of their roles. 

Obstacles are always opportunities, and I do my best to embrace everything that is thrown my way”. 

We discuss her process of directing fights, getting assured and comfortable with her actors beforehand and executing a stage combat scene that’s both believable and safely conducted. 

We look specifically at her work on Othello and getting a great reaction from a scene in a play called “Sweat”. 

Thank you Kate!

Oliver Gower

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Track Name. Early Morning