Before Theatretrain I worked at a place called the Curtain Theatre. As part of my job, I directed a summer school. For my first one, I directed an American play called Street Scene. A young Catherine Tate was in the production. It had a fantastic stage design – the front of a New York tenement block on three levels. Catherine brought a huge dramatic impact to her part Anna Maurrant, a wife trapped in an unhappy marriage who was later murdered by her husband – so not a gentle comedy!
I also set up a youth theatre and Catherine joined it and stayed for 4 years during which we performed plays in many different styles. We performed at the National Theatre and we took a play to the Czech Republic. The theatre was a bit old-fashioned but it had a workshop, there was decent sound and lighting, dressing rooms and a large auditorium. It was a bit like an old repertory theatre that could turn its hand to anything. I’ve always wanted to recreate it because nothing like it exists today.
Catherine played a range of roles, a crabby old lady, Mrs Pankhurst, Annie Besant one of the leaders of the Matchgirls’ Strike, and a teacher. It was clear that she was an outstanding actress of rare power. When she took to the stage, she made you watch her. She could be electrifying but also vulnerable and gentle. She listened to others intently on stage and was very funny onstage and off.
I later directed a professional production of that great American play View from the Bridge. It was a production for schools and it also allowed them to meet the actors and watch scenes being rehearsed. I invited Catherine to play the part of Catherine the daughter who gets involved with an Italian immigrant. For this, I was able to get her an Equity card. We performed at what was then the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. She brought freshness and passion to the role and easily fitted in with the other actors. She had a great sense of timing.
I’m proud of what she has achieved. She is one of those actors who can move from serious drama to light comedy and satire seemingly without effort. A few years ago, I visited her backstage in the West End. Her dressing room was piled high with letters from fans. We talked about her playing Mrs Pankhurst in the play we had taken to the Czech Republic. She surprised me by quoting again a long speech from the play. It was a surprise because when we performed it she had taken the trouble to learn it in Czech and all these years later she could still remember every word.
