Our Press Officer Steve Pratt catches up with Kate Hampson ahead of her role in the upcoming York Theatre Royal production of Little Women.
Playing Marmee in York Theatre Royal’s new production of Little Women isn’t Yorkshire actress Kate Hampson’s first brush with Louisa May Alcott’s classic coming-of-age story.
That happened at school when a group of students chose to perform a play version of the novel as their final GCSE examination piece with Kate playing one of the sisters, Meg.
“The school was renowned for drama and there were some brilliant teachers. Obviously we couldn’t do the whole play just part of it, putting on Boston accents. It was recorded and went round Britain as an example of Grade A GCSE drama which is hilarious considering some of the accents,” recalls Kate, Yorkshire born and bred and now living in York.
The recording has been on her mind as she prepares to play Marmee, mother to the March girls on stage in York. “It’s lovely to be offered the opportunity to work at York Theatre Royal in Little Women. It feels full circle in a way coming back to Little Women,” says Kate, who played the title role in York Theatre Royal’s 2022 community play The Coppergate Woman.
“I was 15 when I first read Little Women. I don’t remember reading it before that although obviously I’d heard of it and I’d probably watched one of the television adaptations. It’s such a beautiful story.
“I feel a little bit more akin to Marmee now than I did then. She’s a really brilliant character. She’s dealing with so much, she’s strong, she’s pragmatic but also very loving. What I really admire in her is the way she teaches her children lessons but not in a sledgehammer way. She lets them discover the right way of doing things themselves and does that in a way differently with each child.
“That is a really lovely quality and I wish I could do that as a parent. I don’t know if I do. With me it’s a bit more ‘you will do this, you will do that’. Marmee lets them find her own path.”
This talk of parenting is not only a result of Little Women but about the role of having children – Arthur and Elsie, just turned 16 and 14 – has played in Kate’s career. She’s married to another actor, Julian Kay, and put theatre on hold for 15 years as their children grew up.
“I just focussed on doing television, commercials and quite a lot of corporate work, consultation and role play work. It just felt right for me. Theatre would have been too tricky with a family. I absolutely take my hat off to those performers who do it. I think they are exceptional and really admire them. For me, it didn’t feel right at the time to go off and do theatre.”
Since The Coppergate Woman she’s been working steadily in the theatre again and found it “absolutely wonderful”. Mum’s the word as she’s found herself playing mothers. “At the moment these are the parts I play and I actually love it,” she says.
She was Mother and Mrs Perks in The Railway Children at Hull Truck Theatre as well as playing son Arthur’s not-very-nice mother in the ITV drama series The Bay. She says that was a very special opportunity. “Arthur had already got the part and happened to say in his audition that his parents were actors. I think they’d seen me for another role previously,” she recalls.
“They asked me to do a tape for it and I had a moment of panic – I thought this is going to be the darkest moment of my life and they’d say, ‘sorry, we just don’t feel the chemistry between you’. But I got the part and it was great to be on set with him.”
After finishing his GCSEs Arthur continues to act, currently filming a new CBBC series High Hoops about a girls basketball team.
Kate worked with husband Julian many years ago in a new writers project in the Theatre Royal Studio which involved learning six new plays in two weeks. They’ve also done commercials and role play work together.
The Coppergate Woman marked Kate’s first appearance on the main house stage at the Theatre Royal. The experience, in which she was the sole professional actor in a cast of around 100, was “brilliant from beginning to end” but also terrifying as the only professional in the cast.
“The community cast were incredibly talented and incredibly welcoming but you do feel a sense of responsibility – apart from everything else, remembering everyone’s name which, along with huge amounts of script was a challenge in itself,” she says.
“I loved the play. I loved working with (directors) Juliet and John. I had a fantastic experience with the community cast. I feel lucky to have done that job – it’s a unique experience. It’s working with people who are non-professionals and seeing what they get from being in the arts as well as what they bring to the show. The joy it brings to people and that sense of camaraderie and community is wonderful.”
And now Marmee, the mother figure in the coming-of-age story.
“I relish playing mothers because it’s lived experience. It doesn’t matter what the story is about or where it’s set there’s still crossover, there’s still human experience of what it’s like to raise two children. You have that root of understanding, irrelevant of the story or setting. It resonates and Little Women is a universal story.”
Little Women: York Theatre Royal, 21 September to 12 October
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