Katharine Piercey

Katharine trained as an Actor Musician at Rose Bruford College and has an MA with Distinction in Devised Performance from the University of Winchester. Her varied work as a professional actor musician has included Poppy at the ICA and Disjointed at Jermyn Street Theatre; touring with Quantum Theatre for Science; the films Ali G in Da House (Working Title) and Bonviva (DMI Productions), and a Tetley Tea advert. Katharine was also the co-founder of the theatre company Gaudy Bunting.

Katharine’s directing credits include: Synthetica…A Toxic Enchantment (The Place – Tête à Tête Opera Festival and The Lighthouse, Poole): a song cycle for voice, trumpet and live vinyl DJ written by composer Karen Wimhurst; Freedom, Bread and Peace (The Shelley Theatre, Boscombe): a multi-media music theatre performance with a score by Karen Wimhurst, commissioned by Soundstorm and Arts University Bournemouth for the Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival; and with her own company Sandpiper Theatre: Mermaid and The Oyster, a site-specific piece devised in association with Oyster Pleasance for the 2014 Bournemouth Arts by the Sea festival, and as part of TheGallery’s Bathing Beauties exhibition (AUB); and A-Roving We Will Go, a promenade-style piece using actor musicians, written especially for the opening of the 2012 Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival. For Arts University Bournemouth her credits include: Turn of the Screw: a new musical written by Paul Knight and Chloe Austin, based on the novel by Henry James; and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Into the Woods: both co-productions between Kokoro, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s new music ensemble, and graduating students from Arts University Bournemouth.

A pianist, flautist and singer, Katharine also composes and arranges music for the theatre and spent 10 years working as a freelance singing teacher and musical director before moving into Higher Education. She has composed music for theatre productions such as Second Person Narrative, Ashgirl, Daisy Pulls it Off, The Good Person of Szechwan, Vanity Fair, Canterbury Tales, On the Razzle, Spring Awakening, Tales from Ovid, Beauty and the Beast and Mother Courage. Musical director credits include The Light Burns Blue, Dracula, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Blithe Spirit.

Katharine is the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Acting at Arts University Bournemouth and also a Senior Lecturer in Singing and Acting. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.