Theatre & Opera Director, Artistic Producer, Writer
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Opera Australia
Kate Gaul - Director
COWBOIS
THE PAST IS A WILD PARTY
Siren Theatre Co
Kate Gaul - Director & Producer
Siren Theatre Co
Kate Gaul - Director & Producer
PLENTY OF FISH IN THE SEA
Clockfire Theatre Company
Kate Gaul - Artistic Producer
RUINS أطلال
Clockfire Theatre Company
Kate Gaul - Artistic Producer
THE END OF WINTER
Siren Theatre Co
Kate Gaul - Director & Producer
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GIRL RUNNING BOY FALLING
Kate Gaul - Writer
Photographer Alex Vaughan
Kate Gaul is a theatre and opera director, creative producer, festival director, writer and (occasional) designer based in Sydney, NSW. She is a graduate of NIDA (Directing 1996). Kate undertook a residency with SITI Company (NYC) and was Associate Director at Ensemble Theatre.
Kate has established herself as a distinctive and inventive director, with directing credits including plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works, and classics for theatre companies and schools in Australia. She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co where her passion for text-based drama challenges artists and audiences to have bold imaginative experiences.
Kate has also directed festivals (World Interplay, Playlist, Invisible Circus, Cabaret, and Short Play Festivals), and Sydney Mardi Gras Parade.
Opera credits include her own opera/drama mash up based on the Jenet/Poulenc La Voix Humaine as part of The Flying Nun program, Castor + Pollux (Pinchgut), Eight Songs for a Mad King (Verbruggen Ensemble), The Cunning Little Vixen (Sydney Chamber Opera), Hansel and Gretel (Pacific Opera), Il Matrimonio Segreto, English Eccentrics, Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Cendrillon, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sydney Conservatorium), Dialogues of the Carmelites, Die Fledermaus (WAPPA). For Opera Australia, Kate was the revival director for Attila the schools’ production By the Light of the Moon, and OZ Opera production of Carmen. She was engaged as assistant director for Opera Australia's Adriana Lecouvreur, Lohengrin, Rigoletto, and Aida.
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Most recent directing credits include a new play CAMP for a sell-out season at Sydney World Pride 2023 and an acclaimed interpretation of H.M.S Pinafore, which toured extensively and played Sydney Festival. The End of Winter by Noëlle Janaczewska, on national tour in 2023/4; Kate completed a play, Girl Running, Boy Falling (Shortlisted Stoddard Playwright Award and Longlisted Monte Miller Award) which is going into production. Kate directs a new production of The Magic Flute for Opera Australia's Summer Season and will play Geelong later this year and premieres a new play by Noëlle Janaczewska, The Past is a Wild Party.
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As a Artistic producer Kate works closely with Clockfire Theatre Company whose current production Plenty of Fish in the Sea tours internationally this year.
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“(Gaul’s) take on the show manages to encompass … the gentle boundary-pushing of the original text, our local tradition of sending up the classics, and the meta-textual, pop-culture referential riffing .. And she does it all through a confident, unapologetically queer lens." Timeout
“a credit to the incredible vision and direction of Kate Gaul … you need to harness the audience’s imagination, and the way we are transported …. just good, smart direction.” Stagedoor
"Kate Gaul’s debut wears its cleverness lightly, and honours Mozart’s music ... everyday and fantastical and a glorious spectacle. Recommended without reservation." Stage Noise
“Director Kate Gaul draws work of a thrillingly high standard from everyone involved, performers and production staff alike” Sun Herald
“Gaul carries with her a gravitas that draws close some of the most respected and remarkable artists of the independent and mainstream theatre. Her work is always handsome. Always finessed. Always clear and confident.” Theatre Times
“...with Kate Gaul at the helm, directing, producing, and proving herself to be a woman of exceptional ability and a brilliant visionary. The show is at once intelligent, funny, emotional, audacious and confounding…. “ Suzy Go See
“Director Kate Gaul has crafted something very special – she's made her actors so raw you can see the nerves twitching below the skin, character's emotions dropping like a sheet from the top of the head or expanding with rich sensuality from the gut.” MC Reviews
“Directed with subtle focus and clarity by Kate Gaul, the 70 minutes are a kaleidoscope of imagery made dynamic by Thomas Campbell’s sustained energy and intelligence. Simplicity and complexity combine in a virtually flawless production … " Diana Simmonds
“…every element in this production is in step and working together to create this fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of theatre.” Ben Neutze
Awards
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2024
Sydney Theatre Critic Award Best Lighting Nomination Benjamin Brockman The Past is a Wild Party
Adelaide Fringe Best Production Weekly Award The End of Winter
Sustainability Award Adelaide Fringe The End of Winter
Broadway World Best Actor in a Solo Performance Jane Phegan' Best new Play, Best Composition Nate Edmondson The End of Winter
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2023
Sydney Theatre Critics Awards Best Actor Jane Phegan; AWGIE Nomination Best Play; NSE Literary Award nomination - The End of Winter
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2022
Shortlist Stoddard Playwright Award for Girl Running, Boy Falling
Longlist Monte Miller Award for Girl Running, Boy Falling
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2020
Broadway World Sydney H.M.S Pinafore - Best Director Professional Musical
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2019
Sydney Theatre Critics Awards Nominations H.M.S Pinafore – Best Production of Independent Musical, Best Director, Best Designer (Melanie Liertz), Best Musical Direction (Zara Stanton), Best Choreography (Ash Bee), Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Campbell), Best Newcomer (Billie Palin)
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2019
Tasmanian Theatre Awards Nominations for Nothing - Best Production, Best Director, Best Lighting Design, Best sound Design, Best Performances
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2019
SBW Foundation Grant – towards theatre production in Tasmania
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2018
SBW Foundation Grant – contribution to Independent Theatre
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2017
Sydney Theatre Critics Awards Nominations: Fourteen awards across two productions including - Best Director The Trouble With Harry & The Ham Funeral
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2016
Sydney Theatre Critics Award Nominations: Best Director, Best Sound Design, (Nate Edmondson) - Good With Maps
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2015
Sydney Theatre Critics Award Nominations: Best Director, Best Production, Best Lighting Design (Hartley T Kemp), Best Sound Design (Nate Edmondson), Best Actor,(Thomas Campbell) - Misterman
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2014
Sydney Theatre Critics Award Nomination: Best Production for Young People The Violent Outburst that Drew Me to You
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2013
Sydney Theatre Critics Award Nominations: Best Director, Best Independent Production, Best Design, Best Sound Design & Composition (Daryl Wallis) - Penelope
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2012
Sydney Theatre Critics Award Nomination: Best Independent Production The New Electric Ballroom
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2011
Helpmann Award Nomination Fox (Monkey Baa)
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1998
Peter Summerton Foundation grant for Emerging Theatre Directors