Who is Kitty?
Kitty Benford is a theatre director and workshop facilitator making bold, people-centred work across new writing, large-scale touring, and community co-creation. Based in Northampton, she works with some of the UK's leading producing theatres — including Royal & Derngate, Curve Leicester, and Wilton's Music Hall — bringing the same rigour, warmth, and creative ambition to every room she works in.
Kitty's directing practice is rooted in a genuine curiosity about people: who gets to tell the story, how it's told, and what it feels like to be in the audience when it lands. She is drawn to new writing and bold theatrical reimaginings — work that doesn't play it safe, and that trusts its audience to meet it halfway. Her productions have taken her from intimate studio spaces to large ensemble shows with community casts, and she brings the same care and precision to both.
Alongside her directing work, Kitty has built a significant body of experience as an associate and assistant director on major touring productions. She understands what it means to hold a company through a long run — to be the consistent, playful, rigorous presence in the room when the director isn't there. Her cover and understudy work is grounded in deep observation: learning a production inside out, so that when it needs to flex, it stays alive.
Kitty's work with young people and communities is not a separate strand of her practice — it is its foundation. Years of directing and facilitating with Curve Leicester's Young Community Company, Milton Keynes Theatre Young Company, and Warts and All Theatre have shaped how she thinks about collaboration, co-creation, and what theatre is actually for. She is a passionate advocate for community-rooted work as a rigorous, demanding, and vital creative practice.
As a workshop facilitator, Kitty works with young people, emerging artists, and community groups — designing and leading sessions that are purposeful, generous, and rooted in the same theatrical instincts she brings to the rehearsal room. She is experienced in supporting participants with additional needs, including autistic young people, and in creating spaces where everyone in the room feels genuinely included.
Kitty holds an MA in Performing Arts: Creative Practice and Leadership and a BA in Theatre and Professional Practice, both from the University of Bedfordshire. She is available for directing, associate directing, and facilitation work.
Get In touch
Got a project brewing, a wild idea, or just fancy saying hello? Drop me a message below, I'd love to hear from you.