KATE MARLAIS
SOME RECENT PROJECTS...
AGREEMENT (2023/2024)
Lyric Theatre, Belfast, Irish Arts Center, New York & Gate Theatre, Dublin
Written by Owen McCafferty
Directed by Charlie Westenra
Music and Sound Design by Kate Marlais
Commissioned and produced by Michael Grandage Company and Lyric Belfast
"Kate Marlais’s percussion-led accompaniment (deftly delivered by Ruairi Glasheen) serves as its own plosive commentary on four days that struggled to reach the outlines of a different, putative future for Northern Ireland." - British Theatre Guide (AGREEMENT, Lyric Belfast)
"Conor Murphy’s set, Eoin Robinson’s video design and Kate Marlais’s sound design convey the scrutiny of the outside world and global media via an oval window showing projections of televised speeches, radio studio clocks or a stormy Belfast sky through which Tony Blair’s helicopter arrives with comic fanfare." - The Guardian (AGREEMENT, Lyric Belfast)
BLOOD HARMONY (2022)
ThickSkin, touring UK incl. The Lowry & Traverse Theatre Edinburgh
Created by Matthew Bulgo, Jonnie Riordan and Jess Williams
Music by The Staves
Musical Director and Musical Arrangements by Kate Marlais
Commissioned and produced by ThickSkin and Lawrence Batley Theatre, in co-production with Watford Palace Theatre and Wales Millennium Centre and
supported by The Lowry
More info here
“The role of music in the show is what makes Blood Harmony particularly special... Sound designer Neil Bettles and musical director/arranger Kate Marlais deserve particular credit here, for the different storytelling qualities that the
songs can take on, able to in turn fill the theatre like a cavernous church, or
move through time in the snow.” - WhatsOnStage (BLOOD HARMONY, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival)
“The script’s emotional set pieces are amplified by bursts of song,
composed by the indie-folk trio The Staves, with musical arrangements by
Kate Marlais...performed in beautiful close harmony by the cast.” - The Times (BLOOD HARMONY, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival)
"...the songs scattered through the show....are pretty and melodic and, with the harmonic arrangements of Kate Marlais, ...strikingly sung" - The Guardian (BLOOD HARMONY, The Lowry)
"...the singing is spellbinding" - The Stage (BLOOD HARMONY, Lawrence Batley Theatre)
"Kate Marlais’ arrangements conjuring up powerful harmonies" - The Reviews Hub (BLOOD HARMONY, Lawrence Batley Theatre)
A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN (2021)
A filmed dramatisation of Virginia Woolf's feminist masterpiece for the London Library Literary Festival and screened at Rio Cinema Dalston
Directed by Charlie Westenra
Written by Linda Mashall-Griffiths
Music and Sound Design by Kate Marlais
Starring Nina Sosanya, Colin Tierney and Sophie Melville
FRAGMENTS (2020 & 2021)
New York
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Mandie Rapoza
Written by Brian Kettler
Music by Kate Marlais
Sound Design by Maxine Guttierez
More info here
ABANDON (2017)
Lyric Hammersmith
Stage Debut Award-nominated for Best Composer
Devised and Written by
Laura Lomas and Lyric Young company
Music by Kate Marlais
Sound Design by Owen Crouch
Best Composer nominee - Stage Debut Awards 2018
"Kate Marlais' music matches the pulsing and jagged energy of the performers" -The Stage (ABANDON, Lyric Hammersmith)
ANAHERA (2019)
Finborough Theatre, European Premiere
Directed by Alice Kornitzer
Written by Emma Kinane
Music and Sound Design by Kate Marlais
More info here
"Atmospheric music by Kate Marlais" - Reviews Hub (ANAHERA, Finborough Theatre)
"Superb music composed by Kate Marlais...a wonderful music score" - London Pub Theatres (ANAHERA, Finborough Theatre)
MOTH
(in development)
Book, Music and Lyrics by Kate Marlais
Workshopped at Lyric Hammersmith, and supported in initial development by Lyric Hammersmith and Mercury Musical Developments
Choreography by Luke Brown of Luke Brown Dance
FATHERLAND (2017)
ManchesterRoyal Exchange (Manchester International Festival)
and Lyric Hammersmith (LIFT Festival), for Frantic Assembly
Conceived by Scott Graham, Simon Stephens and Karl Hyde
Directed by Scott Graham (for Frantic Assembly)
Written by Simon Stephens
Music by Karl Hyde of Underworld
Music Production by Matthew Herbert
Musical Director and Vocal Arrangements by Kate Marlais
More info here
"...the best moments come when the songs highlight either the vulnerability of the solo male voice or the sheer voltage that’s possible when a throng of those voices combine" - Evening Standard (FATHERLAND, Lyric Hammersmith)
A wall of sound builds up around us and becomes a huge physical presence: heavy and threatening and impossible to escape" - Exeunt (FATHERLAND, Lyric Hammersmith)
"...the music, songs, singing and general musical aspect is of a high standard...brilliantly arranged with harmonies that are both chilling and affirming" - Voice Mag (FATHERLAND, Manchester Royal Exchange)
"...rough choruses growing into collective chants...It is visceral, raucous" - The Arts Desk (FATHERLAND, Lyric Hammersmith)
LEAVE TO REMAIN (2019)
Lyric Hammersmith
Directed and Choreographed by Robby Graham
Written by Matt Jones
Music by Kele Okereke of Bloc Party
Music Production for Stage, Musical Director and Musical Arrangements by Kate Marlais
"...an effective, moving and – at times – profound marriage of musical and cultural worlds" - NME (LEAVE TO REMAIN, Lyric Hammersmith)
"The virtue of the show lies in its ability to explore ideas through music and movement...a spirited British musical in which story, song and movement are seamlessly integrated" - The Guardian (LEAVE TO REMAIN, Lyric Hammersmith)
"...the songs are propulsive and catchy, on the more electronic side of indie but with an alluring highlife sheen, rendered via a mix of live singing, pre-recorded electronic backing and guitarist" - Time Out (LEAVE TO REMAIN, Lyric Hammersmith)
ENTER ACHILLES (2020)
International Tour to Sadler's Wells, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Dansens Hus, Oslo, Norway and Trafó House Of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Hungary, for DV8 and Ballet Rambert
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Lloyd Newson (for DV8)
Vocal Coach (Singing) - Kate Marlais
More info here
MUSIK (2019-20)
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival & Leicester Square Theatre, August-Sept 2019 & Feb 2020.
Written by Jonathan Harvey
Music by Pet Shop Boys
Directed by Josh Seymour
Vocal Coach (Singing) to Frances Barber - Kate Marlais
More info here
"...the star sings...with all the smoky grit of a survivor" - The Guardian (MUSIK, Assembly Rooms Edinburgh)
"Barber is a terrific singer, her gravelly German cabaret-style delivery serving as the perfect counterpoint to the Pet Shop Boys’ pop sensibilities" - Out News Global (MUSIK, Leicester Square Theatre)
