Kate Saxon is a British freelance TV, theatre and videogames cinematic director who lives in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
Amongst her TV credits, Kate directed 3 episodes of Endeavour, including the finale Ep which aired in 2023. She was Associate Director of
Shared Experience
Shared Experience is a British theatre company. Its current joint
< ...
theatre company from 2000 to 2012 and became an Associate Artist of the company.
Kate was the original Chair of Stage Directors UK.
Videogames that Kate has been Lead Director of include
Battlefield 2042
''Battlefield 2042'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The twelfth main installment in the ''Battlefield'' series, it was released on November 19, 2021, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 ...
,
Mafia III
''Mafia III'' is a 2016 action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K. It was released in October 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, in May 2017 for macOS, and in October 2021 for Google Stadia. It is the ...
Fable II
''Fable II'' is a 2008 action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game is the second installment in the ''Fable'' game series, and the sequel to 2004's ''Fable''. The ...
&
Fable III
''Fable III'' is a 2010 action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The third game in the ''Fable'' series, the story focuses on the player charact ...
.
Theatre
Saxon directed Phil Daniels in David Edgar's "Jekyll and Hyde" in 2018 and was director of the successful 2015 production of
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...
's ''
The History Boys
''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London's West End on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances w ...
'' for
Sell A Door Theatre Company
Selladoor Worldwide is a UK Theatre producing company based in Greenwich, London. Selladoor Worldwide produce musical theatre, plays and family theatre for UK and international touring and the West End. Selladoor Worldwide also operate and m ...
national UK tour. The Times gave 4 stars, stating: "Saxon definitely handles the shifts from the intimate and intellectual to the riotous."
Saxon's productions include
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...
's '' The Real Thing'' which toured nationally in 2012 and '' The Years Between'' in 2011, for which her leading actress, Marianne Oldham, was nominated for Best Performer at the British Theatre Awards. Also the premiere of Mark Healy's adaptation of
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...
John Fowles
John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others.
After leaving Oxford Uni ...
' ''
The French Lieutenant's Woman
''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 Postmodern literature, postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the for ...
'' for its world premiere in the USA and later British premiere.
For the
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
Th ...
's
Susan Glaspell
Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company.
First know ...
season she staged the first revival of Glaspell's 1922 comedy ''Chains of Dew'' in March 2008.
International productions include ''Nine Parts of Desire'', at The Public, New York and later at The Wilma, Philadelphia. The production was the winner of two
Barrymore Awards
The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre is an annual, nationally-recognized award program that is sponsored by Theatre Philadelphia for professional theater productions in the Greater Philadelphia area. Each season culminates with an awards ...
.
Saxon was Associate Director of the West End run and the international tour of Polly Teale's ''After Mrs. Rochester''.
Game directing
Saxon is a cinematic performance capture and voice director. She directed the Cinematics for Hangar 13's "Mafia 3" and performance for Chinese Room's "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture". "Rapture" won Best Performance BAFTA for Merle Dandridge. In 2014, "'' Alien: Isolation''" was released by Creative Assembly, to great acclaim. Saxon was Performance Director on the game, which won a BAFTA and was a recipient of 6 Bafta Nominations. Saxon is the Lead Performance Director of "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt". She was Lead Performance Director for motion capture and voice for Far Cry 3 MP ', ''Fable: Journey'' and ''Bond: Bloodstone''. Also Voice Director for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for which she directed an all-star cast including
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
,
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes: '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' The Full Monty'' (1997), '' Ravenous'' and ''The World Is Not Enough'' (both 1999), '' There's Only One Jimmy Grimble'' (2000), '' ...
and
Jason Issacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of D.J. in ''Event Horizon'' (1997), Ronald Quincy in ''Armageddon'' (1998), Colonel William Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' ...
Bond: Goldeneye 007 reloaded an The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings won over 60 awards globally including a number for best character and best voice acting. Prior to this, Voice Director for popular MMO ''Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures'' (FUNCOM). For Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory), Saxon directed all the lead level and AI dialogue and was Lead voice director on BAFTA winner ''Fable II'' (Lionhead) which also won the Develop Award for Audio Accomplishment in 2009. For Fable III ' Saxon directed a cast of over 80 actors, including
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...
,
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender (; born 2 April 1977) is a German-Irish actor. His accolades include nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number nine on ''The Irish Ti ...
,
Simon Pegg
Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...
,
Naomie Harris
Naomie Melanie Harris (born 6 September 1976) is an English actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series '' Simon and the Witch'' in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film '' 28 Days Later'' (2 ...
and
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...
. Saxon provided MoCap and voiceover direction for ''Killzone 2'' (Sony). She also directed ''Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King'', and for ''Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' (LucasArts) she cast European roles.
Television
Saxon has directed 2 episodes of "Silent Witness", 2 of
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...
, the latter of which will air in 2024, and 3 episodes of " Endeavour" including the finale.
Saxon directed episodes 2 and 3 for "Call The Midwife" series 8, which aired in 2019.
She has directed "Casualty" "Eastenders" and "Doctors."
In 2013, Saxon trained in multi-cam directing on the set of ''
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...
'' and went on to direct several episodes, as well as the
BBC Red Button
BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...