Ladies n' Genminminmin (er, min...) please welcome Kate Cross (MBE) Director of The Egg Theatre at Bath Theatre Royal in the inaugural 'History in the Making' 1st ever LIVE Theatre Show recording of "The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius" with simultaneous streaming to Facebook & YouTube.
Behind every smile, there’s a story! Kate Cross was awarded her MBE for services to Children’s Theatre at the Egg in Bath. The same stage that presented an award-winning production of "The Little Mermaid", today hosted the first ever theatrical version of the ‘Good Listening to Show’ and podcast, recorded here live for a UK Health Radio audience of 1.3 million regular listeners + the possibility of reaching some of the 700 million podcast listeners now linked to UKHR by leading platforms around the world!
Slightly worrying then that Kate Cross claims not to enjoy either formal interviews, nor even to answering questions?! On the basis of her articulate performance today, that feeling must be nothing more than a self-limiting belief, unsubstantiated by any obvious facts!
Perhaps it goes back to her private school days, in the Shires, which were certainly not the happiest days of Kate’s young life? In her words: ‘It was not an Enid Blyton experience!’ Perhaps it is part of her perceived - or real! - need to prove herself, as a civilised feminist, worthy of her own good fortune, on a daily basis? Certainly, when Kate was summoned to see the Director of the Bath Theatre Royal, Danny Moor, in her early days in her new role, her first thought was that she must have done something wrong!
It was a wonderful surprise instead when she was told that the Board was considering the possibility of tripling her budget - but first they needed to be advised what she would do with the funds, if and when they became available? In answer to this very challenging question, Kate immediately said: ‘Buy the cinema about to become available and convert it into a theatre, committing the space entirely to offering children excellent quality theatrical entertainment.’ The Board endorsed the idea almost instantaneously and the rest, as they say, is history.
Kate claims that many of her best ideas come to her when she is travelling by train. As the scenery glides by, the ideas just keep popping up, apparently! Kate’s mother married when she was 21 and cultivated Kate’s core hard-work ethic. (Her own daughter is now 21 and takes an entirely opposite view! But that’s ok with Kate.)
If Kate’s integrity is inspired by her mother, her entrepreneurial approach to risk-taking most probably comes directly from her father. For Kate, how you deal with failures shapes you as much as how you choose to diet! Cooking is perhaps a surprisingly good form of relaxation for Kate, a ‘defragging’ experience, as she describes it.
She offers three of the mantras that help through her day:
“Fine isn’t good enough
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
Thanks for listening!