About Us
The Krazy Kat Theatre Company was established in 1982 by Kinny Gardner and Alastair S Macmillan as a fully professional touring company, creating innovative and imaginative visual theatre.
Our patrons are Toyah Willcox, Mabel Davis CBE and Maddy Prior.
We specialise in introducing young people and their grown-ups to the delights of live visual theatre combining mime, dance, song, Commedia dell Arte, puppets and sign language. We craft stylish young people’s shows which adults like to see and which all children can enjoy.
The highly visual aspect of our work has always been our strength
Allowing us to engage with many audiences where English is not their first language, leading to invitations to festivals in Spain, Holland, France and Italy. Kinny was a member of ‘The Scottish Mime Theatre’ for many years, has a Deaf nephew, and is seen by both the Deaf and Hearing communities as a major innovator within visual theatre using Sign Language Arts.
We tour throughout the U.K. and have appeared in venues as diverse as Lerwick Town Hall on Shetland and at both The Royal National Theatre and The Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank.
We offer innovative and imaginative theatrical productions.
These encompass a fascinating mixture of popular styles, music, puppets, masks, story-telling and sign language.
We have a strong sense of suitability and age-appropriateness, and an equally strong sense of the ridiculous.
Accessibility and a passion to communicate are motifs of our work. These quirky, inventive and surprising performances are created to work on many levels, as challenging entertainment and as an exciting educational experience.
A theatrical and creative use of sign language, signed by the actors, is featured throughout.
We visibly provide for all audiences in an accessible and crafted celebration of live performance. We are a modern and agile small company who pride ourselves on our integrity, drive and ambition.
We are seen by bookers and practitioners in the U.K. arts scene as an example of good practice.
How We Work
Krazy Kat has its own imaginative, original and accessible style of performance, being both theatre for and theatre with families.
We model behaviour for adults and encourage them to join with us to engage in the story, share the fun of the moment, and recognise the joy and importance of play as a bridge to independence. Borrowing from patterns of children’s play, we emphasise that the audience is the most important part of the show, encouraging a sense of involvement from the outset and a responsibility to the development of the play: it matters what they do.
In addition the plays are very carefully created with designs by amazing and expert international designer Chris de Wilde, which suggest rather than define, and are supported by an exceptional range of commissioned music which enriches the mood of each piece.
Our work has, over the many years of our existence, attracted artists to the company who seek to reflect the lived experience of deaf and hard of hearing children and young people.
Sign Language Arts
We create theatre incorporating Sign Language Arts, accessible for deaf children and their hearing peers. Devised and performed by an integrated company of deaf and deaf-aware practitioners, Krazy Kat are developing a distinctive, ambitious style of highly skilled integrated Sign Language Arts.
Founding Artistic Director Kinny Gardner has become a recognised leader in the development of visual theatre with integrated signing. He remains committed to the advocacy of diversity and accessibility in U.K. Arts.
Krazy Kat’s work promotes access to the arts for the deaf and champions the value of sign language to the hearing. We are seen by both the deaf and hearing communities as major innovators in the field of Sign Language Arts.
"A vehicle for visual fun and games. Unusual and exciting, ever innovative."
Times Educational Supplement
