28/07/11 » A plunge into the unknown
Ben is contributing to an extraordinary experimental show, I AM CHARLIE, in Hackney this weekend, combining dance, physical theatre, clowning, fire-eating and performance poetry as its audience moves through the many fractured rooms of a disused warehouse.

21/07/11 » Eurovision comedy for September
Benet is to direct Jonathan Harvey's BOOM BANG-A-BANG on the London fringe in September. It will be a welcome addition to his repertoire of contemporary British revivals, which range from Ben Elton's Popcorn (2001) to Damages (2009).

18/03/11 » New Trailer for HOWIE THE ROOKIE
Benet's most acclaimed production is hoping to return in the autumn for a UK tour. Can you help us? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWi7ya1prhY

14/03/11 » IL TABARRO raises another £1,700 for charity
Benet's concert staging of Puccini's IL TABARRO raised £1,700 for charity at its performance on Saturday night. The concert, based on his staging of the one-act opera several years ago, followed an earlier charity performance in November last year which raised a similar amount.

08/02/11 » LARAMIE triumphs
The performances of THE LARAMIE PROJECT over the weekend were outstanding, ranking among the best work of Benet's career. He hopes to return to the show sometime in the future.

05/01/11 » Benet to return to Stratford
Following the success of his ROALD DAHL PROJECT last summer, Benet has been invited back to Year Out Drama to direct a new production. He will be staging Moises Kaufman's contemporary masterpiece, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, which he has wanted to do for many years.

21/11/10 » Life After ends its life
LIFE AFTER closed last night to an enthusiastic near-capacity audience at the end of a run of 27 performances.

12/11/10 » Reviews mixed but production praised
The few reviews which have so far appeared for LIFE AFTER at New End have been mixed for the play but strong for the production and the cast. "inventive staging and ingenious lighting" (Fringe Review ****); "visually striking and fluid" (Ham & High); "uniformly strong cast" (Camden New Journal); "Benet Catty does an excellent job" (The Stage).

08/11/10 » Opera raises £1,000+
Saturday's performance of IL TABARRO which Benet directed at St James Piccadily has raised over £1,000 for cancer research. There are plans to restage it in March 2011.

26/10/10 » LIFE AFTER now running
Benet's production of LIFE AFTER is now playing at New End Theatre, Hampstead, London until November 20th. Tickets available (details to the left).

29/09/10 » LIFE AFTER Cast
Casting for LIFE AFTER is now complete. The exceptional company will include Russell Bentley, David Burt, Daniel Gosling,Fiz Marcus, Jennifer Matter, Luke Stevenson.

28/09/10 » LIFE AFTER Team
For his production of LIFE AFTER, Benet will be reuniting with the team with whom he created last year's acclaimed revivals of HOWIE THE ROOKIE and DAMAGES: designer Nicola Dobrowolski and sound designer Simon Perkin, with Benet designing the lighting as he always does. Reviews of his/their previous work in these areas can be found throughout this website.

24/08/10 » Il Tabarro to return to London
Benet is to direct a revised version of his 2008 production of Puccini's IL TABARRO for a one-off performance at St James' Church, Piccadilly, on November 6th- ten days after the opening of LIFE AFTER at New End.

22/06/10 » Autumn Return to New End with new play
Benet will be returning to New End Theatre - where he directed his first freelance project, A Handful of Rain, in 2002 and has staged several one-offs - to direct Andrew Olins' debut play LIFE AFTER. It opens on October 26th.

14/06/10 » Top Marks for Stratford Dahl Show
After 3 weeks' rehearsal, THE ROALD DAHL PROJECT received warm responses at its performances at the weekend. The cast of 26 students, with whom Benet shaped the material, delivered a terrific piece for the Year Out Drama Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.

19/05/10 » Roald Dahl Project revived for Stratford
Benet has been asked to re-work his ROALD DAHL PROJECT for the Year Out Drama Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. He first created the piece, which is now to be expanded, with students at ArtsEd five years ago. Coincidentally, he returns to ArtsEd to do a project next month.

30/04/10 » Benet commissioned to write stage play
Benet has been commissioned to write a play based on the life of a well-known journalist for a planned run next year. He will be working on this into the summer.

26/04/10 » Ben to return to ArtsEd
Ben is delighted to be returning to Arts Educational to direct an in-house second year project based around the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical CAROUSEL. He has worked there twice before but not in several years.

26/03/10 » Benet directs student musical workshops
Benet's staged readings of three new musicals were warmly received last night at Goldsmiths. All three were written by students on the MA in Musical Theatre at the South London college.

06/01/10 » Return to Stratford
Benet is to return to Year Out Drama in Stratford-upon-Avon to direct Moises Kaufman's masterpiece THE LARAMIE PROJECT- a play he has wanted to direct for ten years.

16/12/09 » Benet collects Best Director trophy
Benet was finally presented with his award for Best Director for his production of Katty Pearce's one act comedy TABOOED by playwright Mark Ravenhill today at a champagne reception. Benet directed Ravenhill's SHOPPING & F***ING at the Edinburgh Festival seven years ago.

10/10/09 » Benet steps in to direct Shakespeare at Scoop
At 24 hours notice, Benet has been asked to direct three staged readings of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night and As You Like It as part of Bardfest at The Scoop which will take place at the end of the month.

27/07/09 » DAMAGES closes
DAMAGES closed to an enthusiastic capacity audience, including a queue for returns, on Saturday night. The show played to well over 500 people and has been a considerable success for producers Lucid Muse.

16/07/09 » DAMAGES reviews
The reviews for DAMAGES are in. Fringe Review gives it the maximum five stars describing it as "unforgettable"; Remotegoat (****) praises its "detail, care and assurance"; Time Out calls it "well-paced" and "fiendishly smart"; British Theatre Guide "funny, entertaining and often thought-provoking"; Extra Extra calls it "faultless". Overall DAMAGES received 4 raves, 2 mixed and 1 negative review.

14/07/09 » DAMAGES now playing!
Benet's production of DAMAGES is now playing until July 25th. Tickets available this week.

27/05/09 » Times critic raves raves about TABOOED
Times critic Jeremy Kingston has written a rave review of Katty Pearce's comedy TABOOED which was part of the Lost Festival. See TABOOED press page.

27/05/09 » TABOOED wins Best Director Award
Benet has won the Lost Festival's Best Director Award 2009 for his production of Katty Pearce's TABOOED. Last year he won the Best New Writing Award for his play ALL TALK from the same festival.

11/05/09 » TABOOED sold out
Tickets have now sold out for Benet's one night only production of Katty Pearce's fantastic comedy TABOOED, as part of the Lost Festival at New End on Wednesday 13th May.

18/04/09 » HOWIE receives posthumous rave
Three weeks since HOWIE THE ROOKIE closed, the Irish Post has finally published its review which, like many others, is a 4-star rave calling it "enthralling until the end".

16/04/09 » Single Fare returns for a(nother) single night
SINGLE FARE TO ZURICH, the one act play about assisted suicide which Benet directed last November, is to play a one off performance at the Lost Theatre Festival on May 5th, the week before the performance of Katty's Pearce's TABOOED.

06/04/09 » Ben returns to Old Red Lion in July
Benet has been asked by theatre company Lucid Muse to direct their production of Steve Thompson's newspaper comedy DAMAGES. It opens at the Old Red Lion, where HOWIE THE ROOKIE closed on Saturday, on July 7th.

04/04/09 » HOWIE closes
HOWIE closed tonight to another packed house, with a queue for returns waiting outside. Options are being considered for a future life for the production.

02/04/09 » Rave reviews keep coming...
With HOWIE's final week selling to capacity audiences and ending to tumultuous cheering, the rave reviews keep on coming. See the HOWIE press page.

31/03/09 » Benet's HOWIE "darker, dirtier and more dangerous" than the original
Irish World has given HOWIE an ecstatic review, praising the actors, direction, design, lighting, sound and atmospehere and saying it is better than the original Bush Theatre staging. Some seats available on Thursday.

28/03/09 » HOWIE plays to standingovation
HOWIE's capacity audience last night gave actors Kieran Gough and Johnny Vivash a rapturous, cheering standingovation at the curtain call. The production closes next Saturday, April 4th. There are still tickets available for most performances.

25/03/09 » HOWIE is critics choice!
In addition to its clean sweep of good reviews so far, HOWIE THE ROOKIE is today Critics Choice in Time Out. Tickets remain available for the run, which ends April 4th.

23/03/09 » HOWIE 's first reviews FOUR STARS!
The first reviews are in. HOWIE THE ROOKIE gets 4-stars from Time Out who praises Benet Catty's "disciplined, sharply acted restaging" and calls stars Vivash and Gough "magnetic". Whatonstage also gives 4 stars, calling it a "wholly visceral experience" with the actors' "admirable slickness and humour". Two other websites, British Theatre Guide and Extra Extra, which don't have a star system, are also raves.

25/02/09 » HOWIE TICKETS ON SALE
Tickets for Benet Catty's production of HOWIE THE ROOKIE, Mark O'Rowe's Irish thriller, are now on sale from the Old Red Lion Theatre, London. (see left)

21/02/09 » BLIND EYE plays a blinder
The staged reading of BLIND EYE went down a storm yesterday at the Prince of Wales. The largely theatre and film industry audience seemed to see that this is a major piece of work. Further news soon....

13/02/09 » BLIND EYE cast
The staged reading of Susannah Finzi's BLIND EYE has now been cast, and every part is a first choice. The performance will take place next Friday (20th) at 1230pm at the Prince of Wales.

02/02/09 » In Transit Triumphs!
The staged reading of the new sitcom IN TRANSIT was the mighty triumph of Sitcom Saturday, winning the most laughs, applause and praise of the night.

24/01/09 » In Transit Cast
Benet has cast Victoria Akers, Nick Dutton, James Pellow, Conor Short and Stephen Yeo in the rehearsed reading of IN TRANSIT which he's directing for a showcase performance on January 31st.

14/01/09 » Sitcom Try-Out in January
Benet has been asked to direct a rehearsed reading of a new sitcom by Alex Humphrey, IN TRANSIT as part of Sitcom Saturday at Westminster Central Library on Saturday 31st January.

09/01/09 » BLIND EYE reading at the Delfont
The first public reading of BLIND EYE (previously "Complicity") is to take place infront of an invited industry audience on February 20th in the Delfont Room at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Casting begins shortly.

18/12/08 » Irish Thriller sets opening date
Benet's production of HOWIE THE ROOKIE will open at the Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, on March 17th 2009 where it runs until April 4th. Rehearsals begin February 23rd.

27/10/08 » Benet to direct irish two-hander in 2009
Benet has just been asked to direct Mark O'Rowe's amazing play, HOWIE THE ROOKIE, in March 2009. The play premiered at the Bush Theatre in 1999. Kieran Gough and Johnny Vivash star.

15/10/08 » Single Fare a singular success
Last night's performance of SINGLE FARE TO ZURICH went terrifically well. All involved are hoping to remount it in a more central theatre in due course.

03/10/08 » Zurich Cast
After a brilliant set of auditions, Ben has cast Alexa Brown, Emma Carver, John Last and Robert Lightfoot in SINGLE FARE TO ZURICH which gives a one-off performance on October 14th. Rehearsals start on Monday.

30/09/08 » Another week, another festival
Ben is reuniting with writer James Woolf, for whom he directed CITY LIGHTS at the Old Vic in 2005, to direct SINGLE FARE TO ZURICH- a one act comedy about assisted suicide as part of a festival of comedies. Casting takes place this week.

10/09/08 » March Cast
"March"- Benet's 5 minute play for the Lost Festival - is to performed by Austin Hardiman and Mark Martin. It performs, along with nine other short plays, on September 27th at the Tabard Theatre, London.

09/09/08 » War Crimes play heads towards showcase
COMPLICITY, the complex new play on which Ben has been working with writer Susannah Finzi since January, will shortly be taking its first big step with a showcase presentation in London in November.

08/08/08 » 5 Minute Play staged for Lost
Lost Theatre, who awarded Benet their Best New Writing award for ALL TALK, has selected MARCH for their 5-minute festival at the end of September- a mini play about the betrayal of one friend by another.

24/05/08 » Ben completes extravaganza for old school
MAKING HISTORY - the multi-media stage show written and directed by Ben for his former school's 150th anniversary -concluded its performances tonight. Ben was commissioned to write the play a year ago and has been actively working on it since November.

22/04/08 » Steven Berkoff presents award to All Talk
Writer/actor/director Steven Berkoff today presented Benet with the Best New Writing award at a champagne reception in the West End. Berkoff praised the characterisations and the "wonderful writing" and adjudicator Jeremy Kingston emphasised the wit and subtlety of the play. Benet was presented with an engraved trophy.

22/04/08 » Ben wins writing award
Benet was today notified that ALL TALK has won the Best New Writing Award from the Lost Festival. The play will be reprised at the Actors Centre later in the week infront of an invited audience.

09/04/08 » All Talk revived in London
Benet's first play All Talk, which was first presented in 2005, had a one off revival tonight as part of the Lost One Act Festival at the Tabard Theatre. The entire original cast was re-assembled for the production which was enthusiastically praised by Times critic Jeremy Kingston who is adjudicating this year's festival of new and classic one act plays.

22/02/08 » More new play readings
Ben has been continuing with his recent track record of directing staged readings of new plays. This week's BLACK DOG DAY by Sharon Kanolik for the Lucky Dogs' showcase evening at the Tristan Bates followed last month's showcase of James Butler's HISTRIONICS at the Etcetera.

13/02/08 » Dido Rehearsals Begin
Benet's production of Dido and Aeneas, which he is directing for Porcupine Productions at the Grantham Theatre, started rehearsals tonight. It will play in a double bill with Puccini's Il Tabarro, which starts rehearsals next month. They open at Grantham Theatre on April 12th.

11/02/08 » Another New Play In The Offing
Ben has been asked to work with writer Susannah Fenzi on adapting her screenplay Complicity into a stage work. They will be working together over the coming months and hope to be able to mount it early 2009.

04/02/08 » Black Dog Day by Royal Court Writer
Benet has started to direct a staged reading of Black Dog Day, a short play by Sharon Kanolik for an evening of short plays by writers who met through the Royal Court Writers' Programme. It will give two performances on Feb 21st-22nd at the Tristan Bates Theatre in the west end.

19/11/07 » Work Starts on School Extravaganza
Ben has started work researching a stage piece he is creating for his old school, Christ's College, to mark its 150th anniversary. The show, which he was asked to do in May, is to tell the story of the school and the world over the last century and a half and will take place in May 2008.

12/08/07 » Forgotten Classics at the Kings Head
Continuing the theme of short projects which are dominating 2007, Ben directed rehearsed readings of two plays by classic American authors- F Scott Fitzgerald and Eugene O’Neill as part of a quadruple bill of one act plays at the Kings Head. The near-capacity audience gave a warm reception to both.

23/07/07 » Workshop for Giudecca
Ben directed a workshop for the Giudecca theatre company for the play The Yellow Ticket, once famous for being Laurence Olivier’s first foray into Hollywood when it was adapted as a film. The company is considering mounting the first revival of this play about prostitution in pre-war Russia for several decades at some point in the future.

12/07/07 » Lighting "The Forbidden Land"
Once again, Ben lit a production for someone else this week- this time a ballet created by Helen Guscott for the Denise Winmill School of Dance which she co-runs. The ballet, an original dark fairytale based around the music of Shostakovich, comprised a cast of 100 dancers between 6 and 18, and included a brilliant central performance from a soloist for the Royal Ballet. It once again enhanced Ben’s interest in lighting, which he has designed for most of his own shows for the last ten years as well as several for other people.

06/05/07 » A Shorter Measure of Measure For Measure
At short notice, Ben stepped in to direct the first of several staged readings of Shakespeare plays for Metta Theatre at the White Bear. He chose Measure for Measure, a play he has hoped to direct for many years, and working on this abridged reason has made his keenness all the more acute.

23/02/07 » Back to the Drawing Board
Following the eleventh hour cancellation of his writer-director debut, I’m the King of the Castle, Ben has been using his unexpectedly barren spring to get back to work on various writing projects. These include a second act for his first play All Talk, researching a new play called for now The Kids Project, and working with his agent on finding a future for Castle. He will also be helping to direct a cabaret of songs and operatic arias for Porcupine Productions in Grantham, for whom he helped direct Dido and Aeneas last year.

01/01/70 » Return to Stratford
Ben is returning to Stratford's Year Out Drama Company to direct the Moises Kaufman masterpiece THE LARAMIE PROJECT. It'll play two performances on Feb 5th and 6th.

01/01/70 » LARAMIE this weekend
Benet's 9 year ambition to direct THE LARAMIE PROJECT is finally realised this weekend when his production for Year Out Drama opens at the Gordon Vallins Theatre in Stratford upon Avon. Performances are at 7.30pm on Saturday and 2.30pm on Sunday.

01/01/70 » Edinburgh Reviews
Benet reviewed 18 shows at this year's Edinburgh Festival. His reviews can be found online under his own name on whatsonstage.com and fringereview.com.

01/01/70 » Harvey comedy in rehearsal
Benet's production of Jonathan Harvey's fast-paced comedy BOOM BANG-A-BANG is now in rehearsal and tickets are available. It is the first revival Benet has directed in London since 2009's DAMAGES ("an air of ownership and assurance often missing from fringe theatre" (Fringe Review *****) and HOWIE THE ROOKIE (Time Out Critics Choice).

01/01/70 » First reading for Marje Proops play
"Dear Marje", Ben's play based on the life and letters of Marjorie Proops, is to receive its first public reading next Wednesday in the West End, directed by David Grindley, infront of an invited audience.

01/01/70 » First reading for Marjorie Proops play
Benet's play based on the life and letters of Marjorie Proops, the iconic agony aunt, is to receive its first public reading next week in the west end in front of an invited audience. DEAR MARJE will be directed by David Grindley and performed by Lesley Manville, Lucy Briggs-Owen and Lloyd Hutchinson.

01/01/70 » Ben to Birmingham
Ben is delighted to be directing a production for Birmingham School of Acting in Feb/March 2012.

01/01/70 » Angels in America next week
Benet's spectacular production of ANGELS IN AMERICA plays at the Gordon Valins Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon College on Saturday 28th January at 7PM (note early start time) and Sunday 29th January at 2.30pm. Seats remain for the first performance.