KATHERINE LYALL-WATSON
Co-Artistic Director & Writer

katherine@belloocreative.com

Katherine is the co-artistic director of the female-led theatre company Belloo Creative. In 2022, she won the Lord Mayor’s Award for Best Australian New Work for her play Boy, Lost, produced by Belloo. Katherine graduated with a doctorate in Creative Writing from UQ in 2013, the same year she was shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwright’s Award for her doctoral play, Motherland. Motherland won numerous awards for its premiere season in 2013 and went on to tour nationally in 2016.

Katherine is the writer of HANAKO (with Caroline Dunphy, Brisbane Festival 2016), Rovers (Brisbane Festival 2018), House in the Dunes (Japan 2020), Hot Mess Mama (with Emma Dean, Brisbane Festival 2020), Phaedra* (Queensland Theatre 2020), AKIRUNO (Tokyo Tokyo Festival 2021), Home Grown Opera (Opera Queensland and Bleach Festival 2022) and Boy, Lost (Queensland Theatre 2022).

In 2008, Katherine was one of three finalists for the Queensland Premier's Drama Awards. Her work has been selected for Playwriting Australia’s National Script Workshop and read at the National Play Festival. She was an Associate Artist at Queensland Theatre Company in 2015 and Belloo was Company in Residence at Queensland Theatre from 2019 to 2020.

Katherine has a long history in theatre having worked as an actor, director and theatre reviewer before starting playwriting. She regularly mentors younger and emerging writers and was the chair of Playlab Theatre from 2014-2019. In her spare time, Katherine is a beekeeper and an avid reader.

* Phaedra was a casualty of COVID-19 and didn’t premiere in 2020.

2022 LORD MAYOR’S AWARD FOR BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK

“Katherine Lyall-Watson is one of the founders of the all-female Australian theatre company, Belloo Creative. In adapting Kristina Olsson’s award-winning memoir, Boy, Lost, Katherine has created a sensitive theatrical work which not only follows the original true story of one family’s loss and redemption, but places that story firmly in a broader political context. The writing is beautifully modulated, sometimes tough, often poetic, jumping time-zones in a whirlwind of storylines and characters until they settle and draw the audience through to the heart-rending climax.  The play takes us on a journey through difficult topics with far-reaching impact and, rather than offering blame, invites us to consider compassion, self-reflection and the possibility of change.”

— Matilda Awards Judges’ Report