Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife!

Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife! tells the story of the great British contralto and her journey from housewife to household name. Like Kathleen, the show has a great sense of fun and talks straight from the heart.

Performed by contralto Lucy Stevens with pianist Elizabeth Marcus, sung music from Kathleen’s repertoire is woven through the text including What is Life and Blow the Wind Southerly.

Lucy Stevens’ performance embodies the spirit of Kathleen and celebrates her brilliance, on and off stage, with dialogue which is funny and revealing – from her Lancashire debut in 1940 through her meteoric rise, including The Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne, to her final tragic performance as Orfeo at the Royal Opera House in 1953.

Kathleen Ferrier Whattalife! has featured on BBC 2 and BBC Radio 3.

‘Lucy Stevens is brilliant, has Kathleen Ferrier perfectly and is a fine musician too.’ Christopher Fifield, editor of Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier.

‘Lucy Stevens as Ferrier, capturing the singer’s radiant personality most winningly… the warmth in her own voice, matching to a large degree Ferrier’s own contralto, causes a frisson in the audience.’
Adrian Edwards, Musical Theatre Review.

‘A brilliant evening, much humour, wonderful singing… certainly captured the essence of Our Kath… not just a brilliant actress but whattavoice!’
Kath Hopcroft, Kathleen Ferrier’s goddaughter and trustee of the Kathleen Ferrier Society.