Catherine Power
Waterford actress Katie Honan, whose new one-woman play ‘How To Fall Flat On Your Face’ runs in Garter Lane in March, moved to London two and a half years ago to further her career as an actor. Honan explained to the Munster Express the reasons behind her decision to move.
Katie Honan
“I left Waterford when I was 17 but I had never lived outside of Ireland. I lived in Dublin and I just wanted a new challenge and for my own personal development I decided on the move to London. It was scary no doubt, I wasn’t familar with the industry in London and the industry certainly wasn’t familiar with me. Then of course Covid hit and it was a very difficult time. It wasn’t all bleak though and last summer we did get a chance to get back on stage. I was in ‘Refuge’ a play by Katy Duncan with an all-female cast which ran in The Space Theatre in London. That was a great experience but I still had a good bit of time on my hands so I decided to write, that has always been an ambition of mine.”
‘How to Fall Flat on your Face’ is the result of Katie’s endeavours. The play tells the story of Anna, A Waterford woman, who falls flat on her face and spends a day in a London hospital corridor, waiting. Her mind wanders between past and present. She is obsessive about most things. This is a funny and dark dive into how ‘sweating the small stuff’ can escalate. How did Anna fall, and will she find a way home?
Development week for How To Fall Flat On Your Face
The Waterford actress explained how the play developed. “I’ve always wanted to make my own work but there never seemed to be enough time for writing. When I moved to London I was working and when I was not working I was auditioning for new parts. Then of course Covid happened and suddenly I had plenty of time. During the lockdown I decided to write and initially I wanted to write a film screenplay and I gave it a go but it just wasn’t working out for me the way I wanted it to and I felt it wasn’t going anywhere. Then I came up with the thread of a story I thought might work as a one-woman play, I scribbled the bones of the content in a notebook and then I started typing it up, sent it to my sister Laura and we drafted and re-drafted it. Then we managed to secure a playwright / producer grant and that allowed us to come together to develop it and it really snowballed from there.”
Katie Honan says the initial idea for the play came from a personal experience but everything else is fiction. “I had just moved to London and I had a really bad fall within two or three months of the move. My face was badly injured and I found myself in a London hospital by myself with no NHS number, no english phone number and basically on my own. The play is set in the hospital waiting area as Anna’s mind begins to unravel. From then on the play is fictional but it is inspired by that experience where I felt physically very broken. The first working title we had was ‘How To Become A Superhero In Seven Days’ but we eventually settled on ‘How To Fall Flat On Your Face’.
Katie is thrilled with the team she has assembled for the production. “I’ve written the play and I will act it also, Luke Kernaghan will direct while Rachel Ní Bhraonáin is the Movement Director. Set/Costume Design is by Deirdre Dwyer, Sound Design by Jamie Beamish and Lighting Design by Eoin Byrne. I am also very appreciative of the support we’ve received from Arts Council Ireland, Garter Lane, Waterford Council, Q1 Scientific, TriviumVet, Tilestyle, Dooley’s Hotel and EveryEvent”.
Katie Honan onstage at the Abbey Theatre as Eli in ‘Let The Right One In’.
How To Fall Flat On Your Face was launched last week and Katie Honan is looking forward to returning home to Waterford for the run in Garter Lane. “We start rehearsing in mid-February and then we will be very busy with the promotion of the show. We will gave a trailer for the show out next month and then I’m hoping of course for a successful run.”
How To Fall Flat On Your Face runs in Garter Lane from March 8th -12th. Tickets at €15/€12 are available at garterlane.ie.
