Bradford writer Kat Martin on Pick and Mix coming-of-age play

Kat Rose Martin’s first full-length play Pick and Mix is currently on tour and is described as a “coming-of-age story of sisterhood, sex ed and sanitary pads”.

Kat, 30, attended Buttershaw high school and Dixons City Academy, before moving to London for drama school.

She was the first winner of the Kay Mellor Fellowship and has stage and television credits under her belt, including for BBC’s Holby City and Sky’s Wolfe.

Now back in Bradford, Kat is determined to champion her home city and the talent within it.

The play is a coming-of-age tale (Image: Emily Goldie)

She said: “So many working-class stories are about getting out of the place where you’re from.

“When I was first studying, I was told to 'get out of Bradford if you want to be a creative'.

“Even at drama school, I was told to lose my accent, make sure people didn’t realise my roots - now I think my roots are everything that make me.”

That’s something reflected throughout Pick and Mix, which has its final night at Kala Sangam this evening.

Kat said: “We did open call auditions across Bradford, people didn’t have to have loads of experience and we made sure it was a workshop so that anybody could come along.

Kat is keen to champion Bradford talent (Image: Emily Goldie)

“For me to get a play on in the UK has been so hard and it’s been Alex Chisholm (the director) who has seen the spirit of this play and really just pushed and pushed for it to get on, to take a chance - but I don’t want it to be that difficult.

“Bradford 2025 is coming - it should be easier for people to be creative and do it here and not spend all their money in London.”

The play will be at Scholemoor Beacon on November 9; Leeds Playhouse on November 10 and 11; the Rockwell Centre in Thorpe Edge on November 12 and Bingley Arts Centre on November 13.

The play will be shown in several Bradford venues (Image: Emily Goldie)

“This is about taking the show to the communities that it’s about and making sure that everybody gets access to it,” said Kat.

“The three main girls in the play are all Bradford lasses, Sonia is from Buttershaw, when she auditioned, I was like ‘hold on, I know you from school’.”

The play will run in London in the New Year.

Kat said: “I’m so excited to be taking a Bradford play that I wrote about people I know and my experiences in Bradford and having Bradford people do it and then taking that onto a London stage as well.

“I’m just chuffed that we get to make opportunities for folk and make stuff happen.”