Kate Bassett (born 11 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' newspaper as a theatre critic. She was educated at

the Hertfordshire and Essex High School The Hertfordshire and Essex High School and since 2004 named as ''The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College'', commonly referred as Herts and Essex is a secondary level comprehensive single-sex school and a mixed-sex sixth form ...

, won a Bernard Sunley Scholarship to

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

in London, before reading English Literature at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, on a Manners Scholarship. She worked as the theatre critic for the ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' from 2000 to September 2013 and, prior to that, as a theatre critic for the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' (from 1996) and ''

'' (1993 to 1996), and as deputy theatre editor of ''

City Limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...

''. Her features and reviews have also covered comedy, dance, books, film and opera, with further publications including ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'', the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and the ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years by v ...

''. She has featured on BBC Radio's ''

Night Waves ''Free Thinking'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of their "After Dark" late night programming. The programme is a rebranded version of ''Night Waves'', "Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas programme". ''Night Waves'' was b ...

'' and ''On Air'', and BBC London 94.9. She has twice chaired the Perrier Comedy Awards (now the

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Dave (TV channel), Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival ...

) and been a judge on the
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Equity's Clarence Derwent Awards, the Verity Bargate Award for emerging playwrights, the TMA Theatre Awards, the Peter Brook Empty Space Awards, the European Theatre Convention Awards, the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Awards, Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny Awards, and the literary David Cohen Prize. She hosts and takes part in platform talks at the National Theatre and elsewhere. Her book ''In Two Minds: A Biography of Jonathan Miller'' (2012) was favourably reviewed. In 2013, it was shortlisted for the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography; the Theatre Book Prize (Society for Theatre Research); and the 2013 HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize. It emerged at the end of July 2013 that Bassett was soon to leave ''The Independent on Sunday'', as the newspaper was reducing its arts coverage. The paper made its established team of arts reviewers redundant on 1 September 2013, a fact that provoked much media comment.Mark Shento
"The arts journalism cull begins"
''The Stage'', 31 July 2013. Simon Tai
"Critical point"
1 August 2013. Ismene Brow
"Only the artists can save the arts critics"
theguardian.com, 2 August 2013 In September 2014, she was appointed as an associate professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English Literature at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. She also works as a script consultant and dramaturg for theatre and film companies, and Literary Associate at Chichester Festival Theatre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Kate 1967 births Living people Academics of the University of Reading British journalists British theatre critics British women journalists British women theatre critics