Storyteller Kate Saffin
Daisy Brindley chats to waterways writer and performer Kate Saffin about the people and stories that inspire her work
If you have any interest in canal history or theatre, the chances are you have come across Kate Saffin’s work. Over the past three decades she has become one of the waterways’ best-known writers and performers, creating plays that bring the forgotten lives of canal people – particularly women – back into the spotlight. Yet ask Kate what she does and she won’t call herself a historian, playwright or actor. She says she is a storyteller. It is probably the simplest and most accurate description.
Kate and I spent the first ten minutes of my interview discussing stir-fry recipes. She has the rare ability to make you laugh while making you think, often in the very same sentence.
“You spend quite a lot of time thinking about food,” I observed.
“Well,” she replied without missing a beat, “it’s better than sex.”
After a pause, she added: “… and living on a boat, I don’t have a garden.”
That exchange tells you quite a lot about Kate. Conversation with her has a habit of wandering off down unexpected paths before arriving somewhere quietly insightful. But Kate doesn’t tell just any old stories. She specialises in rescuing the people and details that history may overlook.
Long before she was writing plays, she was listening. As a nurse and health visitor she heard stories others barely noticed. Academic research taught her to question accepted narratives, while hours in archives convinced her that history is rarely found in great events, but in ordinary lives. Theatre became the place where those instincts came together.
Perhaps what is most striking is how lightly she carries her achievements. During our conversation she casually mentions completing a PhD while working, living on a narrowboat and writing plays. There is no performance in her modesty; she is far more interested in the people she has met than in what she has accomplished herself.
In many ways, Kate is rather like the waterways she loves. She follows unexpected routes, pauses to explore forgotten corners and notices things others pass by. The destination matters, but never as much as the discoveries made along the way.
That is why her work resonates. It is not simply about canals, history or theatre. It is about people, places and stories that deserve to be heard before they disappear. Kate puts it more directly: “It’s about exploring a woman’s point of view… primarily women. Voices… mainly mundane details.”
This is an extract from an article that appears in the On The Cut section of Waterways World September 2026
