As fans of Coronation Street will of course know, we recently said a reluctant goodbye to Kat Kelly and her alter ego Becky McDonald.

Katherine announced her decision to leave the show last year, and soon after, she revealed that her next project was to star in National Theatre production, She Stoops to Conquer…

And today, it’s been reported by What’s On TV that critics have hailed her performance as Kate Hardcastle in the period comedy as, “skilful” and “superb.”

The Times correspondent Libby Purves said Kat’s “skilful” on-stage performance gave “Coronation Street fans a blissful memory of her years as wild Becky.”

And Charles Spencer, writing for the Daily Telegraph, said, “[Kelly] brings superb assurance to the role.”

He added that Katherine in the character of Kate is, “brimming with mischief” and “a delightful mixture of sense and sensibility when she plays her true self.”

The Guardian’s Michael Billington wrote, “As the well-born Kate Hardcastle she is obliged, somewhat ironically in view of her role in Corrie, to pose as a barmaid, but even she gets legitimate laughs by her hip-twitching gait and air of sexual mischief.”

But of course, it’s not the first – and certainly won’t be the last – time that Kat’s performances have been justifiably lauded. Just last month, she won an award in the Best Serial Drama Performance category at the National Television Awards.

Will you be going to see the play? If so, let us know what you think of Kat’s performance.