What is FEST?

 

Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre e.V. (FEST) is the oldest and largest English speaking community theatre in the Frankfurt and Rhein Main region. It was founded by a group of British ex-pats in 1977 and has been putting on several productions each year ever since.

Our members come from all over the world, and are united in their passion for theatre. FEST welcomes everyone who enjoys going to the theatre as well as those who are interested in acting, directing or helping behind the scenes. There are many opportunities to get involved with productions, or to just socialize and enjoy watching the plays with other theatre-lovers.

We would be very happy to welcome you as part of our community and hope to see you soon at one of our socials or upcoming productions. If you have any questions, just get in touch with us!

History of FEST

Since 1977 FEST has staged productions of every kind – drama, comedy, mystery, musical, cabaret, and – last but definitely not least – that magical box of Christmas fun, the British pantomime.

Among our past productions are classics by Anton Chekov, William Shakespeare, Neil Simon, and Oscar Wilde as well as more recent plays by the likes of Christopher Durang, David Ives, Steve Martin and many, many more.

After the initial decade or so in the Stadthalle Kronberg, we now stage our performances at various Frankfurt venues such as the International Theatre Frankfurt, the Interkulturelle Bühne, various Saalbau stages or Kulturhaus Frankfurt (Die Katakombe).

For many years, FEST has been participating in FEATS, the Festival of European Anglophone Theatrical Societies, the largest English-language theatre festival on the European continent. We are one of the regular hosts of this travelling one-act festival (1991, 1996, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2017) and in May 2023, we welcomed 12 participating groups to FEATS at the Kurtheater Bad Homburg, where we hosted the festival for the seventh time. For more information visit  feats2017.com . The festival venue was at the English Theatre Frankfurt.

In past years we have received a number of FEATS awards, such as the Award for Best Original Play, ( 2012, The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs) the Blackie Award for Best Actress (2009, Death in Heels and 2006, Wasp), the ECC Centennial Cup for Second Place (2008, Eleemosynary), the Mervyn Briscoe Award for Second Place (2006, WASP), the Marcel Huhn-Bruno Boeye Trophy for Stage Management (2004, Anti! Anti!) and the Award for Best Supporting Actor (1985, Between Mouthfuls).

Check out our Production Archive page to see and read more about more than 40 years of great amateur theatre with FEST!