Histories! Tragedies! Comedies!
Join us as we race through all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in one fast-paced, chaotic, and highly entertaining performance. Quick changes, bold physical comedy, and plenty of unexpected twists are all part of the ride.
Whether you’re a preeminent Shakespearean scholar or you’ve never heard of The Bard, this is the show for you! It’s high-energy, imaginative, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Not strictly 16+, but… maybe don’t bring under-16s unless you’re ready to answer a few tricky questions on the way home…
Directorial Team:
Director: Martha Reece
Martha made her directorial debut 20 years ago when she wrangled a few of her kindergarten* classmates into a recreation of her local theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz on the school playground. It was not for another 10 years that her talents were noticed by the adults in her life, when she had the opportunity to study directing at Young People’s Theatre Newcastle. Martha is now excited to make her European directorial debut with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) following her involvement in a variety of FEST productions in other capacities over the last two years.
Martha Reece is an actor, stage manager, lighting designer and director from Australia. She studied drama, musical theatre, technical theatre and directing at Young People’s Theatre Newcastle and the Hunter School of the Performing arts, with involvement in dozens of productions over her childhood and teenage years. From 2019-2022 she was involved in multiple theatre societies at the Australian National University, and she wrote and performed in the ANU Women’s revue. She has had some professional contact with the arts as a drama teacher and lighting designer, but she retains a day job of Physics PhD student.
*kindergarten is Australian for the first year of primary school
Assistant Director: Thomas Dewitz
Thomas was born in Cologne and started acting as a teenager when he played in a theatre adaptation of Michael Ende’s “Momo”. Over the years, he played anything from butlers and bakers to french tourists and roman emperors in various productions including “Oliver Twist” or “Hôtel des deux mondes”. He made his first journeys into English theatre with the group “Trier English Drama” when he was a student in the mid-2010s as a part of “The Importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. Living and working in Frankfurt since 2023, he found the wonderful people from FEST who gave him a new home for his passion for acting and his love for the stage.
Assistant Director: Ellie Sellmann
Ellie has been passionate about theatre and music since elementary school. A Frankfurt native, she earned a BA in Drama Studies and English from JGU Mainz. She found FEST in 2024, and has since worked backstage as Co-Producer for People Like Us Don’t Kill and as Costumes Manager for Pygmalion as well as gained experience on stage (Balladeer and Uh-Uh in Musical Interludes, Waitress and Deena in Almost, Maine).
As a first-time Assistant Director, she is excited to learn more about the creative process of staging a play and how to support the performers.
Cast:
Artemis Rose Grey (they/them) as Artemis
This is Artemis’ second theatre production, and they are nauseously excited to be a part of it. Growing up, they spent a lot of time creating characters while staring in the mirror and causing everyone else in the house to be late. They assumed this was just a weird habit they would grow out of. Fortunately, their propensity for playing characters never went away, and they are eager to channel this onto the stage. Artemis is extremely grateful to be working with such a talented and hilarious cast and crew, and is looking forward to seeing where their acting journey takes them next.
Aditya Singh (he/him) as Adi
Aditya, a lively nerd from India who moved to Germany in 2015. He discovered his love for performing at age 10: his school and university years filled with diverse roles in comedy, a musical, and dance. After moving to Mainz in 2022, he focused on improvisational theatre, attending workshops in Karlsruhe, Amsterdam, and most recently Valencia. In 2023, he volunteered at FEST, managing lights and sound. The following year, Aditya played Max, the blocked writer in Old Saybrook, which was also performed at FEATS in Antwerp 2024. In 2025, he played Colonel Pickering in FEST’s production of Pygmalion. As he continues his journey of self-discovery through acting, he eagerly looks forward to his third performance with FEST – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).
David Edgcumbe (he/him) as David
David has been performing since around the age of 12, after Jack Haggarty (schoolmate) said he was a bit boring. In the intervening 26 years David has done his very best to prove Jack wrong– mostly by talking to himself in strange voices when making [sub-editor please insert impressive-sounding dish from exotic cuisine here], but also through performing in several devised plays at the University of Nottingham, taking the world’s worst sketch show to the Edinburgh Fringe and trying his hand at stand-up comedy, which was predominantly met with rapturous confusion. Against all odds and a general antipathy towards teutonic tendencies David has been living in Frankfurt since 2012, and has disgraced The Bard in several productions with Shakespeare Frankfurt. This is David’s first time on stage after a brief hiatus for tax reasons, so please be nice. Unlike Jack Haggarty.
Understudies:
Inés Cordero Miguel (she/her) as Inés
Inés is a Spanish performer who, from a young age, was often lost in her thoughts and constantly daydreaming. During high school, she discovered the arts track, which helped her connect more deeply with her emotions and led her to dramatic arts. She was taking part in musicals and video clips, before the COVID-19 pandemic paused her creative journey. After years she has rediscovered her artistic drive. This is her first production with FEST, where she performs as an understudy. She is grateful to be part of such a great and amused team and is eager to contribute her creativity while continuing to grow and learn.
In this production, she is also a production assistant for the first time. It has given her the opportunity to explore the creative process from behind the scenes and to better understand everything that goes into building a performance beyond acting.
Isabelle (Izzy) Krier (she/her) as Izzy
Getting in touch with theatre at a very young age, her interest in the acting world grew over the years. She took a chance to be part of the school theatre group “Cabaret Geoghelli” in Luxemburg where she started as part of the backstage crew but soon made her way on stage as an actress. What started with some small sketches ended with the musical production Heisse Ecke and a passion for musical theatre.
Isabelle has also been an actress with her school’s “French theatre group” which staged mostly plays by Ionesco (Madame Boeuf in Rhinoceros) and Beckett (Nell in Endgame).
Her history studies and teacher training made her stay away from the theatre world for several years.
After moving to Frankfurt, Isabelle found the “Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre” and revived her fascination for theatre, this time as Stage Manager (e.g. for several FEST plays at “Kulturhaus” as well as at FEATS in Luxemburg and Antwerp). After her debut in the Evening of One-Acts, Isabelle is back on stage as an understudy for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).
Xenia Kraft (she/her) as Xenia
From Russia’s Far East, Xenia once wanted to be a clown – which turns out to be unexpectedly useful in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).
She joined Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre (FEST) in autumn 2023 and has since appeared as Anya in The Cherry Orchard, Nancy in Gas Light, and a Constable in Pygmalion. She also performed Cell Block Tango (as Pop) from the musical Chicago and is currently part of a production with TheaterDepot in Wiesbaden.
She is especially drawn to comedy, rhythm, and a certain sense of chaos – finding herself most at home in playful and unpredictable performances.
In this show, she takes on the roles of understudy and producer – both for the first time.
Production Team:
Producer: Xenia Kraft
Assistant Producers: Ines Cordero Miguel, Iaroslav Pavliukov, Ricardo Diaz
Costumes Designer: Rebecca Pollack
Props/Set Lead: Michael Ennis
Props/Set Assistant: Wiktor Poklepa
Light: Martha Reece
Sound: Mayank Parânzpé
Stage Manager: Isabelle Krier
Assistant Stage Manager: Fabienne Sellmann
Apprentice Stage Manager: Paula Strassenmeyer
Tech Operator: Mayank Parânzpé
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